Ivanhoe unit of CDPQ plans to augment India’s real estate investments

The real estate unit of Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec (CDPQ), Ivanhoe Cambridge wants to make its current investment commitments of C$800 million ($631 million) in India more than a double in the short term.

On March 7, the unit President of the real estate branch of Canada’s second-largest pension fund manager, Daniel Fournier said in an interview that the unit wants to grow its residential investments and logistics. However, he did not stated any exact time frame.

The President said, “If it takes a year, it takes a year. The second we have the opportunity.”

He informed that the challenge persisting in India is finding the sites.

Fournier said, “In India, strangely enough you have all the users. You’ve got to find the land.”

As the International Monetary Fund predicts that India would regain the title of the world’s fastest growing major economy this year. Although India lost the title to China last year, the latest prediction have made pension funds and other investors interested in the country’s market.

Elder son of the U.S. President, Donald Trump, was also in India that week for his trip to encourage buyers for his luxurious residential projects in various cities.

According to the recent estimations by JLL, a real estate services firm, between 2017 and 2026 private equity pouring into Indian real estate is likely to push nearly $60 billion in investments.

Previous year, country’s biggest public pension fund, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB), said that it would invest $500 million in a mutual venture with Indian property developer IndoSpace. The idea behind this was to buy and develop logistics facilities in India.

Previously, the CPPIB has decanted over C$4 billion ($3.16 billion) into the real estate and other big investments in India.

According to local media reports, in 2017, the local real estate investment arm of the private equity giant, KKR India Asset Finance has also committed over $500 million to residential projects in India. The company has taken its overall bets in real estate in the country to more than $1 billion.