ASK Group Deploys Rs150 crore in Real Estate Projects

ASK Property Investment Advisors (ASK PIA), part of financial services firm ASK Group, Tuesday said it has committed Rs150 crore across two projects in Pune, as per news reports. Of this, Rs80 crore is for Kumar Properties’ residential project and Rs70 crore for Naiknavare Developers’ residential project Avon Vista. While the investment in Kumar Properties is from ASK PIA’s offshore fund, the latter is from its recently launched ASK Real Estate Special Situations Fund-I.

The projects are expected to together generate revenues of around Rs1,000 crore, ASK said. The Kumar Properties project in Pune’s Hadapsar has over 600 units and caters to the middle income segment.

In the second investment, Avon Vista is an approved middle-income focused residential project with over 500 units, close to the IT corridor of Hinjewadi.

ASK Group has a diversified portfolio of Rs40,000 crore of assets under management that includes a wealth management arm, property investment advisory, portfolio management services and a Singapore-based subsidiary called ASK Capital Management.

Sunil Rohokale, managing director and chief executive, ASK Group said, “At ASK Group, we take special care to minimise risk while delivering superior returns anchored on values of discipline, focus and synergistic approach aimed in achieving investor trust. An improvement in macro-economic conditions is likely to boost overall sentiments and confidence of homebuyers and drive the revival in residential demand. ’’

ASK Group has raised Rs492 crore ($82 million) for its maiden offshore fund and ASK PIA is currently raising its fifth fund of Rs2,000 crore, which is a special situations fund aimed to provide flexible and patient capital.

“Pune continues to garner interest from several domestic and multinational companies to set up and expand operations here. Pune has an advantage of proximity to financial centres and it is also the favourite destination for IT and manufacturing companies. Our focus on established suburbs and partnering with developers focussed on product and customer centricity continue to be our differentiators,” Amit Bhagat, managing director and chief executive, ASK PIA said.