AnandRathi, one of India's leading and fastest growing full services securities firm today announced its entry in real estate private equity with the launch of the 'Real Estate Opportunities Fund' (AR REOF).

AR REOF is a close-ended fund for domestic and overseas investors with a targeted corpus of Rs500 crores and is targeted at high net worth individuals as well as financial institutions in India and overseas.

According to Amit Rathi, managing director, AnandRathi Securities said, "Due to the local nature of real estate and complexity of transactions, its not easy for an investor to invest on their own in different cities and locations. A real estate fund provides investors a platform to diversify their real estate investments in various markets".

The AnandRathi Realty Fund will invest in equity and equity-linked instruments of real estate companies and focus on growing markets in such as Pune, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai and other cities that are witnessing substantial urban development. The fund's investment strategy will focus on acquiring secured rental income producing real estate assets with quality blue chip tenants and picking up equity stakes in specific real estate projects being developed by reputed developers.

Says Sumit Anand, CEO, AR Venture Funds, "Our key investment decision variables will comprise the demand supply dynamics, the promoters background and the project fundamentals including a review of the exit options for the fund. The legal and title issues will be a critical area of due diligence for us in setting our investment criteria."

"Globally, real estate represents a considerable share of fund allocations by long-term institutional investors. In the US, Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) manage over USD 500 bn in real estate assets," continued Sumit Anand.

Anand Rathi (AR) is a rapidly expanding full-service securities firm founded in 1994 stock broker Anand Rathi to provide broking service to customers in Mumbai. The group operates through over 100 locations in India and its operations extend to Bangkok & Dubai as well.