Piramal fund buys Rs 300 cr stake in realty co Neptune

MUMBAI: Ajay Piramal-promoted real estate fund Indiareit has acquired about 15% stake in Mumbai-based developer Neptune group for around Rs 300 crore. The deal assumes significance as the fund has chosen to invest in the company, rather than the usual practice of investing in individual projects.

Neptune group chairman Nayan Bheda confirmed the deal, but refused to share the details, including the amount involved. ���We have expanded our operations across India and the money will be invested in upcoming projects,��� he added.

Neptune���s presence in multiple areas of realty business and its association with companies of global repute ��� Foster+Partners are project architects for Neptune���s corporate park at Kurla ��� might have prompted Indiareit to strike an equity deal with it, said sources close to the deal.

���It is heartening to note that even in troubled times, investors are reposing faith in the realty industry by making enterprise-level equity investments,��� said Shashi Kumar, CEO of the real estate advisory division of Birla Sun Life Asset Management. ���This is also an indication of the potential of the domestic property market.���

In the past few years, Neptune has grown into a pan-India player with projects in Pune, Hyderabad, Chennai, Vishakhapatnam, Kochi and Nagpur, among others.

���It is for the first time that we are investing in the entity-level. The deal will help us get a pan-India presence as Neptune is expanding operations across India,��� said Indiareit Fund Advisors CEO Ramesh Jogani. Set up in March 2006, Indiareit initially came out with a $200-million offshore fund, wherein private equity major 3i had invested $40 million.

Indiareit is looking at investments in excess of Rs 200 crore in properties in Mumbai and Hyderabad. It had invested Rs 225 crore in Bangalore-based Skyline Constructions & Housing last year.

Neptune���s projects in an around Mumbai include a business park in Kurla, a one million sq ft IT park in Thane and a 5 million sq ft residential complex for low and middle-income groups in Kalyan. The company is also developing a residential complex admeasuring one-and-a-half million sq ft in Hyderabad, a 4 million sq ft residential project in Kochi and another 3 million sq ft residential project in Chennai.