Edelweiss Alternate Asset Advisors Ltd, the alternative investment arm of financial services group Edelweiss, has marked the final close of its maiden domestic realty fund at Rs 500 crore ($78 million), it said in a statement.
The development comes soon after VCCircle first reported in April that the fund is nearing the final closure.
The fund - Edelweiss Real Estate Opportunities Fund - aims to capitalise on the limited liquidity in the real estate market through a multi-strategy approach with a focus on top six cities in India—Mumbai, NCR, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune and Chennai—across residential and commercial real estate segments.
The fund was closed in November.
Nitin Jain, chief executive officer, global wealth and asset management, Edelweiss Group, said, “The residential real estate segment is poised to bounce back with existing regulation available to protect consumer interest. In addition, limited capital availability creates an opportunity for providers of alternative sources of capital to invest in real estate. Improving business sentiments and a recovery in the demand for office space will lead to further investment opportunities.â€
“Post demonetisation, the market in India has stabilised and RERA has given confidence to the buyers on timely completion of projects. The investments in the alternative space in India have picked up significantly over the past year or so. We are encouraged with the response we have received for our real estate fund and remain confident on leveraging the opportunities available in this space,†said Vibhor Gujarati, head of marketing – India, Edelweiss Alternative Asset Advisors Ltd.
Separately, the group is raising an offshore fund that has a mega corpus of roughly $1 billion.
Edelweiss Alternative Asset Advisors manages seven funds catering to global and domestic investors across illiquid strategies in India including collateralised credit, real estate and distressed assets.
Edelweiss group offers asset management and advisory capabilities and currently has Rs 193,000 crore of assets under management. It offers end-to end solutions to developers from financing real estate project development, project monitoring, supporting developers in distress situations till the project is completed and assisting in sale of real estate assets.
Fundraising milestone
While investments in real estate has been slow given the changes the sector has seen, a few fund houses have managed to hit fundraising milestones or raise new funds.
As reported by VCCircle, Axis Asset Management is planning to float its maiden real estate fund focussed on the residential side of the market.
Early this year, Delhi-based brokerage firm SMC Capital tied up with IM+ Capital to launch a Rs 1,000 crore fund. The fund would tap into both domestic and offshore investors and deploy capital across the residential and commercial segments.
Motilal Oswal Real Estate recently hit final close of its third fund at Rs 1,000 crore.
