AnaCap Financial Partners formed a partnership with Cerestra Advisors and has bought its first educational infrastructure assets in India, a deal which marks the AnaCap’s plan to create a listed education infrastructure investment trust.

The mid-market private equity investor has paid an undisclosed amount to buy the three K-12 school and student housing assets from Jain Group of Institutions.

AnaCap said it has formed the joint venture with local partner Cerestra Advisors to seek further assets and put together an educational infrastructure portfolio under a new company with a plan to list the new vehicle in India.

Rakesh Balasundaram, investment director at AnaCap, said: “We are very excited to enter the Indian market by working with Cerestra as a highly-respected operating and origination partner, as we seek to make further educational infrastructure asset acquisitions ahead of a possible vehicle listing.

“Despite the global economic threat of COVID-19, AnaCap remained active during the summer months, with this deal showing our commitment to exploring new and emerging markets for our investor base. We look forward to continuing to build upon AnaCap’s successful credit and real estate investment track record by implementing our strategy in India.”

Vishal Goel, co-founder and partner at Cerestra, said: “This partnership brings to fruition our search for a global partner to institutionalise the edu-infra space in India which we have been building over the past 5 years.”

Jasmeet Chhabra, co-founder and managing partner at Cerestra, said: “This partnership will herald a new era in providing the necessary investor attention and acceptance to core assets across education and life sciences verticals, the two areas where Cerestra has been focusing to address the capital needs of the local industry.”

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