Private equity fund house Milestone Capital Advisors has roped in Alok Aggarwal from SUN-AREA Property Partners, as a managing partner and CEO of its real estate private equity business.
Although the PE fund house sold a chunk of its alternative assets fund management business last year to Quadria Capital, it continues to have over Rs 3,200 crore in asset under management (AUM) across seven funds, currently managing investments into over 25 million sq ft of real estate projects.
Aggarwal will manage all funds in the real estate development, mezzanine and REIT like structures. He comes in more than a year after the previous head of the real estate investment vertical Ashish Joshi quit the firm.
VCCircle was the first to report in November 8 that Aggarwal is joining Milestone Capital.
“Alok brings in more than 26 years of solid experience into the system. Having extensive principal level experience in deal sourcing, evaluation, closing & asset management across asset classes, he will infuse additional enthusiasm to our already well performing funds. His past involvement into investments in residential, commercial, warehousing & mixed-use developments form an apt match to our diversified portfolio and his joining will provide stronger leadership to our investment management structure,” Rubi Arya, director & vice chairman, Milestone Capital Advisors, said in a public statement on Wednesday.
Aggarwal is currently a director with SUN-AREA Property Partners, the Indian real estate arm of Ares Management, a global alternative asset manager with $68 billion under management. SUN-AREA manages one of the largest India dedicated foreign funds with AUM of $630 million.
Prior to his private equity career, Aggarwal—a B Tech from IIT Delhi and an MBA from ISB Hyderabad—worked with companies like DLF, TCG and Mahindra GESCO.
This is the second key appointment in the real estate vertical for the fund house. Last May, the fund house hired Nitin Goel from AIG Real Estate as partner for real estate investments. Goel is responsible for real estate development funds with focus on new investment opportunities and exits from current portfolio.
His appointment came after Mumbai-based Milestone Capital exited a part of its business by selling stake in its healthcare and education focused PE fund management joint venture with Religare to Quadria Capital.
The investment firm lost its founder and chief Ved Prakash Arya in a freak accident in 2011. While it was looking at possible buyers for the overall business, it had scrapped a proposed plan to sell the flagship company and Rubi Arya, wife of the deceased founder, had told VCCircle she intends to revive the firm.
(Edited by Joby Puthuparampil Johnson)
