Apollo raising $500 mln India fund

By Scott Malone

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Apollo Real Estate Advisors LP is raising a $500 million fund to invest in Indian properties, managing partner John Jacobsson said on Monday.

"There's a flood of capital going into places like India and China ... We decided to focus our attention on India," Jacobsson said at the Reuters Real Estate Summit in New York.

Jacobsson said India's rapid economic development, established banking system and widespread use of English has made the Asian country an attractive investment location for the New York-based company.

Presuming that the company is able to raise twice as much money through loans, that would allow Apollo to invest about $1.5 billion in Indian real estate, Jacobsson said.

The company's initial focus will be on office and residential properties, Jacobsson said.

"Office and residential is where our expertise fits well. Like China, it's rapidly urbanizing," Jacobsson said. "Maybe a couple years down the line retail will be firing on all cylinders."

The company has already lined up a couple of Indian investments that it will be making with its own capital in advance of raising the fund, he added.

"There are so many cities that are growing very rapidly that I can't say we are ruling out one region or another," Jacobsson said.

Jacobsson said Apollo's assets under management are currently evenly divided between properties in the United States and abroad, with the bulk of its foreign investments currently in Europe.