Equity International scouts investment in home finance

Equity International (EI), the US investment firm, is exploring investment prospects in housing finance companies and non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) funding the real estate sector.

The Chicago-based financial service entity has a $2-billion corpus under five funds. In November 2011, it committed $75 million to SAMHI, a Delhi-based developer and owner of hotels in India.

Gary R Garrabrant, chief executive officer, said the firm’s exposure to India happened with its investment in SAMHI, but the plan is to get into home building, logistics, retail and finance.

EI will invest only at corporate levels and not in special purpose vehicles floated for a particular project. So, there could be five to six companies, one each for specific sectors to pilot investments.

EI has made investments in financial sectors in Mexico and Brazil. In India, it is looking to invest in housing finance companies, Garrabrant said. He did not elaborate on the status of negotiations for investing in financial companies.

In Mexico, it has invested in Credito Inmobiliario, a privately-held residential mortgage and finance company, created by the merger of Credito Inmobiliario and Hipoticaria Terras.

SAMHI, a new hospitality property company, has commenced development of properties in Bangalore, Chennai and Gurgaon. They will comprise four hotels and 630 rooms, with brands, such as Courtyard and Fairfield by Marriott and Hyatt Place. The plan is to scale up to 50 properties.