‘Affordable homes business’ is going to be the next big trend in Indian real estate sector. Global private equity firm Warburg Pincus will invest $75 million in Unique Affordable Homes Pvt Ltd, part of the Jaipur-based Mannat Group company. The company will build affordable housing projects in North and Western India. In its first pure play real estate deal in india, Warburg Pincus will provide an initial equity line of up to $ 75 million to the venture. The deal was facilitated by Asipac. AZB & Partners provided legal advice to Warburg Pincus, while Chir Amrit Law Chambers assisted Unique Builders on the transaction.
Unique Builders, since its founding in 2003, has completed nine real estate projects – four residential and five commercial projects – mostly in Rajasthan. The company has a large land bank in Jaipur and its surrounding areas, and it plans to launch more projects in the residential, corporate/commercial and township sectors.
Unique Builders is now venturing into affordable homes with modern amenities on a large scale. The first of such projects under this joint venture with Warburg is MyHaveli @ Mannat-1, a 3,510-condo multi-family high-rise community project on Ajmer Road, which was launched in November 2007. The venture intends to invest approximately $150 million in this seed project. The company also has similar projects on the drawing board at two other locations in Jaipur, as well as in a number of other cities across Rajasthan, according to a release.
The firm’s past and current investments in India include Bharti Airtel (formerly Bharti Tele-Ventures), Ambuja Cement, Alliance Tires, Dainik Bhaskar, Gangavaram Port, Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC), Havells India, Kotak Mahindra, Max India, Moser Baer, Nicholas Piramal, Punj Lloyd, Lemon Tree Hotels and WNS Global Services.