New Delhi, June 2 -- Hyderabad-based infrastructure developer Meenakshi Group, which operates across the real estate and clean energy sectors, has ventured into the alternative investment segment with the launch of Meenakshi Alternates (M-Alts).

The new financial services arm has floated its first Category II alternative investment fund (AIF), the Meenakshi Real Assets Fund, with a corpus of Rs 700 crore (around $82 million), including a Rs 350 crore greenshoe option. Meenakshi Group said in a release Monday that it has pledged up to 20% of the fund's corpus as sponsor capital.

The announcement comes nearly four months after VCCircle first reported in February that the Meenakshi Group was on the verge of setting up of M-Alts. The report had said that Meenakshi Group had hired Amit Upadhyay, a former executive at Axis Asset Management Company's alternative division, as chief investment officer at M-Alts.

The new fund will focus on real estate investments across Tier I cities in India, adopting a hybrid debt-equity strategy. It intends to invest in six to eight high-potential projects over a six-year period, with investments of up to Rs 70 crore per deal. The fund will target self-liquidating assets in high-growth micro-markets, prioritizing established developers to balance steady cash flows with equity upside.

According to Mahesh Katragadda, CEO of M-Alts, the fund has three deals under due diligence and has secured early commitments from the group's network and select investors.

Founded in 1992, the Meenakshi Group has built residential parks, business parks and highways and townships across Hyderabad as well as power plants in Andhra Pradesh and Orissa.

It has a portfolio spanning 13 million sq. ft. of delivered real estate, 9.5 million sq. ft. under development, 371 MW of power projects, and over 650 lane kilometers of highways.

The Meenakshi Group also runs a sector-agnostic venture investment arm, Meenakshi Multiples Global, that invests in startups and small and medium companies through the group's family office.

Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from VC Circle.