Piramal Fund Management (PFM), one of the largest real estate focused fund and funding platforms and part of pharma-to-finance Piramal Enterprises, has invested Rs 425 crore in a project being developed by construction major Lodha Group.
The investment is towards construction of premium residences project with more than 5 lakh sq.ft. of saleable area Central Mumbai. The project, which is already 40 per cent sold, is in the midst of construction. The deal has been structured as a fixed return debt investment with periodic coupon payments and has an appropriate security mechanism in place including hard asset cover as well as escrow of receivables.
Piramal fund, which caters to the entire capital stack – right from early stage equity to late stage debt and construction finance, is able to act as a perpetual provider of capital for the real estate development life cycle. It had recently announced the ‘Piramal Preferred Partner’ program whereby it’s selected existing development partners are allowed to draw from a pre-sanctioned limit in order to pursue opportunistic acquisitions.
Lodha Group, the country's largest construction group by sales, has a track record of high business growth recorded sales of at least Rs 8,000 crores last financial year.
“We are pleased to lend to the Lodha Group; this is our first structured deal with the realty developer. We look forward to deepening our ties as we evaluate their portfolio of projects,” said Khushru Jijina, managing director, Piramal Fund Management.
Piramal Enterprises, through its Fund Management Division, provides comprehensive financing solutions to real estate companies. Its structured investment group provides long term patient mezzanine growth capital to capital intensive businesses as well. The total funds under management under these businesses are currently $3.3 billion. It also has strategic alliances with top global pension funds like CPPIB Credit Investment Inc. and APG Asset Management. The company also has long term equity investments worth over $ 700 million in Shriram Group, a leading financial conglomerate in India.
BW Reporters
Unnikrishnan is currently Senior Associate Editor with BW Businessworld at its Mumbai Bureau. During his two decades long journalistic career, he has received several media awards and recognitions. His articles on healthcare, life sciences and intellectual property rights (IPR) have been republished by several international blogs and journals.
