BlackSoil Capital

Funds managed

Fund Name	Asset Class	License
Walton Street BlackSoil Real Estate Debt Fund-1	Real Estate	AIF CAT 2
BlackSoil Realty Fund	Real Estate	AIF CAT 2

About

BlackSoil is a Mumbai-based specialised debt financing non-banking finance firm. It was founded in 2010. The company was initiated with a mission to pioneer unique advisory and financing solutions for startups, developers, as well as high-growth companies. They offer these institutions structured lendings, fundraising and restructuring. Blacksoil’s ticket size varies between Rs 5 lakh to Rs 25 crore per deal.

Key staff

• Mohinder Bansal is the founding partner and chairman of blacksoil group.He provides management and corporate advisory to clients along with assisting in various formats of capital raising and restructuring Mohinder is a CA with over 30 years of experience and has advised corporates like Allcargo Global Logistics, Navneet Education, Prince Pipes, EduHold NV, Amforge Industries and Bank of Punjab with M&A, capital markets, fund management, and portfolio integration. He also serves on the board of six notable companies.
• Ankur Bansal is the Co-founder and Managing Director of BlackSoil Group. He leads the execution efforts across our large corporate clients in strategic discussions, idea origination, M&A execution, investment thesis, and negotiations. Ankur is a CFA and a CA with a large network of venture capitalists, private equity investors, institutional investors, and investment bankers and has extensive investment banking experience with major banks such as JP Morgan, Citi, and JM Morgan Stanley.

• Jatin Chokshi is CA, CS, and a member of the ICAI. He has 35 years of experience in finance, accounts, taxation, investments, and treasury management in Shipping, Logistics, Chemicals and Consumer Durables industries. He has worked with J. M. Baxi & Co., Real Value Appliances Ltd. and served as VP – Finance & Accounts with BASF, a German MNC. He joined Allcargo Logistics, a part of Avvashya Group in 2001 and heads in various capacities – Finance Controller, CEO of a business vertical, Group Chief Investment Officer and CFO of Allcargo Logistics. He has facilitated integration of Group’s financial activities and is a key member for building new projects, Investments, Treasury, and Taxation. He has handled numerous mergers, demergers, restructuring, and acquisitions of the Group. He heads treasury operations for deployment of surplus funds into Money Markets and deals with Managers of Family Offices, MFs, PMSs, and Alternate funds.

Investment philosophy

The website is not clear on the investment philosophy but outlines the process –

Analysis: Their sector agnostic cash-flow based underwriting models ensure that new age companies and traditional business can be effectively underwritten. 

Investment committee approval: Their investment committee comprises industry veteran including management of sponsors and their representative of key investors. Each deal is approved by this committee before closure. 

Due diligence: Their technology enables due diligence process that ensures a deep dive into the company and promoters

Legal documentation and closure: Working with a team of external advisors, lawyers and consultants structures the deal ensures smooth repayment and borrower needs are met.

Investment monitoring: They have a developed monitoring framework that is used to ensure borrower health on multiple dimensions including repayment, covenant business model, reputation and future fund raise.

Deal exit: Timely exit from the deal ensures that the portfolio churn is maintained and can be reinvested

Walton Street BlackSoil Real Estate Debt Fund-I

An India-focused real estate debt fund seeking to invest in residential real estate projects across Indian metro cities. The fund is in partnership with a Chicago-based real estate PE firm who have been active in India since 2007, thereby leveraging its experience.

Type – AIF CAT 2

Size – INR 320 CR

Status – Investing

Focus Markets

Mumbai

Bangalore

Hyderabad                                

Blacksoil Realty Fund

An India-focused real estate debt fund seeking to invest in residential real estate projects across Indian metro cities

Type – AIF CAT 2

Size – INR 160 CR

Status – Invested

Focus Market 

   Mumbai

Media

https://www.vccircle.com/walton-street-blacksoil-tie-up-for-realty-fund-raise-30-mn-for-first-close

The Indian arm of the US-based real estate private equity firm Walton Street Capital and Mumbai-based realty investment firm BlackSoil have tied up for a sector-focussed fund that has a target corpus of Rs 300 crore ($45 million). The funds will be used to invest in secured debt instruments issued by established developers which are mainly engaged in construction and development of residential real estate in cities such as Mumbai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad, the companies said.

It would partner with developers which have established track records in their respective micro markets, enjoy a healthy credit profile, have all the approvals in place and their projects are priced for mid-market and affordable housing.

Analyst questions

• What is the company’s investment philosophy and how it has evolved over time?
• What growth do you see of the real estate market in the future?

Prepared by – Meet Joshi, June, 2021.