A high networth individual (HNI), invested in a real estate fund in 2005. The fund made some big investments including buying a substantial stake in a building owned by a media group in South Mumbai, but the individual has not made any returns (on investment) till date. The fund, an offshoot of a major private bank, was started in 2005 and made some major investments till 2008. The worried investor, while sharing his story with HT, said that he hopes to make some return when the fund matures in 2012-13. As scams and controversies loom over real estate, private equity (PE) investors are finding it difficult to stand by the sector in times of crisis. While most funds with an eight-year cycle have not yielded returns on investments, investors wanting to raise funds abroad are finding it tough to do so. Investors are complaining about real estate-focused funds that had promised a lot while raising money but are unable to deliver. Even new investors, mostly foreign ones, are acting cautious. […]

Property developers are knocking on the doors of portfolio managers, private equity (PE) funds, non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) and other investors as commercial banks, mostly public sector ones, are tightening lending to real estate firms in the aftermath of the bribe-for-loan scam. “The number of enquiries from developers has increased in the last couple of months and we expect a good deal flow down the line,’’ says Pradeep Khanna, senior fund manager, portfolio management services (PMS) at ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co. The firm did around half-a-dozen deals with real estate companies last year. A fund manager with a large PMS firm said the enquiries from developers had increased by 15-20 per cent since October. Portfolio managers such as ICICI Prudential, India Infoline PMS, HDFC PMS and others have invested over Rs 1,200 crore in realty projects since the third quarter of the previous financial year […]

Three big funds launched two-three years ago post positive returns. In the three years since three large private equity (PE) funds were launched to invest exclusively in Indian infrastructure, fund managers say they’re fairly satisfied with the returns. A $1.2-billion India infrastructure fund was raised by UK-based 3i in 2007. The same year, a joint venture between India’a largest bank and an Australian major started SBI Macquarie Infrastructure Fund (MSIF), which raised $1.03 billion. IDFC Project Equity raised a $927-million Indian Infrastructure Fund (IIF) in 2008. Some investments are showing signs of good returns. 3i invested $227 million (Rs 1,000 crore) in Adani Power in 2007, a year which came to known as the boom time after slowdown hit the economy next year. […]

An emerging niche within the Indian retail sector has caught the fancy of venture capitalists (VCs). And these are 'by invitation only' shopping websites. The 'by invitation only' shopping portals, a popular concept in the US, are now slowly taking roots in India. In this format, designer and premium brands in products like clothes, watches, shoes and accessories are sold at discounted rates in the range of 40-50%. Three out of just about 6-7 companies that play in the space have received private investments in the past two months. The latest deal was struck earlier this month when private shopping site for luxury brands and designer apparel Fashionandyou-. com raised $8 million from Sequoia Capital India. Last month, Helion Ventures and Accel Partners invested $2.8 million in Exclusively.in, and Germany's multimedia group Axel Springer AG acquired 19.1% stake in BagIt-Today .com. And these are only the deals which have been announced. Some say there are other VCs which have made small investments that are yet to be announced. […]