Godrej partners with APG to set up Rs 19 billion real estate fund

New fund will advise GRIP II investors on investments into residential platform with GPL, which holds 20% stake in GRIP II

Realty firm Godrej Properties Ltd (GPL) Monday announced setting up of a real estate fund, which has raised $275 million, with Dutch pension fund APG as the lead investor.

The fund will invest in residential projects in India.

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GPL, the real estate arm of the Godrej group, in a statement, said it has "created a dedicated real estate funds management business in India and Singapore -- Godrej Fund Management (GFM)".

"GFM has raised a $275 million (Rs 19 billion) pool of capital, Godrej Residential Investment Program II (GRIP II), with Dutch pension fund asset manager APG Asset Management NV (APG) as the lead investor," it added.

The new fund will advise GRIP II investors on investments into a residential development platform with GPL in India.

GRIP II is a follow-up to the $200 million residential development platform GPL had set up with an APG-led investor consortium in 2012.

GPL will hold a 20% stake in GRIP II.

Karan Bolaria has been appointed to head GFM and will be responsible for managing both series of the residential investment programmes as well as any future strategies that GFM will undertake.

GPL MD and CEO Pirojsha Godrej said, "I am to announce the establishment of Godrej Fund Management. The new GRIP II platform in partnership with APG will help us attract high quality long-term equity investors to partner with us in our developments across India.

He added: "This fits well with our strategy of deepening our presence across the country's leading real estate markets while maintaining a capital-light development strategy."

Sachin Doshi, MD and Head of Private Real Estate Investments, Asia Pacific, APG, said: "In spite of a general slowdown in the asset class in the country over the last 3 years, our partnership projects have sold well, which is a testament to our partner's execution capability and brand strength.