Piramal, CPPIB form $ 500 mn realty financing fund

CPPIB Credit Investments Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB), and Piramal Enterprises Ltd. (PEL) announced a strategic alliance for providing rupee debt financing to residential projects across India’s major urban centres. CPPIB and PEL have each initially committed $ 250 million for this purpose. Indiareit Fund Advisors, the real estate fund management arm of PEL, has been appointed as advisor.
The investment focus shall include the provision of project level debt financing to top tier, local developers with a strong track record in delivering high-quality residential projects. The focus will be on residential developments in Mumbai, Delhi NCR, Bangalore, Pune and Chennai markets with good civic infrastructure, strong employment and population growth forecasts, which provide favourable absorption dynamics for middle income housing. 
“This opportunity allows us to participate in India’s burgeoning middle class residential sector which has demonstrated compelling fundamentals through ongoing population and income growth, and rapid urbanisation,” said Graeme Eadie, Senior VP and Head of Real Estate Investments, CPPIB. 
Ajay Piramal, Chairman, Piramal Enterprises said, “The alliance is consistent with PEL’s long term plan and vision of playing a contributing role towards investments that promote growth and underlines the confidence reposed by institutional investors in Indiareit’s capabilities.”

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