“The money was invested against a portfolio of real estate projects and the builder has already drawn down Rs 200 crore,” Varde Partners statement said, the builder is in talks to buy a 45-acre land parcel at Kelambakkam Road, Chennai.

Varde Partners, a US-based alternative investment fund (AIF) has invested Rs 400 crore in Casagrand Builder, a Chennai-based real estate developer for land purchase in Chennai for development. “The money was invested against a portfolio of real estate projects and the builder has already drawn down Rs 200 crore,” one of the person aware of the deal said.

The builder is in talks to buy a 45-acre land parcel at Kelambakkam Road, Chennai.

“The land belonged to a Dutch firm and has been sold for over Rs 3 crore per acre,” said the person quoted above.

The deal comes after Rs 440 crore investment made by Varde Partners recently in an Omaxe Group project in Delhi-NCR.

Apart from this investment, the US-based AIF has also invested in two commercial projects of Phoenix Group in Hyderabad and has also acquired a commercial building from Lodha Group for around $1 billion in 2020.

Casagrand propose to develop a mid-income multi-storey apartment project on the Kelambakkam road, priced at Rs 4,000 per sq. ft. and upward.

CBRE, the transaction advisor, Casagrand and Varde Partners could not be reached for comments.

Last month, the Chennai-based builder had bought 20 acres of land in Perambur, Chennai from PVP Venture.

“It had purchased eight acres outright while the remaining land is under JDA (joint development agreement),” a person in the know said. “Casagrand is looking to buy more land in the south to expand its residential portfolio.”

Recently, the builder had received funding of Rs 1,200 crore from international investors including Apollo Global and KKR.

Casagrand aims to achieve a sales target of Rs 3,750 crore this fiscal, up from Rs 2,300 crore in 2021-22. It will add 25 million square feet of residential property by 2024 and 5 million square feet of office projects.

The top builders in the country are seeing a continuous rise in homebuyer inquiries and conversions in recent months owing to improved consumer sentiment.

In its latest report- India Real Estate, Knight Frank India shows: H1 2022 (January – June 2022) cited that the Chennai residential market registered a 21% Year on Year (YoY) growth in sales in H1 2022. The city recorded sales of 6,951 housing units in H1 2022 compared to 5,751 housing units sold in H1 2021. The new home launches also increased by 40% YoY from 5,424 housing units in H1 2021 to 7,570 housing units in H1 2022.

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