Actis plans $250-300m Indian RE fund

The private equity firm is reportedly planning its first India dedicated real estate fund, targeting investors from the US, Europe and Asia.

Actis Advisors is planning to launch its first India-dedicated real estate fund with a corpus of $250-300 million (€180-€216 million), sources close to the firm have told India’s Business Standard.

According to the report, the fund has already begun the fund raising process for the real estate fund. At the same time, it is beginning fund raising for a $3-4 billion global private equity fund with a $1 billion allocation for India.

The real estate fund would have a ten year life span and invest in residential and commercial properties, as well as in the hospitality sector. The average deal size of investments would likely be $30-50 million. Both the real estate fund and the private equity fund are likely to be registered in Mauritius. For the real estate fund, a first close of $100 million has already been achieved, according to the sources.

The firm was unavailable for comment on the reports.

Actis, which has been investing in private equity in India for more than a decade, already has a real estate team in place. It is headed by Chanakya Chakravarti, formerly a managing director of Cushman & Wakefield. Actis has previously made investments in India investments of over $700 million.

The fundraising comes at a time when many international players are devoting more and more money to Indian real estate, amidst some concern that the opportunity may not match the investment. Other funds that have entered the Indian real estate sector include Blackstone, Citigroup, and Morgan Stanley.

In August the Mumbai-based Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC) closed on a new $800 million (€587 million) fund that will invest in Indian real estate on behalf of 28 foreign investors. Also in August, 3i Group launched a $1 billion (€740 million) fund to invest in the rapidly growing Indian infrastructure market. And in June, Bahrain-based Khaleej Finance and Investment (KFI) partnered with two Kuwait-based investors to manage and promote a $200 million (€149 million) fund that will target real estate and industry in India.