Saroj Poddar-led Adventz Group, with diversified interests spanning agriculture, engineering, infrastructure, lifestyle and real estate, has entered into a joint venture with the Jalan family-owned Keventer Group to roll out a series of real estate developments across Calcutta and New Delhi, while actively seeking partnerships with institutional investors to scale up operations and accelerate growth.
The two families are pooling land parcels owned through their myriad entities together and also picking up new plots for development. The new entity, Adventz Keventer Realty Private Limited, is promising to be a corporatised and professional developer, aiming to be in league with national players originating from Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Chennai.
Speaking to The Telegraph, Saroj Poddar, chairman of the $3-billion Adventz group, pointed out that the Calcutta real estate market continues to be fragmented with limited presence of institutional professionally managed players. With the coming together of the two legacy groups, this is expected to change, he said.
“We are building this business with a long-term perspective — with patient capital, disciplined execution, and a clear intent to set new benchmarks in Calcutta’s real estate landscape. The joint venture already has a robust development pipeline of approximately 9 million square feet across residential, retail, and hospitality segments. Our ambition is to scale this footprint further — not just in Calcutta, but also in other strategic markets,” Poddar said.
The first project to roll out from the JV, being led by Mayank Jalan and Akshay Poddar, is a 2 million square feet high-rise residential development in Rajarhat, followed by a luxury residential project in South Calcutta.
It also hopes to launch two marquee projects in New Delhi in 2026, a low-rise super luxury 10-apartment project in Lutyens’ Delhi and a high-rise just outside the heritage zone, totalling 700,000 square feet.
In Calcutta, the JV is said to have emerged as the highest bidder in a National Company Law Tribunal led insolvency process for a land parcel belonging to Riverbank Developers Private Ltd in Batanagar. If approved by the lenders of Riverbank and ratified by NCLT, the JV may get access to a 50-acre plot.
Moreover, it is also in active discussion with potential sellers to pick up a 55-acre plot in Rajarhat for a township project and another plot on EM Bypass for a hotel and retail venture. Sources said the JV is aggressively scouting for new land parcels and preparing to launch bids when government institutions offer plots through a competitive process.
Pooling capital
Adventz-Keventer is looking at a two-pronged strategy to court institutional investors to scale business, realising that depending only on their own resources may hamstrung accelerated growth.
“We plan to establish a Category II Alternative Investment Fund (AIF) to pool capital for real estate development by the two groups. This integrated approach allows us to institutionalise the capital structure and accelerate our growth plans,” Poddar observed.
Apart from an AIF, it is also in advanced talks with Kotak Real Estate Fund, which sources say, may commit ₹750-800 crore to the JV. The fund may co-invest on a project basis with the JV, allowing Aventz Keventer to take up larger projects and compete with national players.