JLL Strengthens Its Investment Services & Capital Markets Business With Senior Level Appointments In India

JLL India, today announced the appointment of a slew of market leaders for strategic positions in its real estate investment and capital market services business. Hardeep Dayal has been appointed as Chief Operating Officer (COO), Capital Markets; Amit Gupta as Head, Debt Markets and Mohammed Aslam as Head, Mid-Markets.

The Firm in India has a proven track record of successfully concluding some of India’s landmark investment deals over the last 5 years, and lately was instrumental in facilitating groundbreaking transactions such as CPPIB’sinvestment in IndoSpace, Allianz Real Estate’s platform creation with Shapporji Pallonji, four of Godrej Properties’ JVs on the residential space and commercial JVs for K. Raheja Corp, Prestige Group and RMZ Corp. to name a few.

With India realty increasingly on the priority list of global investments, the incoming leaders will not only ensure that JLL augments its service capabilities and fortifies its undisputed market leadership, but will also continue to be at the forefront of such industry redefining deals.

Hardeep Dayal, appointed as COO for Capital Markets, is an industry veteran with over two decades of expertise in M&A, Real Estate Investment Banking, Development Management, Sales & Marketing of Investments & Dispositions, Private Equity Syndication, Fund Raising & Management, Investment Advisory, JV structuring, Investor management, Portfolio Management, Asset Sale and exit strategies.

In his new role, Hardeep will be responsible for creating a strong functional base and operating guidelines to reinforce the Firm as an Integrated Investment Banking unit. He will also drive business operations and go-to-market strategies to reinforce the Firm’s capabilities. With his innate understanding of India’s investment space, Hardeep will also be a member of JLL’s India Leadership Council (ILC).

In his earlier roles, Hardeep was Principal – Investments, Fund Raising & Investor Relations at ICICI Ventures, Founding Member & Head at ICICI Property Services as well as EVP & Head of Real Estate at Mumbai International Airport.

Amit Gupta, appointed as Head – Debt Markets, will focus on debt syndication for the developer community, which is currently the flavour of the season. Amit will spearhead the practice by providing advisory and facilitating transactions for clients raising debt for acquisitions, refinancing and restructuring.

Further, he will be responsible for organizing borrowings as well as providing access to a global pool of investors looking for such opportunities. He is highly regarded as a Specialist Commercial Real Estate Banker and has a deep understanding of REITS and Commercial Mortgaged Backed Securities.

Amit brings to the Firm 15 years of rich experience in real estate and corporate lending with stints in global and Indian banks like HSBC, Standard Chartered Bank, BNP Paribas and Axis Bank. In his previous role, Amit was the Head of Commercial Real Estate Finance and Structured Banking at HSBC India.

Mohammad Aslam, a long timer with JLL has taken on a new role as the Head – Mid Markets. He will be responsible for addressing the investment and development side funding requirements in tier 2 &3 markets as well as mid to smaller development companies in larger cities.

Aslam holds strong relationships with Developers, Investors, all leading Banks, NBFCs and HFIs. More importantly, this is an institutional property consultant’s first foray into the mid-tier real estate investment segment for small and medium clients operating in India’s hinterland, a sector currently served by the unorganised broker community.

With JLL stepping into this segment, the aim will be to drive transparency as well as provide clients with best practices and channelize investments from the larger financing principals. Aslam’s expertise lies in building cross-functional teams and collaborating with leadership, in order to identify and leverage growth opportunities.

In his new role, Aslam will focus on creating opportunities for small to mid-development companies and support them in raising capital. He will also enable capital deployment for larger investment firms towards peripheral and tier two markets with highly rated development companies. Aslam has previously held key positions in Citibank and ABN AMRO. Aslam was previously the Deputy COO at JLL’s Residential Services arm.

Ramesh Nair, CEO and Country Head, JLL India commented, “These strategic appointments will reinforce JLL’s presence in the country and give us an edge in the coming year. We are committed to exploring new formats and avenues to channelise real estate investments in order to drive more precious liquidity into the currently volatile realty ecosystem. As India leaps forward in becoming more attractive to global capital, we welcome the opportunity to be at the forefront in channelizing incoming and domestic investments within the India realty space. I am delighted to welcome Hardeep, Amit and Aslam to their new roles. Their talent, coupled with expanding opportunities in the Indian market today, is sure to be a winning combination for JLL India’s Investment Services and Capital Markets team.”  

“Real estate investment avenues in India have experienced a paradigm change in the last few years. Post the 2008–09 financial crisis, the market has now witnessed record levels of investments. Asset allocation to real estate has witnessed increased interest, both internationally and in India, with the country evolving as a prominent global investment destination. Even more so, with the volatility, structuring and consolidation being witnessed in the market, not to mention the need for channelizing liquidity,” added Ramesh.

The investment market for real estate has been growing exponentially with the government allowing 100% FDI in real estate along with relaxations in norms for raising ECBs and QIPs for the sector. FDI in real estate was estimated to be over 8% of the total FDI with over US$ 257 million raised in April – September 2017 alone.

In the same space, Private Equity investments have also remained robust, recording investments of US$ 6,400 in 2017. The next 10 years (2017 – 2026) are projected to see investments to the tune of US$ 58 billion. The growth of PEs in real estate is estimated at 10% CAGR with Tier 1 and Tier 2 cities being the prime beneficiaries.

In the past 12 years (2006 – 2017) India has received investments of US$ 42 billion. Renewed interest in the sector with key policy changes have brought in transparency and maturity in the markets besides an expected rapid pace of growth in the sector on the whole.