Godrej Properties Ltd, the real estate development arm of the Godrej Group, has announced the creation of a residential development platform comprising a group of global investors led by Dutch pension services provider APG. The platform will focus primarily on the development of mid-income residential projects in tier-one cities such as Mumbai, NCR, and Bangalore and may opportunistically invest in Pune and Chennai.
Godrej Properties Ltd, the real estate development arm of the Godrej Group, has announced the creation of a residential development platform comprising a group of global investors led by Dutch pension services provider APG. The platform will focus primarily on the development of mid-income residential projects in tier-one cities such as Mumbai, NCR, and Bangalore and may opportunistically invest in Pune and Chennai.
The APG-led investor group has put up Rs. 770 Crore (about EUR 110 mln) of equity commitments and comprises leading global real estate investors including Sparinvest Property Fund II, a global real estate fund-of-funds managed by Sparinvest Property Investors.
The initial commitments will be in the ratio of 29:71 by GPL and the investor group respectively. GPL will be the exclusive development manager of the projects to be pursued by the platform for which it will receive a development management fee.
Pirojsha Godrej, managing director & CEO of Godrej Properties, said the association with a global investor group led by APG will enable GPL to source deals with large capital requirements in its focus markets of Mumbai, NCR and Bangalore. ´This is an important growth opportunity for GPL which will allow us to extend the number of projects in our portfolio while maintaining our capital-efficient land sourcing strategy.´
Sachin Doshi, senior portfolio manager for APG in Hong Kong, said APG was keen to invest in the mid-income residential segment in India’s tier-1 cities. ´In our view, these cities will continue to be long-term beneficiaries of India’s urbanisation trends and also represent the deepest pools of residential demand in the country. We particularly like Godrej Properties’ capital-efficient strategy and the strong brand affinity it enjoys with its customers and stakeholders.'
Macquarie Capital (India) Private Limited acted as the sole financial adviser for the transaction.
GPL is listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and The National Stock Exchange (NSE). APG manages pension assets totalling about EUR 300 bn as of March 2012. Sparinvest Property Investors is a global multi-manager with total assets under management of approximately EUR 700 mln.
