bangalore apg asset management one of the worlds largest pension asset man agers and at least two sovereign wealth funds abu dhabi investment authority and the government of sin gapore investment corp will invest directly in the indian real estate market moving away from their earlier strategy of routing investments through pe funds the move to directly invest comes at time when nearly half the real estate funds in india have been unable to offer attractive returns as indias once soaring real estate sector is crippled by increasing debt and plunging sales in the last five years realty funds have delivered exits worth 4 billion rs 21000 crore compared with 17 billion of foreign direct investment raised for the sec tor according to industry estimates apg which manages about 300 billion euro in assets now plans to work directly with real estate developers as it looks to establish a stronger footprint in the country property sector while we do not rule out fund invest ments our preferred approach is to work with developers and operating partners on a selective basis and create platforms for future growth sachin doshi senior portfolio manager of apg asset management asia said in an email the dutch pension fund will seek in vestments between 100 million and 300 million in july an apgled consortium entered into a pact with realty developer godrej properties for a rs 770crore 143 million investment in its residential projects private equity participation in the sec tor has dramatically slowed down in the first half of 2012 with the total number of deals with announced value in the space plunging 63 to 12 as against 32 in 2011 separately the total investment over the same period has seen an even bigger drop of 73 to 441 million from 163 billion a year ago prime residential real estate markets such as the mumbai metropolitan region and national capital region saw sales fall by 60 and 57 respectively in the first quarter of the cur rent financial year on the commercial front demand for top grade offices across indias sevenlargest cities dropped 21 in the first half of 2012 abu dhabi investment authority one of the worlds largest sovereign wealth funds has so far invested some 500 million in india largely through realty or private equity funds it is also looking for direct investment options the cashrich fund has now set up a team in abu dhabi to specifically identify opportunities in the indian property market adia did not reply to an email seeking its views the government of singapore investment corp which manages over 100 billion of investments across 40 countries is also scouting for commercially leasedout assets in bangalore chennai and delhi it plans to invest anywhere between 75 million and 250 million in india going forward we hope to foster close relationships with key indian partners who share gics values as a responsible and longterm investor said a representative for the fund in an emailed reply the sovereign fund