US-based global real estate investment companies Walton Street Capital and Starwood Capital Group will buy 33 per cent each in a Rs5,000-crore ($1.2 billion) integrated township project in Kolkota. Shriram Properties, a leading South India-based developer — and is executing the project — will have the remaining 33.33 per cent stake in the project.

>The two American private equity firms, which together have invested over $10 billion worldwide, have successfully teamed up for the first time in this venture. The project is being developed on over 300 acres of land previously occupied by the Hindustan Motors plant in Uttarpara.

>When complete, it will offer about 20 million square feet (1.86 million sq metres) of residential, retail, office and civic infrastructure for sale and lease, Shriram Properties managing director M Murali told the media.

Walton Street and Starwood are looking for similar partnerships in India in future, as they seek to expand their footprints in the country''s real estate and hospitality sectors, across asset classes and geographical regions.

Billionaire Barry Sterlicht leads Starwood Capital, and Walton Street Capital is led by billionaire Neil Bluhm. The two real estate investment firms had earlier jointly bid for the US Equity Office Property Trust, which was eventually won by the Blackstone Group in February this year.

>The managing director of Walton Street Capital India Sourav Goswami said the internationally renowned architectural firm HOK would develop the master plan for the project.

>The managing director of Starwood Capital India Advisors Balaji Rao added that Starwood was committed to playing a strategic role in the alliance to create a world-class integrated township.

Shriram Properties executive director S S Asokan said work on the project would begin in January next year, and would be completed within five years.

also see : General reports on Banks & Financial Institutions