Century raises ₹450 crore debt from Edelweiss
Century Real Estate Holdings Pvt. Ltd has secured ₹450 crore in debt financing from Edelweiss Alternative Asset Advisors Ltd, the asset management arm of financial services firm Edelweiss Group, a top company executive said.
The Bengaluru-based developer will use about 40% of the funds to buy a 72-acre parcel for a plotted residential project near the international airport at Devanahalli in north Bengaluru. It will use the rest of the money to repay existing debt and as working capital for new and existing projects. Century Real Estate, one of the largest landowners in Bengaluru, has largely focused on the north of the city where it has a significant land bank.
“Bengaluru’s residential market has been robust postcovid. In FY24, we achieved a sales milestone of ₹1,000 crore. We aim to double sales to ₹2,000 crore in FY25. We have a significant pipeline of inventory, including residential and plotted projects,” Century Real Estate managing director Ravindra
Pai said in an interview. An Edelweiss spokesperson declined to comment on the transaction.
Property consultants said debt transactions in housing projects have increased of late because of sales momentum in the residential sector and the consequent need for working capital. A number of private-equity and real-estate credit funds such as Nisus Finance, PAG Asia, ASK Property Fund, and HDFC Capital have been active in the residential space.
Prestige Group recently said Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) and Kotak AIF would
Century will use about 40% of the funds to buy a 72-acre parcel for a residential project near Devanahalli
invest ₹2,001 crore in its four residential projects in a quasidebt deal, and Nisus Finance, with its sponsor and strategic partner BCD Group, invested ₹105 crore in a subsidiary of Shapoorji Pallonji Real Estate.
“Domestic investors are increasingly gaining ground in real estate. It is evident in the whopping 45% share in investments during January-March 2024, a marked surge from prior years. Within domestic institutional investments, office and residential assets comprised about 66%. This also underscores the growing confidence of a diversified spectrum of investors across multiple investment strategies including credit and acquisitions,” said Piyush Gupta, managing director, capital markets & investment services, at property advisory Colliers India.
Century Real Estate has completed around 20 residential and plotted development projects, and has three residential and two plotted projects under construction. It has also completed five commercial real estate projects and has four more in the pipeline, including a 2.5mn sq.ft office project in north Bengaluru’s Hebbal area, in a joint venture with Bengaluru-based Prestige Group.