ICICI Venture raising upto Rs 1,000 crore to invest in mid-income housing

NEW DELHI: Private equity firm ICICI Venture is raising Rs 750-1,000 crore for its new domestic fund India Advantage Fund Real Estate Series 2, which is expected to close in the next 6-9 months. The first close of the fund will happen in the next two months, after which ICICI Venture may start investing from the fund.

“This fund will be used to invest in residential projects in the mid-income segment, with preference for brownfield projects,” says Sanjeev Dasgupta, president, real estate at ICICI Venture. The PE firm will ideally invest in projects where land acquisition and zoning have been completed but will also scout for opportunities in late stage projects. It will invest mostly in the big metro cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Pune and Chennai.

“We may also invest in greenfield projects but then the structure of the deal will be different,” he adds. In such deals ICICI Venture may seek incremental collateral from other projects of the developer to secure its exit.
The exit time frame for the fund will be three to three and a half years.

ICICI Venture had raised the $562 million India Advantage Fund Real Estate Series 1 in 2006, which was invested in both domestic and FDI projects through equity, quasi-equity and equity related instruments.