Edelweiss raises ~500 crore for realty fund

Edelweiss Alternative Asset Advisors, part of the Edelweiss Group, on Monday said it had raised ~500 crore for its domestic real estate fund.

The fund, called the Edelweiss Real Estate Opportunities Fund, aims to capitalise on limited liquidity in the real estate market through a multi-strategy approach with a focus on the top six tier-I cities — Mumbai, National Capital Region, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune and Chennai — across residential and commercial real estate, the fund manager said on Tuesday.

Edelweiss joins the likes of ASK Group and Kotak Realty Fund who have raised real estate funds this year. Kotak is also in talks with the UK-based investment entity, CDC Group, for an affordable housing fund. HDFC and IFC have tied up to create a corpus for affordable housing fund.

Nitin Jain, chief executive officer, global wealth and asset management, Edelweiss Group, said: “We believe that residential real estate is poised to bounce back with existing regulation available to protect consumer interest. In addition, limited capital availability creates an ideal opportunity for providers of alternative sources of capital to invest in real estate. Improving business sentiments and a recovery in the demand for office space will lead to further investment opportunities.”

Edelweiss said its private wealth management team raised a majority of the fund corpus from their client base that includes family offices, business owners, promoters, ultra-high net worth individuals and corporate treasuries.

Edelweiss Alternative Asset Advsiors manages seven funds catering to global and domestic investors across illiquid strategies in the country including collateralised credit, real estate and distressed assets. The domestic real estate fund is headed by Nitin Goel.