OKAS to raise $500 mn for affordable homes and office space projects

OKAS, the real estate private equity arm of the DMI Group, is in the process of raising $500 million (about Rs 4,200 crore) for its second real estate fund, which will invest in affordable homes and office space projects, said a senior executive.

The first fund, which deployed $250 million across 20 real estate projects in Gurgaon, Noida, Lucknow and Bengaluru, had 11 million square feet of space under development.

“We have fully exited from a few of these projects, and a few of them are in their advanced stages of completion. We aim to complete all these projects in the next 24 to 30 months,” said Shivashish Chatterjee, co-founder of DMI.

For the upcoming deployment, the ticket size will range from Rs 50-150 crore.

The lead investor in the second fund is New Investment Solutions, a Liechtenstein-based asset management company that led the earlier round in 2018.

“We are committed to deepening our engagement in both residential and commercial development with this second fund and growing the OKAS and Pardos brands,” said Chatterjee.

The company had earlier invested Rs 120 crore in a residential project, Pardos OKAS, in Sector 90, Gurgaon, Rs 80 crore in an office space project in Sector 74, Gurgaon, Rs 120 crore in a Whitefield office space project in Bengaluru and Rs 160 crore in a residential project, Pardos OKAS, in Lucknow.“The customer for real estate in India has become more discerning and expects not only a top-quality product and timely delivery but also transparency, consistency and accountability,” said Yuvraja C. Singh, co-founder of DMI.

Readers Also Like: Price tags for most daily essentials will fall in next few months

According to CBRE, real estate investments in India in 2022 increased 32% year-on-year to an all-time high of $7.8 billion. In the quarter to December 2022, investments in real estate in the country stood at $2.3 billion, up 64% quarter-on-quarter and 115% year-on-year.

Foreign investors took the lead with a 57% share in the overall investment volume in 2022. Delhi-National Capital Region led investment activity, followed by Mumbai.

Cumulatively, the two cities accounted for more than 56% share of the investments in 2022. Land and development sites dominated investments, with a 48% share, followed by the office sector (35%). About 44% of the capital inflows in site and land acquisitions were deployed for residential developments, while 25% went into mixed-use developments.

READ SOURCE