US-based realty development and advisory firm Portman Holdings, LLC has acquired significant minority stake in Tuscan Estate (a 900,000 sq. ft. residential development located in Pune) from ICICI Venture for an undisclosed sum. According to VCCedge, financial research arm of VCCircle, Portman Holdings has bought 49 per cent stake in the company.
In October 2009, Kolte Patil Developers Ltd (KPDL) in charge of Tuscan Estate, entered into a had planned to develop around 8.5 lakh sq. ft. of mid-segment residential project in the eastern suburb of Pune.
Incorporated in 1953, Atlanta-based Portman Holdings caters to owners, lenders, private equity investment funds, institutional investors and closely held private real estate investment partnerships. The company claims to have raised and deployed over $6 billion and developed over 50 million sq. ft. of premium real estate across the world.
Tuscan Estate, already under construction, is being developed in multiple phases and is slated to be finished by 2016. The project master plan includes 11 towers containing a total of 517 residential units.
“This property is an ideal follow-up to our first direct investment in India and a good opportunity for us,” Ambrish Baisiwala, CEO of Portman Holdings, commented on the deal.
In October this year, Ambuja Realty acquired the RMZ block of Ecospace Business Park in New Town (Rajarhat), Kolkata, for an undisclosed sum. Also in September, Chennai-based Kalpathi Group, with business interests in private equity and entertainment, acquired the IT park Rantech Towers for around Rs 50 crore. Spread over 2.2 lakh sq. ft., the IT park is located at Sholinganallur (on Old Mahabalipuram Road) in Chennai. Of the eight-storey building, 15 per cent area will be for self-use by the group and the rest will be commercially leased/rented out to other IT companies.
Although the private equity action in Indian real estate sector has been muted, there have been a couple of large deals this year across income-generating developments. In February this year, Ascendas India Trust entered a deal to acquire a portfolio of five buildings in Phoenix Infocity Pvt Ltd’s SEZ for Rs 855 crore. Kotak Realty Fund also sold Peepul Tree Properties (an IT park in Goregaon) to Tata Realty and Infrastructure Ltd and Tata Realty Initiatives Fund 1 for Rs 525 crore.
