ALLY KEX Private Equity Trust, Thailand’s first real estate private equity trust to be available for individual investors, has received a seed funding of $2 billion baht ($55 million) from Thai-based mall developer K.E. Group, per an announcement. The capital will be used to invest in late-stage property projects whose developers are grappling with liquidity pressures, it said.
In a pandemic-led demand shift in the Thai property market, homebuyers have recoiled from condominiums and turned to suburban housing estates while many under-construction condo projects are left unsold, said ALLY KEX managing partner Panon Leelamanit in an exclusive interview with DealStreetAsia.
Stacking onto the financial strains are banks, naturally the main source of funding, which have become stricter in providing new or more loans, seizing the opportunity to purchase market-driven lands from developers.
“The post-pandemic period has created a unique environment where a strong cash position from developers can allow them to beat the next real estate cycle, where the next wave of growth is expected,” Leelamanit noted in a company release. “However, there is a mismatch between the financing environment and market situation. We feel this arbitrage is a prime moment for our investors to gain exposure from existing strong performing projects when developers are about to shift focus and risks to new post-pandemic segments and products.”
