Sahara, ICICI, Bhushan Steel in race to buy Parsvnath’s Connaught Place land.

Sahara Group, ICICI Bank, Bhushan Steel, Bharti Realty, Red Fort Capital and Shri Lal Mahal are understood to be in the race among others to acquire Parsvnath Developers’ 1.18 acre of prime commercial land near Connaught Place in the National Capital.

In January, Parsvnath had announced plans to monetise the KG Marg land, which it had bought for Rs 200 crore in 2008. Parsvnath, which is eyeing about Rs 700 crore from sale of this land, got the building plan approved from local authority last week and potential buyer can start construction on the land immediately after the deal, sources said.

“The first round of bidding and due diligence have been already completed. The process will be expedited now as the company was waiting for the building plans approvals before it starts negotiation with potential buyer,” a source, who is involved in the process, said. Sahara Group, ICICI Bank, Bhushan Steel, Bharti Realty, private equity firm Red Fort Capital, rice company Shri Lal Mahal and one leading realty firm from NCR have shown interest in buying this land, sources said, adding that Parsvnath had got bids up to about Rs 700 crore in the first round of bidding.

When contacted, Parsvnath Developers Chairman Pradeep Jain said: “The process for sale of this land is on. We cannot comment any further.” Property consultant Jones Lang LaSalle India is helping Parsvnath in this deal. The built-up area allowed on this prime land is about 1.5 lakh sq ft with 300 car parking. Realty consultant said that prime office buildings near CP are currently commanding a monthly rental of 350-400 per sq ft.

Although Jain did not give any timeline for completion of this transaction, sources said that the deal could be closed in this quarter. Parsvnath has a net debt of about Rs 1,200 crore and plans to reduce it to about Rs 500 crore by utilising the proceeds from sale of this prime property. The company has two housing projects and several shopping malls at metro stations in the National Capital. It is setting up an office building near Gole Market here with an investment of Rs 300 crore.

That apart, Parsvnath had bought in 2010 a 38 acre of land near Sarai Rohilla from the Railways for Rs 1,651 crore, making it the second biggest land deal in Delhi. The company, in partnership with Red Fort Capital, plans to provide luxury housing and commercial space in this project. Parsvnath, which has a land bank of about 200 million sq ft across the country, had received private equity funding from Sun Apollo and JP Morgan in some other projects in NCR.

 

 

No bar on Real Estate Sector from applying for UASL.

A prosecution witness in the 2G spectrum allocation case on Thursday told a Delhi court that as per the Unified Access Service Licences guidelines, the real estate firms were not barred from applying for the licences.

Company Secretary V Mohan of real estate firm Parsvnath Developers Ltd, which had applied for the UAS licences in 22 circles in August 2007, told Special CBI Judge O P Saini that when the company had applied for the 2G licences, they had gone through the UASL guidelines.

“When the company made application for UAS licence, I had gone through UASL guidelines. When I went through guidelines and the company decided to file application for UAS licences, it was quite clear to me that there was no restriction on a real estate company, applying for a UAS licence,” Mohan said.

Mohan deposed that in August 2007, the firm tried to venture in the telecom business and made applications to the Department of Telecom (DoT) for licences.

Mohan said their application was rejected by the DoT and Parsvnath Developers Ltd did not get any licence.

During his cross-examination, he said their firm was complying with net worth criteria and paid up equity capital criteria when it applied for the UASL on August 24, 2007.

He said the firm knew about August 2007 recommendations of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) and in view of this, they knew that the entry fee for grant of pan-India UAS licence was Rs 1,658 crores.

“The company was in the know of TRAI recommendations of August 2007. The company knew that the entry fee for grant of a pan-India UAS licence was Rs 1,658 crore, in view of TRAI recommendations. When the company made the application on August 24, 2007, it never knew that DoT was going to announce a cut-off date,” Mohan said.

Mohan, whose deposition concluded today, said the main ground communicated to Parsvnath Developers Ltd by the DoT for rejecting its application for the UASL was that the telecom business was not in the object clause of the firm at the time of making the application.

He said the rejection of the application by the DoT was challenged by the firm before the Delhi High Court. Besides Mohan, the court also recorded the testimony of prosecution witness Raj Kumar Kapoor, a retired Director of Bycell Communications (P) Ltd, which had also applied for UAS licences in 2007.

Kapoor, whose recording of testimony concluded today, said he was called by the DoT officials for licences on January 10, 2008 but at Sanchar Bhawan, he was given a letter to the effect that their application for UASL was not considered.

Realty Big Players Attracted Towards Small Cities for Expansion

NEW DELHI: Growing demand for homes in smaller cities of the country is attracting real estate biggies. Cities like Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Coimbatore, Indore, Jaipur, Lucknow , Nagpur, Surat , Vadodara and Visakhapatnam are estimated to add 354 million sq ft of residential development in the coming 03 years. According to a research, large builders like DLF , Unitech , Parsvnath , Omaxe , Ansals and Emaar MGF have already diversified into these cities. These cities today show huge potential for growth. These cities are attracting the big developers because of their considerable price stability and growth prospects. With economic activity picking up in these cities, there is a growing migration from smaller areas, which has created a shift towards an apartment culture. This shift will foster volumes for larger developers in the future.

Looking at this new demand, banks and financial institutions are also looking towards these cities to bridge the financial saturation gap.The growth prospects in the smaller cities are fascinating huge developers with multi-city existance.

PDL looking torward tier-II cities

Parsvnath Developers Limited is looking toward tier-II cities and following the strategy, PDL announced Parsvnath City at Saharanpur.  It will offer plotted development, independent Floors and expandable villas at affordable prices.  Spread over more than hundred acres, Parsvnath City, Saharanpur is strategically located on Delhi road. First of its kind project will offer independent floors in affordable range starting from Rs 9.50 lakh. The project will comprise of plots in various sizes of 201, 300, 402 and 502 square yards. The independent floors will have the options of 2 bedroom, 3 bedroom and 3 bedroom with study room units and option of expandable villas are also available.
Parsvnath City will have fully fledged infrastructure wide well lit metaled roads and solid waste management.  The township will also have Group Housing, School, Community Center and Mall. The realization from the project will be about three hundred fifty crore rupees spread over 2 years. The development of the township is planned to be completed in 2 years.