Milestone`s Rs 600 cr PE Fund on anvil

Milestone Capital Advisors, the real estate venture capital fund promoted
by Ved Prakash Arya, is planning to launch a private equity fund with
a corpus close to Rs 600 crore. The announcement will be made in a few
weeks.

The PE fund, the first from Milestone’s stable, will focus on sectors
such as education and infrastructure. "Right now, I am bullish
on these two sectors as there is lot of scope for companies to expand
and reach a mass base," said Ved Prakash Arya, managing director,
Milestone Capital Advisors.

Its fourth real estate fund – Milestone Domestic Fund Part-II – has
raised Rs 430 crore and will close shortly. The fund house is proposing
to raise Rs 500 crore from this fund. Despite the rough market weather,
the fund house’s track record and investment strategy have helped in
getting investor commitments, Arya said.

Realty funds have been finding it difficult to raise funds from high
networth individuals (HNIs) and institutions owing to a credit crisis
in the US, the impact of which has been felt in India as well.

Rising interest rates and curbs on external commercial borrowings have
added to the woes of real estate companies as well as funds. A correction
in the real estate sector has further soured the mood of investors like
PE funds towards this sector. The company currently manages four real
estate funds worth Rs 2400 crore.

Photo: A deluxe City bus in Chennai from Ashok Leyland by Aravind Sivaraj, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.