Mumbai-based firm will invest Rs 18,000 crore in next twelve years. BSEL Infrastructure Realty plans to set up a company in Malaysia to execute its operations in that country.
The Mumbai-based company has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Malaysia’s Iskandar Regional Development Authority (IRDA) to develop properties in Johar Bharu region of Malaysia. The company has plans to invest Rs 18,000 crore in the next twelve years.
The new company will be either made a supplementary of BSEL Infrastructure Realty, or its UAE subsidiary BSEL Infrastructure Realty FZE.
Dharmendra Raichura, managing director, BSEL, said that the company will use the proceeds from UAE projects to finance the Malaysian projects. The company generated revenues of three hundred crore rupees in 2007-08 from the UAE operations and expects to make seven hundred crore rupees in the recent financial year. BSEL will borrow funds to finance the projects.
The company will develop seventy million sq ft of space in three phases with ten million sq ft in the first phase and double in every subsequent phase. It will invest Rs 2,500 crore in the first phase and Rs 5,000 crore in the next phase.
Raichura said the company expects returns of 35- 40 % from the project. Private equity companies invest in realty projects in India with expectations of 25-30 % rate on investment.
“Johar Bharu is a 25-minute drive from Central Singapore, where property prices are 25 times more than the rest of the country. The authority plans to transform Johar Bharu into the next hot spot after Singapore in five to seven years. That is why we chose that city,” Raichura said.
BSEL will get a tax holiday on land sales and premises sales till 2015 and exemption on rental income till 2020.