India Realty Excellence Fund, an INR 165 crores private equity real estate fund has successfully completed its first closing on 30th September, 2008. The Fund opened for second closing subscription by domestic Indian investors in January 2009.

Investment focus
IREF investment focus is to make capital investments in real estate assets in India, primarily in the top 15 metros and cities. Fund deployment will be spread across various real estate asset classes for both development and re-development projects.

Investments size
Would typically, be in the range of INR 250 mln – INR 750 mln

Investment targets
Investment targets of IREF include emerging developers and entrepreneurs in the real estate space with projects possessing unique propositions that set them apart from the masses.

The Fund will draw upon its vast talent pool of in-house real estate research analysts, country wide network, deep knowledge of local conditions and strong and dedicated management team to maximize potential returns.

Key features of the fund are:

Ø       The fund can invest at the early stage of land acquisition giving it a competitive edge

Ø       Flexibility of investments in terms of size, timing, method and partnering with mid sized developers will provide easier entry and exit strategies

Ø       Diversified portfolio of assets spanning across geography, asset class and type providing lower risk and higher returns

Ø       Focused on residential and commercial projects, opportunistic investments in retail and other assets with a moderate timeframe for completion

Ø       Focus on top 15 urban agglomerations due to high growth in urbanization

Ø       Fund large-mid sized regional developers looking for equity partnership and also large size developers having fund requirements for land acquisitions

Ø       Independent assessment of investments – No conflict of interest

Ø       High level of corporate governance and an institutionalized investment process

Ø       Experienced fund managers having pioneer experience of launching a real estate fund supported by professionals like lawyers, domain experts, etc provide a cushion against risk mitigation

Ø       Experience in investing public money with a strong management team

Ø       In-house real estate research team

Ø       The Fund is currently in the process of achieving its second closing and plans to make its first investment by the end of CY 2009