Century Real Estate Holdings has secured INR 450 crores in debt financing from Edelweiss Alternative Asset Advisors. Around 40% of the funds will be used to acquire a 72-acre land parcel near Devanahalli airport in Bengaluru to develop a plotted residential project. The rest will be used to repay existing debt and provide working capital for new and existing projects. Managing Director Ravindra Pai said Bengaluru's residential market has been robust, with Century achieving INR 1,000 crores in sales in FY24 and aiming for INR 2,000 crores in FY25. Property consultants note debt transactions in housing have increased due to sales momentum and need for working capital.
Century Real Estate Holdings Pvt Ltd has secured INR 450 crores in debt financing from Edelweiss Alternative Asset Advisors Limited, the asset management arm of Edelweiss Group. Around 40% of the funds is meant to be used to acquire a 72-acre land parcel for a plotted residential project near Devanahalli International Airport in north Bengaluru. The rest of the money will be used to repay existing debt and as working capital for new and existing projects.
Century Real Estate managing director Ravindra Pai said that Bengaluru's residential market has been robust post-covid. In FY24 Century Real Estate achieved a sales milestone of INR 1,000 crores and they aim to double sales to INR 2,000 crores in FY25. It has a significant pipeline of inventory, including residential and plotted projects.
Property consultants noted that debt transactions in housing projects have increased due to 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 investing actively in the residential space.
Prestige Group recently announced that Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) and Kotak AIF would invest INR 2,001 crores in four of its residential projects in a quasi-debt deal. Nisus Finance also invested INR 105 crores in a Shapoorji Pallonji Real Estate subsidiary.
According to Piyush Gupta of Colliers India, domestic investors' share in real estate investments rose to around 45% during January-March 2024, compared to previous years. Within domestic institutional investments, office and residential assets comprised about 66%. This underscore growing confidence among a diverse spectrum of investors in multiple strategies including credit and acquisitions.
Century Real Estate started as a land bank aggregator during 1973 and is one of the largest landowners in Bengaluru. It later ventured into development of a part of its land and has largely focused on developments in the north of Bengaluru where it has a significant land bank. Century Real Estate has completed around 20 residential and plotted development projects, with three residential and two plotted projects under construction. It has also completed five commercial projects and has four more in the pipeline, including a 2.5 million sq ft office project in Hebbal, north Bengaluru, which will be developed jointly with Prestige Group on Century's land.
In October 2023 Edelweiss Alternatives said it had raised USD 1 billion for its third special situations fund. It has invested in sectors such as roads, steel, paper, hotels, leased offices and residential projects.
Earlier this month, Delhi-based Prateek Realtors raised INR 325 crore from Edelweiss Special Situations Fund at 18-20%, continuing with the trend of big investments by private credit funds into the real estate sector. Prateek Realtors is developing affordable group housing project Grand City having 40 acres' land area located in Ghaziabad. On similar lines, Edelweiss Special Opportunities Fund provided a INR 350 crore debt facility to Bengaluru-based realty company Shreshta Infra Projects Pvt Ltd, partly to complete two projects and also to repay debt raised from Oaktree Capital.
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