Kotak Mahindra Bank’s investment arm Kotak Investment Advisors Limited (KIAL), on Monday, announced that it has achieved the closure of its 12th Real Estate (RE) Fund, for investments in Office Assets in India and has also formed a $590 million platform with a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA).
KIAL’s this fund, as per the company statement, would be domiciled in Gujarat’s GIFT City, while the platform would be used for a real estate fund which will invest in office properties.
Vikas Chimakurthy, CEO of Kotak Realty Fund, said, “This is our 12th real estate Fund and extends our successful relationship with ADIA. With the closure of this Fund, we have raised around $1 billion in real estate in the last one year. Strong demand for offshoring, return to office increasing, growth of the services industry and Indian economy has seen substantial scope for creating a portfolio of quality office assets. With multiple avenues for exit of such portfolios and increasing liquidity of completed assets, we intend to curate this portfolio to cater to increasing appetite for stabilised assets.”
With this new fund, KIAL has raised, managed or advised over $2.8 billion under its real estate fund series, claims the company. Srini Sriniwasan, MD, Kotak Investment Advisors Limited, said it is targeting to become the "go-to" alternative assets manager for differentiated strategies for global investors.
He further added that “this pool of equity capital expands our footprint in RE Investments with a focused strategy. The GIFT regime and proactive regulator has made the process of pooling Global capital in GIFT City flexible and smooth. This is the first of many pools of capital that we intend to raise this year to address various Alternative Investment opportunities in India.”
Mohamed AlQubaisi, ED of the Real Estate Department at ADIA, said, “This new platform will focus on opportunities associated with long-term demand for Indian office space, which is being driven by global organisations seeking to capitalise on the country’s skilled workforce. It also presents the opportunity to extend our relationship with Kotak, with whom we have successfully invested over a number of years.”