Real estate advisory and investment company Certus Capital has lined up Rs 500 crore of investment for its debt platform Earnnest.me. The company said that it is largely focusing on the Western and Southern Indian market.
“Private credit has played a major role in the real estate segment, as funds from NBFC dried up. We provide growth capital at all stages of development to developers with credibility,” Ashish Khandelia, founder, Certus Capital told FE.
Certus was founded in 2018. Earnnest.me is its digital neo-financing platform.
Khandelia said that the residential segment was attracting maximum private credit and that’s what the company is focused on. He said several HNIs had evinced interest in secured debt investing platforms, as the returns are to the tune of 14-15%.
India has bagged $5 billion worth of private credit investments with real estate sector accounting for about 30% of it, as per industry estimates.
The company said that it is focused on domestic HNI investments through Earnnest.me. “We created this secured debt investing platform to channelise investments from the domestic markets”.
Private credit products are structured as close-ended credit-focused alternate investment funds (AIFs) that could offer 14-20% returns per annum, while locking in investors’ capital for a defined period of time.
Khandelia said Earnnest has already made four investments across Mumbai, Pune and Chennai. “We will be shortly closing five to six transactions worth Rs 500 crore in residential real estate in Western and Southern Indian markets,” Khandelia added.
He said that more than 300 investors have invested in various secured credit opportunities through Earnnest.me.
The company claimed that it has reviewed real estate debt portfolio, aggregating to Rs 43,000 crore lying with various housing finance companies, NBFCs and developers to create liquidity.