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India's largest real estate firm DLF plans to list several companies from its stable to raise about $5 billion more from the capital markets. The Economic Times reports that the company over the next three years may list at least five companies such as DLF Homes, DLF Retail, DLF Hotels, DLF Utilities and DLF Infrastructure. The parent DLF had listed early this year raising about Rs 9,000 crore. DLF in all is looking at infusing about $10-12 billion in its various businesses over the next three years, the paper report, quoting DLF group chief finance officer Ramesh Sanka.
DLF is planning to list its office space development arm DLF Assets in Singapore in the first quarter of next year. It could be a $2-2.5 billion issue. However, other businesses are expected to be listed in Indian capital markets only.

Boston-based Venus Capital Management has launched its first private equity offering to invest in late stage India-based companies. The firm is also readying a beta product and a real estate offering for the region to be launched next year, says a report. Venus is targeting between $25 million to $50 million. "It will invest in companies that are going to have liquidity events within two years," the firm's founder Vik Mehrotra has been quoted as saying.
Mehrotra mentioned that the firm is prepping a beta product that will look to outperform the Nifty Index for investors with hedge fund exposure in the region. The firm's India-focused $400 million Venus Arbitrage Fund, which invests in equity-related arbitrage opportunities, is up 14.6 per vent YTD through November. Its 19-month old $110 million Venus Special Situations fund has also fared well, returning 30.05 per cent during the same period.
Venus Capital, founded in 1994, manages some $700 million in total assets. First ever private equity investment in an Indian art house was made by Venus Capital. It picked up 5 per cent stake in Osian's Connoiseurs of Art for Rs 11.2 crore ($2.5 million). The firms has been betting big on hedge funds till now.

Bangalore-based QVC Realty Pvt. Ltd, a real estate investment company incubated with $100 million funding from IL&FS Investment Managers (IIML), plans to invest $150-200 million in 2008 in new and existing projects, reports Mint. It has already committed $80 million to date. QVC says it will launch four new projects next year. The projects would be in north Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai and either Pune, or Indore. The company will begin its next project in Chikmangloor, in Karnataka, within six months.
The 150-acre project is a "second homes" project, also including a nine-hole golf course and a resort. QVC said it will seek a partner for running the resort once it becomes functional. The real estate firm said it has a land pool of 300 acres. It will go for a second round of funding by mid-2008 and plans to raise up to $200 million. QVC may also resort to market in order to raise funds. There have been earlier reports of QVC looking to raise $200 million in its second round of funding.

Hypo Real Estate Group, the German commercial real estate financing conglomerate, may be investing about Rs 600 crore ($150 million) in three projects being executed by the Bangalore-based Shriram Properties, reports Business Standard. However, the management of Shriram Properties hasn't confirmed the deal.
Shriram Properties, part of the Rs 25,000 crore Chennai-based Shriram Group, recently raised $100 million at enterprise level from the US-based real estate private equity fund Walton Street Capital. This capital was raised to buy land in Gurgaon and Pune. The report adds that Hypo's investment will be for commercial projects primarily in South India with a heavy focus on the Chennai market. It's also not clear if the capital will come in as equity or debt.
Shriram had raised about Rs 1,000 crore from Starwood Capital Group and Walton Street Capital for developing an integrated town ship project in Kolkata. the firm raised around Rs 1,000 crore from US-based private equity players Walton Capital and Starwood Capital Group. This is besides the $100 million invested at the enterprise level in Shriram Properties by Walton Street. Shriram Properties is also planning an IPO.

The Piramal-Group sponsored real estate fund Indiareit Fund Advisors has picked up a 75 per cent stake in a special purpose vehicle formed by the Hyderabad-based Amsri Group to develop a mixed-use realty project at Bachpally, an area close to the airport, reports PTI (Via Mint). Indiareit, in which UK's 3i has a stake, will put in over Rs 70 crore in the project to be built on 9.5 acres. An 80 per cent of the built-up area will be used for residential purposes, while the rest will cater to commercial purposes, according to an Indiareit executive. The total built-up area of the project would be around 1.5 million square feet.
The fund plans to stay invested in the project for three to four years and hopes to get a return of Rs 150 crore. The project will be funded from both the domestic and international funds of Indiareit. Meanwhile, the company is also in the process of raising a $750-million offshore fund in January next year.

Shapoorji Pallonji has offloaded a 15 per cent stake in a special purpose vehicle set up for real estate business. Government Investment Corporation of Singapore and Citigroup Venture Capital International have together bought a 15 per cent stake for $290 million in the company, The Economic Times reported, quoting unnamed sources. The deal, said to be arranged by HDFC Realty, includes investing in six FDI-compliant residential and commercial real estate projects in several cities in India, the report said.
Jimmy Parakh, director of Shapoorji Pallonji & Co., has confirmed the deal to the newspaper, but didn't give any details.
The deal, arranged by HDFC Realty, includes investing in six large FDI-compliant projects, including commercial, residential and shopping malls. The projects are located in Pune, Kolkata and Nagpur, among other places.

