ICICI Venture (RE)

Funds managed

Fund name	Asset class – category	License
India Real Estate Investment Fund (IREIT)	Real estate	IN/AIF2/16-17/0271
India Advantage Fund Real Estate Series 1	Real estate
India Advantage Fund Real Estate Series 2	Real estate
HIOP Small Office Fund 1	Real estate	IN/AIF2/21-22/0880

Note: There is no publicly available data on HIOP Small Office Fund 1 and also the fund is not mentioned on the website. 

Could not find the license number for India Advantage Fund Real Estate Series 1 and India Advantage Fund Real Estate Series 2.

About

ICICI Venture was founded in 1988 as the Technology Development and Information Company of India Limited, through a joint venture between the ICICI Limited and Unit Trust of India. In 1998 it became a wholly-owned subsidiary of ICICI Limited and was renamed ICICI Venture Funds Management Company Limited. ICICI Venture is a pioneer in the Indian alternative asset management industry. The Company has invested across multiple economic cycles and has delivered superior risk-adjusted returns to its investors. ICICI Venture partners with leading Indian and Global Financial investors through various types of capital pools and investment strategies to deliver customized equity, debt and hybrid capital solutions for businesses with a strong India nexus.

History:

Source: https://www.iciciventure.com/

Key staff

Vikash Maskara (Principal): Vikash has over 13 years of investment banking and real estate private equity experience. Vikash worked as an analyst at JP Morgan Chase before joining ICICI Venture in January 2008. Vikash is a principal with ICICI Venture, where he has worked for the past 13 years. He has been involved in and completed numerous investments, as well as being actively involved in portfolio company monitoring and effectively exiting portfolio companies. Vikash is a Chartered Accountant with an MBA in Finance from the SP Jain Center of Management.

Source: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vikash-maskara-16b691a/

Puneet Bhatia (Senior Director): Puneet has around 25 years of diversified experience spread across Investment Banking, Private Equity, Lending, and Structured Finance in Indian real estate. Prior to joining ICICI Venture in August 2019, Puneet was Director and Head Investments at Mirae Global Investments heading all Real Estate Investment initiatives of the Group in India. His association with the Real Estate Industry dates back from 1994, the beginning of organized real estate Investment Banking, Consulting and Agency business in India. As one of the early-stage real estate professionals, he played a pivotal role in shaping markets, providing Agency services, working in International Property Consulting organizations and the largest private sector Bank as well as pioneering investment in Private Equity/Mezzanine finance (First FDI player to do Mezzanine Finance). In India, he has been amongst the key first set of employees in IPCs like Colliers International and Jones Lang LaSalle, Property Services Group in ICICI Bank, Wells Fargo (formerly Wachovia Bank), and Shapoorji Pallonji; having closely witnessed and worked through many economic cycles in India. In Private Equity/Mezzanine Finance, he has led a team of professionals to invest, manage and successfully exit ~USD 500 million at Wells Fargo and closed a ~USD 250 million with Canada Pension Plan and Investment Board while working at Shapoorji Pallonji Group. Puneet holds a Bachelor’s degree in B.Com (Honours) from Delhi University, ICWAI (Intermediate), and Diploma in Management from Indira Gandhi National Open University. Puneet is also an eminent member of RICS (The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors), Chairperson and Member of the Global list of Trained Assessors for RICS.

Pradeep Rohilla (Director): Pradeep has been with the ICICI group for more than 15 years and joined ICICI Venture in 2014. At ICICI Venture, Pradeep has jointly led the creation of the high-quality portfolio of IAF RE S2 and also its exits besides leading exits from the residual portfolio of IAF RE S1. Prior to joining ICICI Venture, Pradeep was instrumental in the establishment and scale-up of ICICI Home Finance Company (a subsidiary of ICICI Bank) which became a key player in the affordable housing market across 300+ cities on a pan India basis. Prior to this, Pradeep led the retail mortgages and real estate transaction & advisory business of ICICI Bank. He was a member of the core team that started the mortgage business of ICICI Bank and also led this business in various geographies across the country. Pradeep brings with him significant experience and client relationships in the Indian real estate industry. Pradeep holds a Bachelor’s degree in BSc (Honours) – Electronics from Delhi University and MBA in Marketing.

