Hines Group Makes $250 Million Bet on India

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Hines, the Houston-based global real estate firm, announced the launch of Hines India Residential.

The purpose of Hines India Residential is to invest in multi-phased, for-sale residential developments that require long-term equity capital, with a particular focus in key urban centers of India, like the National Capital Region (NCR), the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), Bangaluru and Pune.

The program has an initial capitalization of more than $250 million, and its focus is to partner with local Indian developers. The partnership will leverage local partners' Indian experience and Hines global know-how in designing and developing differentiated residential products that creates value for end users.

Hines' local platform team, led by Country Head & Sr. Managing Director , Mr. Yash Gupta, will provide on-the-ground risk management, and a dedicated management team led by Senior Managing Director, Mr.  Leo Chen will provide investment management oversight in order to conceive and execute long-term, multi-phase development projects. The program will also benefit from Hines' global residential experience, which comprises more than 58,000 units (2.2 million square meters) in nine countries. By combining the best of Hines' global residential expertise with the local know-how of experienced local developers, the program aims to redefine the benchmark for quality in the Indian residential market.
 
Jeff Hines, President and CEO of the Hines Group said, "In emerging markets that are undersupplied in all asset classes, the execution of Hines' best practices by dedicated, local and long-tenured management teams results in a strict approach to risk management that is flexible for local conditions and ultimately delivers better performance for our investors."
 
Mr. Yash Gupta, Country Head & Sr. Managing Director of Hines India Limited,  added, "Hines is very pleased to add residential to our India platform and look forward to delivering a number of exciting projects in this sector. The early-stage availability and flexible duration of our equity commitments will reduce our projects' exposure to the market cyclicality that has plagued Indian residential development. Our approach should unlock and maximize land value."
 
Hines has been present in the India real estate market since 2006, where the firm manages approximately $455 million of property assets, including $230 million owned or controlled by Hines and its affiliates as of December 2013.