Mumbai-based private realtor Rustomjee has raised Rs 370 crore ($61.1 million) from global investment firm Xander Group's real estate private equity arm, as per a company statement.
The money has been raised for group firm Kapstone Constructions and will be used to bring down debt and for expanding business.
Kapstone Construction, a subsidiary of Rustomjee, is currently developing Rustomjee Urbania, a 127-acre township in Thane. The project is under a joint development pact between the company, which operates under the brand name Rustomjee Group, and a few landowners.
Boman Irani, chairman of Rustomjee, said that this marks the fifth private equity investment in the group and it has provided successful exits to all its previous investors.
In November last year, SUN-AREA Property Partners had reached an out-of-court settlement with Rustomjee in a legal dispute related to its investment in the realtor’s flagship company Keystone Realtors. SUN-AREA had filed the special leave petition against Rustomjee in 2012 at Supreme Court.
Thane has been a hotbed of activity for the real estate sector. Early this month Mumbai-based real estate developer Lodha Group, which has been spending big bucks to acquire properties in London, signed an agreement to acquire an 88-acre land parcel in Thane, a Mumbai suburb, from the specialty chemical maker Clariant Chemicals (India) Ltd for Rs 1,154 crore (or $191.4 million).
Also, KEC International entered into an agreement for selling its land parcel admeasuring more than 7.3 acres to Tata Housing for Rs 211.7 crore ($35 million).
The Xander Group Inc, an investment firm co-founded by Siddharth Yog, focuses on the infrastructure, hospitality, retail and real estate sectors. Since 2005, the firm has committed over $2 billion of equity capital to the Indian market across private, public and credit investments. Its NBFC arm in India has been particularly active in the real estate sector.
(Edited by Joby Puthuparampil Johnson)
