New Delhi-based realty funding company Red Fort Capital Advisors Pvt Ltd will float a Rs 800 crore fund to finance real estate development projects in India. "The corpus will be mobilised from high net-worth individuals and corporates within India," Parry Singh, director of the company, told the media here. According to him, the money will be raised by the end of this month and investments out of it will be made from March. Meanwhile, the company has invested around $300 million out of its $400-million fund called Red Fort India Real Estate Fund I, which raised money through foreign direct investments. The company has invested in three projects in Bangalore and in a township project in Hyderabad.The company has also bought 10 acres in Chennai for an undisclosed sum. While the company has decided to build residential apartments here for the middle-income group, it is yet to zero in on a developer. It plans to invest around $100 million in the Chennai market.   more »

Red Fort Capital, a global real estate private equity fund, is raising a Rs 800-crore, India-specific fund for the realty sector. This is in addition to its earlier allocation of Rs 1,600 crore for realty projects in the country. The new domestic fund is expected to be announced by the end of December and the company will start investing in the fund from March next year. “We plan to raise the capital from high networth individuals and corporates in India. A major part of the fund has been tied up,” said Parry Singh, director, Red Fort Capital Advisors. He said the company would invest the Rs 800-crore, non-FDI fund in redevelopment projects in cities and non-FDI compliance projects, among others.   more »

Private investment firm Sage Capital Advisors Pvt. Ltd plans to form a joint venture (JV) with a financial services group to launch a private equity (PE) fund or its own fund, an official said on Wednesday. “We are exploring a JV with a large financial services group as the platform will allow us to get quality investors,” said managing director Manish Kanchan, adding that Sage would hold a majority stake in the planned venture. “We can even raise up to $1 billion (Rs3,940 crore) through this JV.” Kanchan said the name of the partner and other details would be announced in a month’s time. He also said the firm is talking with potential investors to launch a PE fund of around $200-250 million if the JV falls through. PE investment in India is expected to touch about $10 billion in 2007. Investment had more than tripled to $7.46 billion in 2006, from $2.26 billion in 2005.   more »

Private equity firm IL&FS Investment Managers Ltd, an arm of Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services Ltd. (IL&FS), said it received $578 million (Rs2,277 crore) of commitments for investing in real estate projects as demand surges in the world’s fastest-growing economy after China. The Mumbai-based company, which had the first closure on its real estate fund on Wednesday, plans to raise up to $750 million mainly from global institutions over the next three months, said Shahzaad Dalal, vice-chairman, in a phone interview.   more »

IDFC Private Equity, the private equity investment arm of infrastructure financing firm Infrastructure Development Finance Co. Ltd (IDFC), is raising a $600 million (Rs2,364 crore) fund, its third since it set up operations as the country’s first pure play infrastructure PE investor in 2002. The proposed fund has an upper limit of $700 million on the final corpus and is expected to close fund-raising in March 2008, said a person familiar with the development who did not wish to be named. The firm’s president & CEO Luis Miranda declined to comment. The third fund from IDFC PE comes at a time when pure play infrastructure funds (ones that do not invest in real estate), backed both by domestic and overseas investors, have become popular in the country. In October, UK’s 3i Group Plc. raised $500 million in the first close of its proposed $1 billion 3i India Infrastructure Fund. The fund has already invested $328 million across two deals—Soma Enterprise Ltd and Adani Power Pvt. Ltd. Separately, IDFC PE’s parent, the state-owned IDFC is itself in the process of closing first-round commitments for a mega $5 billion mega infrastructure fund, which includes debt and equity. Co-investors in this fund include Blackstone Group, Citigroup Inc. and the ministry of finance-backed India Infrastructure Finance Co. (IIFC).   more »

Ajay Piramal group promoted Indiareit Fund Advisors is planning to raise up to Rs 4,500 crore from overseas and domestic markets to invest in real estate projects in India. The real estate venture capital fund would raise the amount in two tranches. While Rs 700 crore would be raised initially from the domestic market by the end of this month, the company plans to raise nearly one billion (Rs 3,800 crore) dollar from overseas markets by mid next year. "We have already raised Rs 1,350 crore from the existing Indiareit fund and we plan to raise another Rs 700 crore from the domestic market and 750 million to one billion dollar from overseas markets for future investments," Piramal Enterprises Chairman Ajay Piramal said on the sidelines of India Economic Summit.   more »

ICICI Venture is planning to float a company that will buy medium-sized hospitals and pharmacy chains and act as a holding company for the fund’s investments in the booming healthcare sector. India’s largest domestic PE fund has already decided to allocate $250 million to the holding company, which will be set up over the next one month. Temporarily called I-Ven Medicare, the company will be the lead vehicle for all ICICI Venture’s investments, buyouts in the healthcare space, Renuka Ramnath, CEO and MD of the fund, told ET. ICICI Venture is in talks with four hospitals in different parts of the country for a complete buyout. They are also examining proposals from other small and medium-sized hospitals across the country who need funds. India’s healthcare sector has boomed in recent years. A CII-McKinsey study estimated that India will spend $45.6 billion on health in the next five years.   more »