GIC Real Estate, the real estate investment division of the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation, is planning out a bigger game plan for India.
According to industry sources, the firm which runs a multi-billion dollar portfolio of direct and indirect property investments with all most 200 investments in over 30 countries is singling out a intelligent focus to leverage on the growth options that Indian real estate market offers.
GIC is understood to be closing two private equity deals in the present quarter. Additional to this, the company will start looking aggressively at the hospitality sector in the coming future.
To facilitate this, Reco Hotel, an affiliate of GIC Real Estate has formed a joint venture with Host Hotels & Resorts of US to explore investment opportunities in Asia and Australia.
The partners have approved to invest a maximum of $600 million of equity in the joint venture, which combined with the anticipated leverage provides total investment potential of $1.5 billion to $2 billion.
A spokesperson for GIC Real Estate said that there are increasing investment opportunities in both emerging and developed markets to build a substantial portfolio of hospitality-related assets in Asia. According to data from Venture Intelligence, a venture capital research firm in India, close to Three hundred million dollar was invested in hospitality sector over the last year, doubling from the previous year.
Indian hospitality companies like Leela Hotels & Resorts, Lemon Tree besides a few others had earlier absorbed private equity from funds like IDFC and Kotak. Royal Orchid Hotels is another Bangalore-based hospitality player expected to close a six hundred crores private equity deal during this quarter.