NEW DELHI, June 11: Student housing startup Oxfordcaps on Thursday said it has partnered with PE firm Cerestra Advisors to own and operate facilities for educational institutions, and the joint venture will invest USD 125 million to acquire beds across India.
Cerestra Advisors is a private equity firm founded in 2015 by Jasmeet Chhabra and Vishal Goel with a focus on investing in core edu-Infra.
The joint venture will run its operations under the brand name ‘CUIB’ and targets to close 25,000 beds in six-eight months, Oxfordcaps COO and co-founder Priyanka Gera said.
“We have entered into a joint venture with Cerestra to focus on on-campus and near-campus student housing centres. The off-campus centres will be underwritten by educational institutions,” she told PTI.
Gera said the USD 125 million fund would be infused by Cerestra to acquire beds, while Oxfordcaps will manage these properties.
She declined to disclose the shareholding of the two partners in the JV firm.
“Oxfordcaps, the parent company, expects to get an additional revenue of Rs 200 crore annually from this new JV,” Gera said.
Oxfordcaps, which currently has 10,000 beds across 10 cities, posted a revenue of around Rs 110 crore last fiscal year, she said.
Oxfordcaps is backed by Kalaari Capital and Times Internet among others and has so far raised USD 15 million.
The JV will acquire, operate, and develop student housing infrastructure, by partnering with various educational institutions.
Annu Talreja, CEO, Co-Founder, Oxfordcaps said: “Joining forces with Cerestra will give both of us an edge to emerge as the most efficient entity to provide educational institutions a one-stop-shop for acquisition, operation, and development of on-campus and near-campus student accommodation.”
Cerestra has set aside USD 125 million or investments in student housing Infrastructure, and CUIB targets to close 25000 beds, a company statement said.
“We have been on the lookout for like-minded partners who understand operating the student housing space,” said Jasmeet Chhabra, Managing Partner, Cerestra.
Oxfordcaps, a unit of Scholar Alley Pvt. Ltd, has operations in India and Singapore.
Cerestra Advisors has a portfolio of over USD 150 million assets under their edu-Infra vertical with a robust pipeline of another USD 200 million for investing in the same asset class. (PTI)
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