Red Fort Capital, an international private equity fund, is planning to invest Rs 3,500 crore in the country's real estate sector during the next one year. It has also launched a domestic fund few weeks back through which it plans to raise Rs 1,000 crore. The proceeds would be deployed into non-foreign direct investment projects. The first closing of the 6-year domestic fund would be in May, 2008. From the Rs 3,500 crore raised through the international fund, the company has committed Rs 1,100 crore for several projects. It has allocated 50% amount towards residential projects and 10-15% each for logistics, commercial office space and smaller ITITES parks.   more »

International Finance Corporation (IFC) and German development bank KfW have announced the Microfinance Initiative for Asia (MIFA) to commit up to $1 billion through debt and equity investments, structured finance and advisory services to support microfinance institutions (MFIs). The initiative is slated to start in India this year. It will involve leveraging existing investment vehicles to provide equity and long-term local currency debt through partial guarantees, and developing new investment vehicles in markets with less access to capital markets.   more »

Kotak Realty Fund is looking to invest close to Rs 200 crore in setting up a joint venture (JV) company with the DRS Group, a third-party logistics (3PL) company based out of New Delhi. The new entity, DRS Warehousing (South), will build and operate almost six warehouses in the southern region of India. “This is a special purpose vehicle (SPV) that we have formed for warehouse construction and management,” said a senior DRS Group official requesting anonymity. The DRS Group is expected to have a 25% stake in the JV, while Kotak Realty Fund will hold the majority. According to sources close to the development, each warehouse will more than 2,00,000 sq feet and four warehouses will be completed before December, 2008.   more »