ASK Property Investment Advisors, the real estate private equity (PE) arm of diversified financial services company ASK Group, has made its eighth investment by pumping in Rs 100 crore into a Mumbai-based residential project, being developed by Rajesh Builders.
The Rs 700-crore Raj Altezza project, situated in Mulund, will be completed in two phases and will occupy 400 units in total. Each unit will cost about Rs 1-1.5 crore, at Rs 8,000-11,000 per sq ft.
Following the Mumbai deal, ASK Property is likely to sign another deal in the range of Rs 100-150 crore for a residential project in Bangalore.
"Though the market is weak, we are getting attractive deals. The return is dependent on the entry price and we are always looking for a low entry price for our portfolios," said Amit Bhagat, managing director, ASK Property. “As we focus on medium and long-term, we are not worried over the short term fall in residential demand.”
Last week, ASK Property had raised Rs 1,000 crore for its second fund, Special Opportunity Fund II. Its maiden fund of Rs 326 crore has been fully deployed in six residential projects in Mumbai, Pune, Chennai and Delhi and the national capital region.
In March, ASK Property had bought a 49 per cent stake in a redevelopment project in Sahakar Nagar at Chembur, being developed by Godrej Projects Development, a subsidiary of realty player Godrej Properties Ltd. The PE firm invested in the project through its second fund.
According to data from research firm VCCedge, 22 private equity/venture capital deals worth Rs 2,332 crore took place so far this year in the Indian realty space. The year 2011 witnessed 41 deals worth Rs 7,683 crore against 44 deals worth Rs 6,440 crore.
According to a recent industry report, an estimated 843 million people will live in Indian cities by 2050, a figure which is the combined population of the present day US, Brazil, Russia, Japan and Germany. This rapid urbanisation is expected to offer large-scale opportunities for real estate and infrastructure development in Indian cities, it added.
