Actis a growth markets investor and Shapoorji Pallonji Real Estate a firm from India are set to launch a real estate joint venture in a bid to meet the demand for affordable and middle-income housing. Their area of focus will be the Sub-Saharan region but they will kick off the project in Kenya.
The joint venture seeks to capitalize on the demand for quality homes at affordable and competitive price points. They also want to bring to bear their large-scale institutional homebuilding expertise in an effort to manage their costs. At the moment, Actis manages the largest real estate private equity fund focused on sub-Saharan Africa.
Venkatesh Gopalkrishnan CEO, Shapoorji Pallonji Real Estate while commenting on the launch of the new platform, had this to say, “We are delighted to partner with Actis in the African residential market. This venture marks the continuation of a journey for Shapoorji Pallonji Real Estate in the sub-Saharan African Region. There is a huge demand for affordable and middle-income homes and the goal of the joint-venture platform will be to bridge the gap in this market and to exceed customers’ expectations.”
Koome Gikunda, Director at Actis had this to say, “Residential remains the largest real estate asset class globally. In a number of African markets, however, delivery is highly fragmented. There is a notable lack of institutional quality homebuilders with the expertise, capital and consumer trust to truly address the opportunity at scale. Actis’ joint venture with Shapoorji Pallonji seeks to remedy this in partnership with our local stakeholders.”