Investment philosophy:

Could not find any

Investment strategy (Real estate): India is rapidly urbanizing. This is also being driven by the “demographic dividend” on account of a relatively large population entering or projected to enter the workforce. India’s urban population is expected to grow to 600 million in 2030, and meeting the demands of growing cities will require housing, office space, retail malls, etc. ICICI Venture RE seeks to leverage certain key growth drivers for the Indian RE industry including higher spending for household assets especially in particular Affordable Housing segment, significant impetus from the Government for the Housing industry, better availability of finance, changing real estate developer profiles, and reforms implemented in the last few years, especially the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act 2016. ICICI Venture RE is uniquely placed to provide be-spoke private debt financing solutions (and historically even private equity solutions) for developers. Given ICICI Bank’s dominant presence in the Indian real estate market, ICICI Venture RE leverages Group linkages in various areas such as construction financing, housing finance, property services, etc.

Media

ICICI Venture in talks to raise multiple funds, focus on new-age firms – September 13, 2021

https://www.vccircle.com/icici-venture-in-talks-to-raise-multiple-funds-focus-on-new-age-firms/

ICICI Venture, the alternative investment arm of ICICI Bank, is in talks to raise multiple funds in a bid to diversify its investments…(The full story is not available)

ICICI Venture eyes digital start-ups, real estate fund of $300-400 million – June 14, 2021

https://www.business-standard.com/article/companies/icici-venture-eyes-digital-start-ups-real-estate-fund-of-300-400-million-121061400026_1.html

ICICI Venture has decided to invest in digital start-ups and is considering setting up a separate fund for this purpose. It is also looking at setting up a new fund in real estate of around $300-400 million to leverage the post-covid-19 requirements in the commercial space. The leading private equity player is re-entering the start-up space after around two decades.

ICICI Venture to raise Rs 500-cr realty fund – December 26, 2016

https://www.business-standard.com/article/companies/icici-venture-to-raise-rs-500-cr-realty-fund-116122600032_1.html

Raising a new realty fund after five years gets an in-principle nod from Sebi. The total corpus of the domestic fund would be Rs 500 crore and the fund would mostly invest in residential real estate projects. “Some of their last investments have made returns of 19-20 percent, which is pretty decent. That’s why they are looking to raise a new fund,” the source said. 

ICICI Venture raises $700 mn in 2012 – February 16, 2013

https://www.business-standard.com/article/finance/icici-venture-raises-700-mn-in-2012-113011000124_1.html

In 2012, it successfully closed a $100-million (Rs500 crore) second real estate fund, the India Advantage Fund Real Estate Series 2. Through its real estate and other funds, it raised $700 million last year. I-Ven also manages the $550-million India Advantage Fund Real Estate Series 1. This fund is fully committed across 13 investments.

ICICI Venture fundraising hits roadblock – July 10, 2009

https://www.financialexpress.com/archive/icici-venture-fund-raising-hits-roadblock/487471/

ICICI Venture, Indias largest private equity firm, has run into difficulties in securing commitments from some key investors for the $841-million India Advantage Fund Series 2. The investors have said they were not informed about recent changes in the company’s management and have, therefore, triggered a clause in their agreement allowing them to hold back their committed funds.

Analyst questions

1. What is the investment philosophy of the company? Why it is not mentioned on the website?
2. Why isn’t there any information regarding the new HIOP Smart Office Fund I available to the public? Also, why isn’t the fund mentioned on the website?

Reference: https://www.iciciventure.com/

Prepared by – Pooja Jajoo