Equis Funds Group, a Singapore-based energy and infrastructure investor, has invested $116 million in Bangalore-based Assetz Property Group (APG), in order to finance APG’s mid-income housing townships in India until 2020.
Equis was started by former Asian Development Bank and Macquarie executives in 2010 to access the various investment opportunities available in the energy and infrastructure sectors across Asia. Its CEO is David Russell, a former senior managing director with the Macquarie Group. It had closed its first PE fund – Equis Asia Fund I – at $647 million, exceeding its initial target of $500 million, in 2012.
APG has plans for mid-income housing townships spread across 20 million square feet, with amenities including schools, aged care facilities, health centers, public amenities, localised shopping centers and recreation facilities. Current plans call for developing 20,000 residential units, each ranging in cost from $45,000 to $64,400.
Assetz Property, incorporated in 2006 and led by CEO Ben Salmon, is primarily focused on real estate development and business portfolio management. Its secondary focus is infrastructure development in the Asian region, with interest in projects across the commercial, residential and mixed-use asset classes.
Earlier in February, Residential Opportunities Fund –I of Jones Lang LaSalle had injected US$3.86 million into a premium residential project being developed by the Assetz Property Group. However, it partially exited, with an internal rate of return (IRR) valued at 30 per cent of its initial investment.
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