Institutional real estate investment firm Certus Capital has finalised investments worth over Rs 400 crore through three real estate funding transactions. The funding is part of its plan to invest Rs 1,000 crore through secured credit in India’s real estate sector in 2024-25.
Of these, the company has invested around Rs 125 crore in a real estate project recently acquired by Casagrand in Chennai and Rs 130 crore in realty developer Mittal Brother’s project in Pune.
The firm has also finalised deals to deploy funds worth over Rs 150 crore through two more investments in Mumbai.
The project in Chennai involves development of premium housing in a city-centric location. The firm founded by former KKR director Ashish Khandelia has made the investment for its secure bond platform, Earnnest.me.
“The Chennai market continues to be robust, clocking 37% on-year growth in 2023,” said Khandelia, founder of Certus Capital and Earnnest.me. “This investment is in line with our objective to partner an established player with growth capital.”
Led by first generation entrepreneur Arun MN, Casagrand has sold 5.8 million sq ft in 2022-23, the fifth highest among the listed real estate players in India.
The investment, in the form of secured debentures, is likely to generate around 15% fixed returns with robust principal cover through underlying cash flows. The project holds a revenue potential of around Rs 475 crore.
In January, Earnnest.me exited its debut investment in the affordable housing sector with a 16.1% net return, one year ahead of the scheduled maturity, given the robust performance of the project.
It has also consolidated its position in the premium boutique residential project of realty developer EON Group in Mumbai’s Prabhadevi by buying out its 50% partner in that investment. Recently, it also made a repeat investment in a residential project in Chennai, capitalising on its proprietary deal access.
Earnnest.me is aiming to democratise access to institutional-quality investment opportunities, make them affordable to individuals and help increase risk-mitigated returns.
Stable economic conditions, positive buyer sentiments and supply from established developers is helping Indian residential property market scale a new high. The first quarter of the year has recorded the highest residential sales to date despite higher mortgage rates and prices that are witnessing a steady uptrend.
According to data from JLL India, the top seven property markets of the country have registered total sales of 74,486 apartments during the quarter, which marks the second consecutive quarter where sales have exceeded 74,000 units, following the record-breaking performance with 75,591 apartments in the December quarter.
