PrivateEquityRealEstate.

com
June 2008 Volume 4, Issue 5

The young
and the
restless
In compiling our list of 10 so-called
“emerging managers,” PERE polled
many limited partner, advisory and other
market sources in search of relatively
new GP groups that were nevertheless
led by truly experienced investment aces.
Many were founded by names you’ve
heard about already, from Blackstone’s
John Kukral to Dan Niedich, formerly of
Goldman Sachs’ Whitehall Funds. Most
are established real estate professionals
who are setting off on their own franchise.
Some individual GPs are themselves quite
young, some less so. All, though, are
determined to shape the private equity
real estate world around them. The next
several pages profile tiger cubs that are
going to grow into fearsome competitors.

Ten to watch
Benson Elliot Capital Management
Doran Capital Partners
Dune Real Estate Partners
Harrison Street Real Estate Capital
Moor Park Capital
Northwood Investors
Perella Weinberg
Prosperitas
Red Fort Capital
26 PRIVATE EQUITY REAL ESTATE JUNE 2008
Samsara Capital
 PRIVATE EQUITY REAL ESTATE JUNE 2008

PrivateEquityRealEstate.com
June 2008 Volume 4, Issue 5

Red Fort Capital

A family affair
Firm: Red Fort Capital
Headquarters: New Delhi
Founded: 2006
Key team members: GB Singh, son Parry Singh and Subhash Bedi
Funds: Red Fort India Real Estate Fund I, closed 2007 on $375 million
Red Fort India Real Estate Fund II, targeting $795 million

Over the past few years, so many first-time Indian real estate funds have been formed
that it can often be difficult to keep track. Whether its Indian companies establishing
domestic real estate funds or domestic firms establishing funds for foreign investors,
institutions looking to get a piece of the India building boom action have a variety of
places to turn. One of these new fund managers is Red Fort Capital, formed two years
ago by the former chief executive officer and president of the Construction Division for
DLF, GB Singh. In many ways it was Singh’s history with DLF, India’s largest real estate Singh: high profile and deep connections
developer that separated Red Fort from the crowd and has brought the firm a great deal
of media attention in India. Singh launched the firm along with his son Parry Singh, former managing partner of American Capital
Realty, and Parry’s friend Subhash Bedi, former managing partner of Krista International. The three had an idea early on to tap into
the growing foreign investor interest in Indian real estate by forming an FDI-compliant real estate vehicle. The firm launched its
first fund, a RS15 billion ($375 million) vehicle called Red Fort India Real Estate Fund I, at the end of last year. Already that fund,
with an anticipated lifespan of eight years, has been almost fully committed, having invested in several projects of the Bangalore-
based Prestige Group and a township project of the Hyderabad-based Indu Group. Now the firm is busy raising a follow-on fund,
Red Fort India Real Estate Fund II, which is targeting RS32 billion ($795 million). A second fund close is expected this summer.
Fund manager Subhash Bedi says the firm is expecting returns of 30 percent for the second fund. But with so many young firms
crowding the Indian landscape, why has Red Fort been generating so many headlines? One factor is that its founder is so high-
profile and has such deep connections to India’s largest developer it means that everyone is interested in what they’re targeting.
They also have the unique position of being a fund with foreign money and being run by someone with some of the best “inside
information” on the domestic front. “I love these guys,” one US placement agent said. “They’re true real estate professionals.”