He told Business Standard that the new investment fund will focus on distressed assets, which are acquired below the market level. “The fund will have €100 million available, for a start, and we will focus on properties worth over €10 million,” he said. The fund’s shareholders are British and U.S. investors, and Singh will handle its management. Singh stepped down as Copper Beech CEO this April, as the company was undergoing a restructuring process, with half of its employees laid off. He will also exit the company as shareholder.
“Diwaker Singh owns one share in each of our 16 projects, and he must return these, except for the Blue Tower share,” Copper Beech President, Dinesh Dhamija, said. The Blue Tower real estate project is the only one that is near completion at this time. Copper Beech is currently in talks to recruit two new managers. In 2007, when the developer was launched on the local market, it planned to develop 16 residential projects, totaling 17,000 housing units. The investment budget was estimated at €2.5 billion at the time.
By the end of 2007, the company signed a financing agreement worth €575 million with Banca Comerciala Romana (BCR) lender, controlled by Austrian Erste group. The funds were to be used when the company’s second project was to be launched. However, the company froze all projects last year and the loan was not accessed. “We have a document, but I do not know how much it is worth now,” Dhamija added.
