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 »