Home-grown private equity firm Milestone Capital has exited its five-year-old investment in a residential project of Godrej Properties in Kolkata at an exit value of Rs 200 crore ($32.5 million), clocking a multiple of 2.3x on its investment, the company said in a statement.
Godrej Prakriti is an integrated residential community development spread over 23 acres. This was one of the earliest investments of the private equity firm and was routed through its development funds—Milestone Domestic Scheme I & II.
Earlier exits from the development funds include Platina, a mixed use premium commercial space in Gachibowli, Hyderabad at an investment multiple of 1.53x and Belfort, a senior living project in Pondicherry at an investment multiple of 1.83x.
Rubi Arya, vice chairman and director, Milestone Capital Advisors, said, “To continue and build our relationship with Godrej Properties, we are in discussions for further investments in other projects of Godrej from our new as well as forthcoming funds.”
The company also said that it is well on track to raise its 10th structured debt format fund, albeit having a much shorter tenure of three-and-a-half years.
Overall, Milestone has raised approximately Rs 1,350 crore through its development funds and its investments are spread across 22 million sq ft of prime commercial & residential properties, including affordable housing, premium residential, integrated townships, commercial offices, logistics and warehousing.
This divestment is in line with the current focus of the company to create exits and return money to its investors from earlier funds.
In an interaction with VCCircle early this year, Navin Kumar, executive director, Milestone, had said, “We are working on seven-eight exits across properties in Mumbai, Kolkata and Bengaluru. By the end of this financial year, we are aiming to pay back Rs 750 crore to investors.”
In September this year, it exited four of its early investments pocketing Rs 132 crore. Prior to this, it exited its investment in Acorn Warehouses & Logistics Parks at Bhiwandi for $24 million (Rs 145 crore) clocking 1.5x in returns in its six-year-old investment.
The firm with a roster of eight realty funds under management is also out on the road to scoop up funds for its new domestic realty real estate focused fund. This is the first fund launched by the company after the demise of its founder Ved Prakash Arya in a freak accident. The company hopes to hit first close of the fund soon.
(Edited by Joby Puthuparampil Johnson)
