Kotak Investment Advisors, AIDA form $590 mn realty fund for office spaces

This is Kotak Investment Advisors's 12th real estate fund and with it, the firm has so far raised, managed, or advised over $2.8 billion under its real estate fund series

Kotak Investment Advisors Ltd (KIAL), the alternate assets business of Kotak Mahindra Bank, said on Monday that it has formed a $590 million real estate fund with Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (AIDA) for investments in office assets in India.

This is KIAL's 12th real estate fund and will be domiciled in Gujarat’s GIFT City. With this new fund, KIAL has so far raised, managed, or advised more than $2.8 billion under its real estate fund series.

"With the closure of this fund, we have raised around $1 billion in real estate in the last one year," said Vikas Chimakurthy, CEO, Kotak Realty Fund.

Chimakurthy asserted that strong demand for offshoring, the resurgence of work from office, growth of the services industry and Indian economy has created substantial scope for creating a portfolio of quality office assets.

"With multiple avenues for exit from such portfolios and increasing liquidity of completed assets, we intend to curate this portfolio to cater to increasing appetite for stabilised assets,” he said.

Set up in 2005 to bring sharper focus to Kotak’s alternate assets practice, KIAL has raised, managed or offered advice on funds worth over $5.7 billion across different asset classes. These include real estate, private equity, infrastructure funds, special situations fund, listed strategies, and investment advisory, all led by independent investment teams.

Mohamed Al Qubaisi, Executive Director, Real Estate Department at ADIA said, “This new platform will focus on opportunities associated with long-term demand for Indian office space, which is being driven by global organisations seeking to capitalise on the country’s skilled workforce. It also presents the opportunity to extend our relationship with Kotak, with whom we have successfully invested over a number of years.”

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