Sidharth Menda

About

High-net-worth individuals and ultra-rich dollar billionaires in the country are betting big on commercial real estate, and so are some developers. One such player, the Bengaluru-based RMZ, led by the Menda brothers—Raj and Manoj—has quietly built its fortunes and legacy in the commercial office space. In fact, Sidharth, the son of Raj Menda, is driving what he believes is the next big emerging investment opportunity: Signature Offices. In this model, within a commercial property, entire office floors are sold to ultra-high-net-worth family offices (entailing a minimum investment of over `100 crore), with RMZ retaining asset management rights. “While entry barriers in real estate business, including commercial, are not really too high, building trust with enterprise customers, delivering a product that remains the most relevant so that they are willing to pay you a premium in terms of rent, is what makes the RMZ office product so attractive to the end user,” says Sidharth. The project, which promises higher alpha for leveraged investors, is Sidharth’s pet project. The confidence stems from having built the co-working business, CoWorks, in 2016 and, eventually, selling it for over $100 million in 2020. Interestingly, Sidharth has no regrets selling the business “early”, given that subsequent public market valuation for smaller managed office space businesses has been quite attractive. “This business had lower entry barriers and with competitors undercutting each other, revenue would grow only 2-3% each year.” With such a sound business rationale, Sidharth is among the smart gen who knows the trade-off between legacy and successful businesses.