Microfinance Focus, August 26, 2011: Global alternative asset manager, The Carlyle Group will invest US$26 million alongside existing investors in India’s Value & Budget Housing Corporation (VBHC), an affordable housing construction and development company to support building one million affordable homes in urban India.

VBHC is a Bangalore based real estate Company with Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC) as an anchor equity investor. It has developed an affordable housing project “Vaibhava” in Bangalore and has a vision of building one million affordable homes over ten years.

VBHC is setting up an expansive network of integrated housing projects nationwide and is working on improving the construction process and build scale through standardization.

India has a strong unmet demand for affordable housing in India, which is estimated at more than US$200 billion and is expected to grow quickly due to urbanization, increasing number of nuclear families, rising income levels and strong desire for home ownership.

Avendus Capital served as the sole financial advisor to the Company for the transaction.