Yatra Capital is the most active real estate fund especially in the mid-sized property category. The firm has been making deals as small as €3.9 million in an Agra mall to €20 million in a Calcutta SEZ project. The Euronext (Amsterdam) listed real estate investment company has invested €20.28 million (nearly Rs 115 crore) in Batanagar IT SEZ project coming up in Kolkata.
Yatra Capital's special purpose company, K2A Commercial will hold a 50 per cent stake in Riverbank Holdings Pvt Ltd, which is a joint venture between Bata India and Calcutta Metropolitan Group. The investment marks the first investment of Yatra from its proceeds of the follow-on offer (FPO) of €120 million in October 2007. Yatra had initially raised €100 million from Amsterdam-based Euronext of which it has already committed nearly €88.11 million.
The IT SEZ is a part of the Calcutta Riverside project which also includes an integrated township spread over an area of 262 acres on the banks of Hoogly river.The first phase of IT special economic zone will be completed by early 2010 and the entire project including the township is expected to be over by the last quarter of 2012.
Yatra has also made several other smaller investments such as $9.18 million in a 50-50 joint venture with Modi Build-Well Ltd in Gujarat, $23.5 million in Market City, Pune, $5 million in the Mumbai-based Phoenix Mills Ltd, $30.5 million in Pune’s Kolte Patil Developers, among others.
The fund is founded by ex-HSBC executive Ajoy Veer Kapoor and Rohin Shah, and backed by investors like Morley Fund Management, Fortis Investments and Standard Life. Yatra was the first Indian real estate company to list in Euronext stock exchange of Amsterdam. The fund’s focus is to invest in tier II and tier III cities of India, which will invest through Saffron Capital Advisors, an asset management advisory firm.

Related:
Rush To Tier II Cities: Yatra Capital Invests In An Agra Mall; Indore Hotel Seeks Funding
Yatra Capital To Raise $212 Million From An Equity Offering In The Netherlands
Yatra Capital Invests $9M In A Gujarat Project; To Raise $675 Million More

Private equity firm IL&FS Investment Managers Ltd has achieved first close of its real estate fund at $578 million (Rs 2,277 crore), reports Bloomberg (via Mint). Investors in the fund include institutions, pension funds, endowments and foundations. The fund's target is $750 million, which may be achieved over the next three months, the wire agency quotes Shahzaad Dalal, vice-chairman as saying. The fund will invest mainly in projects for housing, offices, hotels, IT parks, and unlisted real estate companies. The fund, with a maturity of between eight and 10 years, aims to offer annualised returns of about 25 per cent.
There has been a host of funds like JPMorgan Chase & Co., HDFC, ICICI Venture Funds Management and Sun-Apollo India Real Estate Fund LLC. that have raised funds to invest in Indian property.

Kotak Mahindra Realty Fund will invest about $75 million (Rs 300 crore) for a 25 per cent stake in a special purpose vehicle project to be floated by IVR Prime for a residential township in Hyderabad. IVR Prime is the real estate subsidiary of infrastructure major IVRCL. Kotak's investment will be the first round of PE funding for BSE-listed IVR Prime. IVRCL holds 60% stake in IVR Prime now.
Some of the city-based companies that have floated SPVs include the Indu Group and Ramky Group.

The newly formed joint venture between the UAE-based Rakeen Pvt. Ltd and Chennai-based mining firm Trimex Group, Rakindo Developers Pvt. Ltd, plans to expand into the hospitality sector and is pooling resources with a UK-based private equity fund to invest in hotels in Asia, says a report in Mint. Rakeen is a joint stock company promoted by the government of Ras-Al-Khaimah (RAK), one of the seven emirates of the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Rakindo, which is looking for multiple options in this sector, has also formed a JV with with the UK-headquartered Lotus hotel investment fund, a private equity fund, to form Lotus Rakindo Hospitality. This JV will invest in three- and four-star hotel properties in the country and Asia, a Mint report adds. Rakindo will have a 40 per cent stake in this JV with Lotus hotel investment fund holding the remaining stake.
The JV, which will have an initial investment of $100 million, will focus on setting up hotels in six main cities in South India which include the likes of Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad. This is also not Lotus hotel investment fund's maiden venture into India. The fund already has an existing partnership with Carlson Hotels Worldwide for developing hotels in Asia, including India.
Rakindo has also formed a JV with global hotel chain Millennium and Copthorne Hotels Plc. to build hotels in India. Here again, Rakindo will hold 40 per cent stake in the JV company called Millennium and Copthorne Rakindo Hospitality, with Millennium, and Copthorne holding the remaining stake.
All real estate developers in the country are betting big on the hospitality sector in India, which is confronted with acute shortage of quality hotel rooms even as its economy is growing at a scorching pace. Other realty players such as such as DLF Ltd, Unitech Ltd and Parsvnath Developers Ltd have in the process of developing budget and luxury hotel properties across the country.
The Economic Times adds: The Raindo JV would invest over $5 billion in India’s real estate sector over the next five years. It plans to develop over 50 million square feet of residential, commercial and office space. At present, it has land bank of over 4,000 acres and is in the process of acquiring an additional 5,000 acres. Rakindo’s first project likely to take off in February next would be a $1.5 billion, 1,000-acre project near Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu. It's also planning a residential project in Cuddalore, 70 km from Chennai, on an estuary where waterfront homes would be offered. The environment clearances are being sought for this and work may start early 2009. These homes may cost around $2-2.5 million.