The maiden real estate fund of Axis Asset Management Company Ltd, a unit of private-sector lender Axis Bank Ltd, will invest in an affordable housing project in Bengaluru to mark its second bet.
Axis RERA Opportunities Fund-I will invest Rs 65 crore ($9.21 million) in a project of realty firm Adarsh Developers, a statement said.
The project will be built at Sarjapur Road in southeast Bengaluru. It will have 600 units with a ticket size ranging between Rs 30 lakh and Rs 47 lakh apiece.
Balaji Rao, managing partner for real estate at Axis AMC, said in the statement that government initiatives over the past few months have reaffirmed the fund's strategy to focus on the mid- and affordable housing segment in the current market scenario.
In July, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman had announced tax breaks for affordable housing in the Budget, as the government persisted with its efforts to achieve ‘Housing for All’ by 2022.
The Axis fund had inked its first deal in May when it invested Rs 60 crore in a township project of Chennai-based developer Akshaya Group. The fund had hit its final close at Rs 400 crore ($58 million) earlier in May.
Axis AMC, the sponsor of the fund, offers a bouquet of asset management products across mutual funds, portfolio management services and alternative investments. The AMC is backed by Axis Bank, India’s third-largest private-sector bank, and Schroders Plc, one of the world’s largest asset managers based in the UK.
In February, a media report said that Adarsh Developers had raised around Rs 1,300 crore ($181 million) from a clutch of investment firms that include HDFC Realty Fund, Kotak Realty Fund and Piramal Fund Management.
The company, led by chairman and managing director BM Jayeshankar and director BM Karunesh, has developed close to 17 million square feet of high-end residential, commercial and hospitality spaces. It has over 26.84 million square feet of on-going projects currently.