SmartOwner Services India Pvt. Ltd, property investment management firm and marketplace for investors, on Wednesday announced the launch of a real-estate private equity fund with a target corpus of Rs 500 crore ($71 million) and a greenshoe option of the same amount.
In October last year, SmartOwner Capital Growth Fund I was registered with the Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI) as a Category-II real estate alternative investment fund.
The fund’s portfolio is expected to comprise asset classes in real estate such as co-working and commercial spaces.
SmartOwner said in a release that strong projected growth in commercial and residential real estate markets, high inflation-adjusted returns, and opportunities from the sale of distressed assets due to Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act (RERA) make Indian real estate profitable to invest in.
SmartOwner was launched in 2012. Vikram Chari is the founder and chief executive of SmartOwner.
VCCircle had reported in 2012 that early-stage venture capital firm Prime Venture Partners had invested in SmartOwner.
A bunch of funds have been launched or are waiting to be registered with SEBI in recent months.
Last month, Samana Global Business Solutions Ltd, a Kerala-based diversified business group, said it is looking to float its maiden alternative investment fund to invest in listed and unlisted Indian companies.
In November, Roots Ventures founder Japan Vyas said they are raising a Rs 300 crore fund.
In the same month, VCCircle reported that Mount Judi Ventures is looking to raise Rs 100 crore for its debut venture capital fund.
SEBI had introduced its alternative investment fund (AIF) regulations in 2012 to supervise the unregulated fund market in India comprising private equity funds, real estate funds and hedge funds, besides encouraging new capital formation and protecting investors. Since then, more than 500 AIFs have registered with SEBI across all categories as on November 2018.
Under the AIF regulations, Category-II comprises private equity funds and debt funds. Category-I AIFs include venture capital funds, infrastructure funds and social venture funds while Category-III AIFs include PIPE (private investment in public equity) funds and hedge funds that use complex trading strategies in public equity markets.
