US Funds To Spend Nearly $3B in India

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MUMBAI-Apollo Real Estate Advisors and Tishman Speyer plan to pour a total of $2.5 billion in Indian real estate over the next five years. John Jacobsson, managing partner of Apollo, told the Reuters Real Estate Summit that his firm was looking to raise $500 million from investors and an additional $1 billion through loans to invest in the sub-continent.

“There’s a flood of capital going into places like India and China,” he stated. “We decided to focus our attention on India. ” Jacobsson added that India’s rapid economic development, established banking system and widespread use of English has made the Asian country an attractive investment location for the New York-based company.

The company will be targeting office and residential properties. “Office and residential is where our expertise fits well,” he continued. “Like China, it’s rapidly urbanizing. Maybe a couple of years down the line retail will be firing on all cylinders. There are so many cities that are growing rapidly that I can’t say we are ruling out one region or another.”

At the same conference, Robert Speyer, senior managing director of Tishman Speyer, said the company is moving aggressively to invest in India and has similar plans to be a player in China. “India is probably the most interesting place in the world right now,” he said. In January, the company announced a joint venture to invest more than $1 billion in India over the next three to five years. The investments in India will focus on both office and residential properties, he reported.

“So many of the companies we do business with in the United States and in Europe are opening businesses in India, and there is an incredible shortage of quality real estate there.”

The Tishman Speyer venture is looking at Bombay as well as its home base of Bangalore, but deals in half a dozen other major Indian cities are being scouted as well, Speyer said.