Certus Capital invests Rs. 80 crore in Aakasa – a premium residential project in Mumbai

Mumbai, April 21, 2023:Certus Capital, an institutional real estate investment and advisory firm, has invested INR 80 crore in Aakasa – a premium residential project being developed by Techno Group, Fortune Realty and Gala in Mumbai’s upmarket Worli.

The project is located very close to the upcoming Ritz Carlton hotel and its revenue potential is upwards of INR 350 crores. The project has received all major approvals including RERA and this investment will be towards financing the construction of the project. This transaction was advised by Sushant Vaishnav, partner Siya Capital, a real estate focused investment banking firm.

With this transaction, Certus has invested more than INR 100 crores in this sub-market alone, over the last 6 months. Based on data from PropEquity, the aggregate sales value for this sub-market was in excess ~INR 7,000 crores and it accounted for 5 of Mumbai’s top 10 selling projects in CY2022.

Investments made by Certus are available for co-investment through its secured fixed income investment platform, Earnnest.me. Certus together with its team typically holds 5-10% while individuals, HNIs, family offices and financial institutions participate in the balance.

Commenting on the investment, Certus Capital and Earnnest.me’s Founder – Ashish Khandelia, said, “Real estate credit is our highest conviction theme at the moment driven by the robust rebound in residential sector and lack of capital availability. In general, there is a desperate need to deepen our bond markets given today, 98% of bond market participation is only in AAA and AA bonds. As we march towards a US$ 5 trillion economy, it will be imperative to democratise the credit access across the spectrum. Earnnest.me is an endeavour in this direction.”

More than 300 investors, with 50% repeat rate, have invested in such secured credit opportunities through Earnnest.me. In FY23, the cash-on-cash returned on investments available through Earnnest was more than 15%.
The team at Certus Capital draws strength from its immense cumulative know-how of closing more than US$3 billion in real estate investments across equity & debt transactions.

The company targets over Rs. 500 crore realty investment deals in one year, and over the last three years, the Certus team reviewed real estate debt portfolios aggregating to more than Rs 43,000 crores lying with various HFCs, NBFCs, and developers to create liquidity solutions for the same.