Race for Goldman Sachs-backed Good Host Spaces: Alta Capital in lead to acquire India's largest student housing platform

Alta Capital, which is headquartered in Mumbai, is founded by ex-Blackstone executive Siddhartha Gupta. (Representative image)

Real estate and proptech-focused investment and asset management firm Alta Capital has emerged as the likely front-runner to acquire Good Host Spaces, the country's largest owner-cum-operator of purpose-built captive student housing, multiple industry sources in the know told Moneycontrol on October 12.

"Currently Alta Capital is seen to be in the lead for this deal which is expected to value the entire target, Good Host Spaces, between $300 mn and $350 million," said one of the persons.

Alta Capital, which is headquartered in Mumbai, is founded by ex-Blackstone executive Siddhartha Gupta.

In September 2017, Goldman Sachs picked up a significant majority stake of 75 percent in Good Host Spaces via a combination of primary and secondary transactions while private equity major Warburg Pincus purchased nearly 25 percent in April 2021 by giving an exit to HDFC Ltd.

A second person confirmed that Alta Capital may have edged ahead of other suitors and added that scaling up the operations of Good Host Spaces further would be key going ahead. Reports have named Brookfield Asset Management and Singapore's Keppel Corp as other contenders.

Both investors Goldman Sachs and Warburg Pincus are looking to exit completely if the deal fructifies, a third person said, but warned that these plans may change depending on deal discussions. Investment bank Goldman Sachs is the sell side advisor for the deal, this person elaborated.

All the three persons above spoke to Moneycontrol on the condition of anonymity.

Goldman Sachs declined to comment. Moneycontrol is awaiting a response to email queries sent to Warburg Pincus, Good Host Spaces and Alta Capital. This article will be updated as soon as we hear from the parties.

The hostel campuses of Good Host Spaces led by CEO Nimesh Grover and COO Stanly D'Britto comprise over 20,000 beds and are spread across educational institutional institutions like Jindal Global University ( Sonipat), Manipal University ( Jaipur), Shoolini University ( Solan) and T.A Pai Management Institute, Manipal.

NEW KID ON THE REALTY BLOCK

Alta Capital was established in 2021 and the founder Siddhartha Gupta was a former MD at Blackstone Real Estate and has more than 15 years' experience in the sector.

The firm seeks to invest in real estate assets and early-stage proptech companies and its diversified strategy allows it to bet on both public or private companies and greenfield or brownfield assets.

According to its website, it also provides opportunistic high-yield loans & structured financing solutions and invests in special situations credit including distressed assets & event driven opportunities.

In 2022, Alta Capital partnered with a $2.3 bn Singapore based real-estate fund AGS and started investing in India. According to Gupta's Linkedin profile, the firm has committed more than $500 mn so far, with major investments in verticals like managed office service enterprise ( Tablespace) and industrial/warehousing platform ( Pragati). Social infrastructure, which includes both education and student housing is also part of the focus areas for Alta Capital, the profile adds.