Prateek Group raises Rs 100 crore for its Ghaziabad township project

NEW DELHI: Real estate developer Prateek Group has raised Rs 100 crore from investment firm Xander group's NBFC arm Xander Finance for a township project it is building in Ghaziabad.

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 The 40-acre township, called Prateek Grand City, is located in the Siddharth Vihar area of Ghaziabad adjoining NH-24 where the builder has planned 7,000 apartments, of which 3,000 have already been launched. Prashant Tiwari, chairman of Prateek Group, said the company will use the money raised from the structured debt deal to pay for the land and construction. 

In Ghaziabad, payment for land bought from Ghaziabad Development Authority can be made over five years. 

"We invested in the project because we saw consistent sales happening in the project on a month-on-month basis even in the current slow environment," said Amar Merani, chief executive officer at Xander Finance. "This money will help the builder speed up construction and deliver on time." 

In 2013, Xander had invested Rs 80 crore in Prateek Group's Edifice project in Noida. The group recently raised Rs 135 crore from Indiabulls Housing Finance for an under construction project, Prateek Wisteria, in Sector 77 of Noida. 

Home sales have been slow in many parts of the country, especially in the NCR over the last 18-24 months but builders which have kept delivery timelines have been able to sell apartments even in the current market. The slow sales have led to a cash crunch, necessitating fund raising. 

Recently, Saya Group raisedRs 200 crore from Edelweiss. Earlier, Supertech had raisedRs 100 crore from Indiabulls Real Estate Fund to speed up construction of its projects.

Source - ET

Lodha Group eyes growth in commercial realty space

MUMBAI: Lodha Group, the country's largest realty developer by sales, is now carving out a new vertical with strategic focus on commercial property developments. The group that has so far concentrated on residential development is looking to increase its presence in office space as well.

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"We have been working on office projects, but in the next five years it will be a significant part of our growth strategy given the size and scale we are planning for. We are aiming at around $3 billion worth equity valuation for our commercial business itself by 2020," Abhishek Lodha, Managing Director, Lodha Group, told ET.

 So far, Lodha has developed total 5million sq ft of offices across ten projects in Mumbai Metropolitan Region. Currently, the group has 3 million sq ft office space under construction and in planning stage at Palava City near Mumbai and its project New Cuffe Parade in Wadala. The company will start construction on the planned portion of this office space in the next 6 months.

The developer will be investing around Rs 500 crore each for the next two years on its commercial projects. Lodha clocked revenues of Rs 8,000 crore in 2014-15 (April-March) and currently derives revenues worth around Rs 600 crore from its commercial projects.

"The market is getting more organised and we can clearly see the rise in institutional investors like pension and sovereign funds' interest in yield generating commercial assets. The demand for office spaces is increasing, while quality projects are running into shortage," Lodha said while reasoning the group's interest in office projects.

In the last few months, commercial realty market across the country has witnessed large transactions indicating a revival in space pick up. Robust deal momentum and data points are making green shoots in office space absorption visible. 

After over three years of weakness, total purchases and leases of office space in the top eight property markets rose to 35 million square feet during 2015. This is the second-highest absorption figure in the country's history after 2011. Net commercial real estate transactions by companies rose 17.1 per cent from a year ago, according to a recent JLL India report.

Recently, Lodha Group also formed a separate business vertical to develop super-luxury projects, starting with Mumbai and London. Following the launch of the luxury vertical, the company has now identified commercial real estate as the next area of strategic focus. In the next five years, Lodha is planning to start developing total 10 million sq ft in Mumbai Metropolitan Region and Pune. The new vertical will be overlooked by the company's current team and no new structure is expected to be set up for the same.

From the year 2020, Lodha is looking at delivering 3 million sq ft commercial space every year. "Apart from our ongoing projects sites, we are scouting for land parcels in suburban areas of Mumbai for our proposed commercial projects with potential of 1 million sq ft each," Lodha said.

 At New Cuffe Parade and Palava, the group is currently developing 9 lakh sq ft and 2.1 million sq ft saleable office space, respectively. Office spaces at New Cuffe Parade and Palava are expected to be completely delivered by September 2017 and March 2020.

Source - ET

Fair Trade Regulator Dismisses Complaint Against Imperial Housing

New Delhi: The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has rejected allegations of anti-competitive business practices made against real estate developer Imperial Housing Ventures.

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It was alleged that the realty player abused its dominant position by delaying delivery of an apartment at a project in Noida, Uttar Pradesh.

To ascertain whether the developer has abused its dominant position, the fair trade regulator considered the "provision of services relating to the development and sale of residential apartment in Noida and Greater Noida" as the relevant market.

Rejecting the allegations, CCI said Imperial Housing Ventures was not in a dominant position and there are many big and established players in the relevant market.

