Saffron Asset Advisors, a Mumbai-based private equity player, is planning investments worth about $100 million in real estate projects across the country within a couple of months.

The PE firm, with major focus on real estate, has already raised $105 million of its $250-million Saffron India Real Estate Fund I, which is expected to close by the end of this year. The real estate fund has an anchor investment of $75 million from Standard Life, UK.

?There would be about five-six investments with deal size ranging from $5-25 million in residential projects across tier-I cities such as Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi and Hyderabad,” said Ajoy Veer Kapoor, founder and managing director, Saffron Asset Advisors.

Saffron has plans to raise sector-specific funds in areas of agriculture, cleantech and hospitality by next year. ?Our primary focus is investing the entire fund by the first quarter of next fiscal, after which a decision on the new funds would be taken,” he added, refusing to disclose the size of the new funds.

Apart from the real estate fund, Saffron manages another fund, Yatra Capital, which had raised Euro 220 million through two public offers in 2006 and 2007 and completely invested in the Indian real estate with a portfolio of 16 investments.

Yatra Capital Ltd has been listed on Euronext, Amsterdam.

Last month, PE deals in real estate accounted for 52% of the total deals in terms of deal values. The top two PE deals also took place in this sector ? Red Fort Capital?s $31-million investment in 3C Company?s residential project in Greater Noida, and Old Lane Fund partners? $25-million investment in Lodha Group?s project in Mumbai.

As per a Grant Thornton India study, the real estate and infrastructure sector witnessed a good number of PE deals during the first six months of the year.

The top four deals in this sector accounted for more than 37% of the total deal values of the period. There were 16 deals with a value of $1.61 billion for the half year ended June, against 32 deals valued at $2.15 billion for the corresponding period in 2008 in this sector.