Event Location: Glass Wall Systems, Hotel ITC Grand, Mumbai on 1st of August
Glass Wall Systems announced the opening of a new design studio at Marathon Max, Lower Parel, Mumbai and a brand new manufacturing facility at a gala dinner hosted by the promoters in Hotel ITC Grand, Mumbai on 1st of August. With the influx of fresh funds, market looking upwards and a strong back up of new and existing orders, there is only upward swing for the façade major. An unabashed show of self-sufficiency was all that it needs to boost the sinking spirits of the market plagued by uncertainties since long.
The event witnessed a power-packed guest list comprising of the who’s who of the Indian construction industry. Raman Sapru from Oberoi Constructions, Rahul Saraf from Forum Group, Hemant Shah from Ackruti Group, Jimmy Gandhi from Lodha, John Guest from Omkar Developers, HasmukhUpadhyay from Wadhwa Group, Vivek Bhole from Neo Modern Architects, Nilabh Nagar from Hafeez Contractor, Sandip Agarwal from Practice Design, Mahesh Arumugam from Meinhardt, KR Suresh from Axis façade, Rajan Govind from BES, VS Ravi from Façade India, were some of the key names that illuminated the star-studded event with their magnanimous presence.
The event began with Eshan Hemrajani, Director of Glass Wall Systems welcoming the guests followed by a vote of thanks by Mr. Khushroo J Bhuri, who is the CEO of the company. Rahul Miskeen then took the audience through the 10-year-long journey of Glass Wall Systems, highlighting the major milestones along the way. Noteworthy were the instances where he emphasised how the company has grown 70 times in the past 10 years from a team of 4 back in 2002 to a team of 400 as of date.
Raamdeo Agrawal, Jt. Managing Director of Motilal Oswal Financial Services Limited, the equity partners of Glass Wall System, shared a word of fact explaining their intent behind the investment of INR 750 Millions in GWS in a recent development.
“Whenever we undertake a company the vision is to grow 10-12 times in a stipulated time period. The opportunities facing the industry are large. My idea is that a fantastic number of high rises are going to come up in India and there is going to be ample work for them. Jawahar & Kamlesh are two bulls charging to change the face of high rises. They have an unmatched entrepreneurial zeal and the leadership qualities. See their work at Antillia, Indiabulls Tower, Capital and others, it’s phenomenal. The way they have grown 70 times in last 10 years, even if they grow 10 times, that will do enough justice to our fund.” – said Raamdeo Agrawal.
Before Jawahar Hemrajani and Kamlesh Choudhari expressed their gratitude to the invited guests for their indiscriminate support through their journey and ushered them for a lavish spread of dinner and cocktails, the industry stalwarts related their individual experiences with Glass Wall System and how it was an inseparable part of their dream projects.
Hemant Shah from Ackruti group beamed at the fantastic pair Jawahar and Kamlesh make. “When 2 good people meet they make 1+1 = 11. My heartiest congratulations to the duo” – said Shah
“We have been working together for 14 years now, their commitment towards their work is very touching and they genuinely follow the quality and safety guidelines that others just talk about” – said Rahul Saraf, Managing Director at Forum Projects.
Jimmy Gandhi from Lodha developers – the builders of the iconic World One, which is the highest residential development of the world as of now, emphasised on how they decided to award World One to GWS – “it was a tough decision to make, and after many deliberations the contract was awarded to GWS. I wish them all the very best”
“It has been a fantastic experience working with Glass Wall Systems. A lot of difficulties arise during the course of a project but the cooperation GWS team offers is commendable and we would recommend them to anyone.” – Said John Guest from Omkar Developers.
Similar sentiment was reverberated by Hasmukh Upadhyay, Associate Director, Wadhwa Group when he said “we built the Capital with them and are fully satisfied with the outcome. Our hearty congratulations to the team GWS”
When asked about what sentiment the MOPE investment in a façade contracting company brings and what does it mean for the industry at large, the responses were quite overwhelming. It was observed that the developer confidence in the company has increased many fold and they are no longer worried about the completion of their projects for lack of funds. The consultants feel it’s great how the potential of façade industry is being recognised in the market. Architects expressed how it would mean that they can keep on creating extraordinary façade concepts and have confidence that they would be realized.
“GWS has done a lot of work with us. Whatever we have chalked out, they have been able to deliver and deliver with great aplomb” – said Architect Anupam Dey.
More conversations and smiles were to be seen over the drinks and dinner as the stellar event came to an ecstatic end.
About Motilal Oswal Private Equity buying a minority stake in GWS
MOPE Investment Advisors Pvt. Ltd. (MOPE) is a subsidiary of Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd. (MOFSL), a diversified financial services group with businesses in Securities, Asset Management, Private Equity and Investment Banking. MOPE is currently managing two growth capital funds i.e. India Business Excellence Fund (IBEF) and India Business Excellence Fund II (IBEF II) focused on providing growth capital to mid-market companies, typically in the range of US$ 10-20 million, across sectors. In a recent development, MOPE invested INR 750 million in Glass Wall Systems (India) Pvt. Ltd., which is India’s largest player in the field of design, engineering, manufacturing, supply and installation of architectural glass facade systems in India.