India's diversified business conglomerate Piramal Enterprises Ltd and Canada-based CPPIB Credit Investments Inc have joined hands to offer rupee debt financing to residential projects in major urban centres of India. The two partners have committed an initial investment of $250 million each for the same.
Indiareit Fund Advisors (Indiareit), the real estate fund management arm of Ajay Piramal-led Piramal Enterprises, has been appointed as advisor for the alliance.
"This opportunity allows us to participate in India's burgeoning middle class residential sector which has demonstrated compelling fundamentals through ongoing population and income growth, and rapid urbanisation," said Graeme Eadie, senior vice-president and head of Real Estate Investments, CPPIB, said in the statement. CPPIB Credit Investments is a multi-faceted global credit investment programme wholly owned by Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB), one of Canada's top pension fund managers with some C$192.8 billion in assets under management.
The money will be lent to residential projects in Mumbai, Delhi NCR, Bangalore, Pune and Chennai.
Notably, Piramal Enterprises, formerly known as Piramal Healthcare, struck a blockbuster deal around three years ago and sold the domestic formulation business to Abbott Laboratories in a staggered transaction worth $3.7 billion. Since then, the cash-rich group has been investing in new businesses besides deploying cash in various assets.
"The alliance is consistent with PEL's long term plan and vision of playing a contributing role towards investments that promote growth and underlines the confidence reposed by institutional investors in Indiareit's capabilities," Piramal Enterprises' chairman Ajay Piramal said.
While Piramal Enterprises was advised by Macquarie Capital, CPPIB was advised by Vikram Gandhi, founder of VSG Capital Advisors, and CPPIB's senior advisor for investment opportunities in India.
(Edited by Joby Puthuparampil Johnson)
