ICICI Venture to launch Rs1,000-cr real estate fund

ICICI Venture, the venture capital firm promoted by ICICI Bank, intends to roll out a Rs1,000-crore domestic real estate fund by May end to invest in residential projects in the country.

The firm plans to close the fund in 6-12 months and invest in top five-seven cities. It was also looking to launch an offshore fund by the end of this year.

ICICI Venture has $550-million (over Rs2,500 crore) under management in domestic and offshore real estate funds.

With its latest fund, ICICI Venture will join a long list of fund managers and developers that are launching domestic funds. Fund houses such as Ajay Piramal group-promoted Indiareit, Aditya Birla Financial Services, Motilal Oswal and developers such as Unitech and Ackruti City are either planning or have launched property funds worth a total of Rs7,500-crore.