US-based Interups Inc, which invests in assets on behalf of investors, is looking to acquire 2,000 high-end residential apartments in India at a cost of $1 billion (about Rs 7,400 crore) at a time when the property market has been hit hard by the Covid-induced slowdown.
The company has already signed an MoU with Phoenix Group for acquiring 58 apartments at Rs 504 crore in Phoenix Kessaku in Bengaluru and is looking to acquire similar assets in Gurgaon, Hyderabad, Chennai, and Mumbai.
“These apartments are planned as residential work-from-home suites for CXOs of global corporations visiting Bangalore or India. We are in discussions with a Category II AIF from a bank of high repute to run the two towers under its ownership,” said LaxmiPrasad, chairman and CEO at Interups Inc.
“The AIF in turn shall later become a sponsor to the REIT along with a couple of other residential assets that we are negotiating in Mumbai and Delhi,” Prasad added. Housing units at Phoenix Kessaku are 7,000 to 8,000 sq ft and the company will spend an additional Rs 340 crore to upgrade the units. Phoenix group declined to comment on the deal.
“The REIT in turn rents these assets as fully serviced work-from-home facility to the executive management rank with executive office, secretariat, conference rooms, presentation theatres and lounge. Service staff shall cover full operational service needs of the residents and include in-house butlers, secretarial, legal, financial, PR & liaison and armed security, all on site available 24×7,” Prasadsaid.
The company has started identifying and negotiating with developers across Chennai, Bengaluru, Mumbai, and Gurgaon to buyout residential apartments en masse and convert them into work-from-home apartments connected and serviced by technology and system integration.
“Given the pandemic situation, we opine this as the most appropriate time for buying out unsold inventory, place them into an REIT and rent as full service apartments for corporate firms. We are gearing up to institutionalise residential living,” he said,
With a fund focus of $10.80 billion for 2020-21, Interups is also looking for opportunity in the hospitality segment. The company currently advises 27,000 plus self directed retirement asset accounts in the US under its tax advisory.
Additionally, they represent a few strategic investors on their investment focus, with specific attention to India. Investors are now looking at investing their surplus into Indian realty and certain financially viable opportunity assets.
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