Coimbatore retirement homes developer attracts FDI

The Club House at Soundaryam and Santhosham Comfort and Retirement

 Home at Pachapalayam, a project promoted by Covai Property Centre in Coimbatore.

Photo — K. Ananthan

Source :BL:Yoganarayaanan:3 jan 2012

At a time when FDI in retail has generated so much heat, a Coimbatore-based real estate developer is on the verge of clinching a multi million dollar FDI deal for his senior citizens projects in the country with a US investor this week.

He is also open to the idea of launching similar projects in the US aimed at the Indian diaspora as he is confident that the experience gained in India could be used to meet the needs of ethnic Indians settled in the US as it would help the Indians domiciled there to house their elderly relatives in easy proximity to them rather than being separated from them in India.

Without naming the US company with whom he will be inking a deal or revealing how much his collaborator would be investing, Col (Retd) A. Sridharan, Managing Director, Covai Property Centre (India) Private Ltd, Coimbatore, said the US investor would be bringing in ‘millions of dollars' for a stake in the new company.

It would offer the much-needed expertise in assisted care and for providing mental care which are not available widely in India.

Quality services

He said his company, in the six years of its existence, has built about 200 units for senior citizens, mostly in the Coimbatore region, which has provided quality residential facilities to about 350 people.

The idea was to expand this to about 2,500 dwelling units by 2015, taking care of about 4,000 residents and to 5,000/6,000 units that could provide accommodation to about 8,000-9,000 senior citizens by 2018.

The total outlay for this would be in the region of Rs 1,200 crore in the next six years.

Community projects

Beginning in 2005 with 48 villas in Coimbatore, the company has taken up retirement communities' projects across eight cities including Coimbatore, Puducherry, Chennai where work has commenced.

In 2012, it plans to roll out projects in Hyderabad, Chennai, Mysore and Pune (Talegaon) and plans are on the anvil for launching a project in Bangalore.

He said his company has tied up with a US-based company for Assisted Living and Mental Care (dementia and alzheimer), which would offer ‘not only world-class care but also knowledge and training to our people'.

These would be created not only in cities where Serene Retirement Communities are being set up but also in other cities as well and the details would be made public next week.

However, his core company Covai Property Centre, would continue to promote real estate projects.

He said the US collaborator would bring in ‘millions of dollars' as private equity as the company had already invested in nearly eight ongoing projects, the returns from which would be shared proportionately by the two partners.

He said the main advantage of his projects was that these were freehold, and not leasehold properties.

The buyers would have the advantage of a buy-back offered by the company which they could take advantage of when they want to move to assisted living facility or continuous care facility by monetising their investment.

Col. Sridharan said the US outfit was well known for its expertise in the areas of Assisted Living and Mental Care.

Both the privately owned companies have swapped certain equity. While his company would take care of the Independent Living facilities and services, the US partner would provide its expertise in training the staff for assisted care and alzheimer care.

He was open to the idea of extending his services to the US where a large number of Indians were living, separated from their parents living in India and who may be left in senior citizens' homes.