"...the Commission is of the opinion that no case has been made out against the opposite party (Imperial Housing Ventures) in violation of either section 3 or 4 of the (Competition) Act," said the order dated December 17.

Section 4 relates to abuse of dominant position, while Sections 3 pertains to anti-competition agreements.

The complaint was filed by Kolkata-based Nutan Barter Pvt Ltd.

Source - NDTV

Rupee gains 9 paise against dollar in early trade

MUMBAI: Extending its gains for the seventh day in a row, the rupee strengthened by 9 paise to 66.24 against the US dollar in early trade on Wednesday at the Inter-bank Foreign Exchange on continued selling of the American currency by exporters and banks amid fresh foreign funds inflows.

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Besides selling of the US currency by exporters and banks, a higher opening in domestic stock markets and the dollar's weakness against some currencies overseas helped, forex dealers said.

The rupee had gained 2 paise to close at 66.33 against the US dollar in yesterday's trade on persistent selling of dollars by banks and exporters on hopes of resumption of foreign capital inflows.

Meanwhile, the benchmark BSE Sensex climbed 209.87 points, or 0.82%, at 25,800.52 in early trade.

Source - TOI

Sensex rebounds 210 points on global cues, shrinking CAD

MUMBAI: Taking positive leads from the global market and a narrowing current account deficit, the benchmark BSE sensex recovered sharply by almost 210 points and the NSE Nifty recaptured the 7,800-mark in early trade on Wednesday on the back of widespread gains in blue-chips.

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Besides, covering-up of short positions by speculators helped things.

The 30-share index recovered 209.87 points, or 0.82%, to 25,800.52, with all sectoral indices led by metal, healthcare and realty trading in the green, advancing by up to 1.40%.

The barometer lost 145.25 points in the previous session 

Also, the NSE Nifty retook the 7,800-level by recovering 60.30 points, or 0.77%, at 7,846.40.

Brokers said a fresh spell of buying triggered by a firming trend at other Asian bourses following overnight gains in the US in the wake of upbeat data on growth and consumer spending buoyed sentiment.Besides, the current account deficit (CAD) narrowed to 1.6% of GDP at $8.2 billion in the second quarter ended September, which too was lapped up, they said.

Elsewhere in Asia, Hong Kong's Hang Seng was up 1.02% while the Shanghai Composite index rose 0.16% in early trade today.

The US Dow Jones Industrial Average closed higher by 0.96% in yesterday's trade.

Source - TOI

HDIL Sells Development Rights on Kurla Land Parcel for Rs 649 Crore

Mumbai: Realty player Housing Development and Infrastructure Ltd (HDIL) has sold development rights on its land parcel at Kurla to DK Realty (India) for Rs 649.51 crore.

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"HDIL has registered a development agreement with DK Realty (India) to sell the development rights in respect of the piece and parcel of land situated at Kurla for a consideration of Rs 649.51 crore," the company said in a filing to the BSE.

HDIL has several projects in the Mumbai metropolitan region and has developed over 100 million square feet area of commercial, residential and retail space.

The company has a land reserve of 243.99 million square feet as on March 31 and has around 40,00,000 square feet of TDR.

Shares in HDIL, on Monday, ended 6.19 per cent higher at Rs 70.35 apiece on the BSE, whose benchmark Sensex index finished up 0.85 per cent.

Source - NDTV

Reliance Communications Sells 150 Flats for Rs 330 Crore

New Delhi: Reliance Communications on Monday said it had sold nearly 150 residential flats in Navi Mumbai for Rs 330 crore as part of its asset monetisation plans aimed at lowering debt.

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"The disposal marks the commencement of RCom's monetisation programme for surplus real estate owned by the company. The sale consideration for the disposal of the flats at Navi Mumbai has been finalised at over Rs 330 crore," the company said in a statement.

The entire proceeds from the monetisation of real estate will be utilised by the company for repayment of debt, as part of its overall deleveraging plans, the statement said.

RCom has set a target to cut its debt from Rs 39,894 crore to under Rs 10,000 crore.

The Anil Ambani-led firm said it had already received more than 50 per cent of the sale proceeds of nearly 150 residential flats situated at Sea Woods complex in Navi Mumbai, and the balance amount will be realised during the current financial year, upon completion of documentation, etc, currently underway.

RCom said it also expects to finalise and announce plans very shortly for monetisation of its real estate asset measuring nearly 4 acres, situated at a prime location in New Delhi (just off Connaught Place).

On December 4, RCom said that it has signed a non-binding pact to sell its cellular towers to private equity firm Tillman Global Holdings LLC and TPG Asia Inc in an estimated Rs 30,000 crore deal to pare debt.

Source - TOI