Pune-based Kolte-Patil Developers Ltd has raised Rs 193 crore ($30 million) from private equity giant KKR for a township project in the city, the company said in a statement.
The investment has come for Kolte-Patil I-Ven Townships (Pune) Ltd, a joint venture of Kolte-Patil and private equity firm ICICI Venture Funds Management Company Ltd. The joint venture is developing Life Republic, a 383-acre township located in Pune's IT hub, Hinjewadi.
The proceeds will be used for financial closure of the project, meeting working capital requirements and reducing the cost of outstanding debt attributable to the development.
Kolte-Patil group CEO Gopal Sarda said: "We will utilise KKR's capital to further expand our focus on efficient execution that we see translating into improved demand from customers and strong project dynamics for all other stakeholders."
Ashish Khandelia, director of real estate at KKR, said that Pune is a prominent real estate market in India with sustainable demand drivers and that the PE firm would explore more opportunities with Kolte-Patil in the future.
Incorporated in 1991, Kolte-Patil claims to have developed 50 projects including residential complexes, commercial complexes and parks covering a saleable area of 15 million square feet in Pune and Bengaluru. It markets its projects under two brands--Kotte-Patil and 24K.
KKR, which invests in Indian through a real estate-dedicated non-banking finance company, has put to work a substantial amount of capital in the sector lately. Some of the deals that it has sealed during the year include a Rs 450-crore transaction with Mumbai-based Lodha Group, a Rs 315-crore deal with Runwal Group and Rs 200 crore for a project of Signature Global. It has also backed projects of Bhartiya Group and Chennai-based Prince Foundations.
KKR separately has an NBFC that has a sector-agnostic focus for investments.
Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC is an investor in the realty-focussed NBFC of KKR. GIC also has a large exposure to real estate in India on its own.
