Alternative investment platform WSB Real Estate Partners has raised over Rs 700 crore through its real estate debt fund to invest across mid-income and affordable housing projects within tier I cities and select tier II Indian cities.
This is the first close of its recently launched fourth SEBI registered Category II Alternative Investment Fund (AIF) with a targeted corpus of Rs 1,000 crore, expandable by another Rs 1,000 crore through a green shoe option.
The fund, WSB Real Estate Debt Fund III, has a term of six years from initial closing, further extendable by up to two periods of one year each. The fundraise has witnessed active participation from investors including large family offices, corporates, offshore investors, and high networth individuals (HNIs).
“We have witnessed several large repeat investors that had invested in earlier funds reposing faith in us by new investments in this fund. With our ability of qualitative underwriting and active asset management, we are aiming to deliver favourable risk adjusted returns to our investors,” Kaushik Desai, Managing Partner of WSB, told ET.
According to him, the fund has already initiated two investments and built a healthy pipeline for the new fund, in line with the platform’s proactive investment strategy.
This is WSB Real Estate Partners’ fourth fund and the group has raised over Rs 3,000 crore for real estate deployment since 2013. It has been invested in 58 transactions, exiting more than 75% of its invested capital.
The fund along with co-investment has raised over Rs 700 crore indicating robust investor confidence and support.
The fund seeks to collaborate with established realty developers with robust execution and delivery track records. Investments will be diversified across various stages of the development cycle, ensuring prudent risk management and maximizing investor returns. This approach strategically aligns with meeting the growing demand for quality housing in urban pockets across the country, Desai said.
The new fund’s primary focus will be on investing in structured debt for mid-income and affordable housing projects through non-convertible, optionally convertible, compulsorily convertible debentures, etc. These investments will be fully secured by underlying collateral.
The fund will be seeking first charge on projects, units, and hypothecation of cash flows while making an investment in the project. It will set up an escrow mechanism with cash flow control for security.
WSB has deployed its previous fund worth Rs 700 crore across 14 transactions, three of which are fully exited with the IRR of nearly 23% and four transactions are partially exited.
The fund has so far partnered with developers including Puravankara Projects, Shapoorji Pallonji Real Estate, Paranjape Schemes, Prateek Group, Bollineni Group, and Jain Housing.
