BANGALORE: Even when the group is stepping on hot live-coals spread by the Securities and Exchange Board of India, and the order of Supreme Court, Sahara has no change, no fear. Continue reading
Filing a new petition, Securities and Exchange Board of India– SEBI asked the Supreme Court to hear all the cases against the two Sahara Firms and its chief. Continue reading
Sahara to face more troubles
Requesting Supreme Court to give directions to redeem his investments; the petitioner claimed that he is one of the real OFCD investors in the Sahara List, a Delhi-based investor approached SC. The petitioner claimed that he had invested in one of the Sahara group companies.
He requested the Apex court to direct the Sahara group firms – Sahara India Real Estate Corp (SIRECL) and Sahara Housing Investment Corp (SHICL) to pay back his due.
Though there were around 3Crore investors as per the list produced by Sahara before the SC and SEBI, this is the first time one of the investors came up against the firms. However finding some dubious facts in the investors’ list, SC had ordered the subsidiary firms of Sahara to refund over Rs.24000 Cr to the investors as a fine. Continue reading
Capital Market Regulator – SEBI appealed for criminal proceedings against Sahara Group head Mr. Subrata Roy and other managing directors of the group. SEBI alleged that the group has violated some regulatory orders.
Earlier on August 31, Supreme Court had ordered India Real Estate Corporation and Sahara India Housing Corporation to refund Rs.17400-Crore. The SC had been convinced that the prescribed amount was collected from about 3-Crore investors through Optionally Fully Convertible Debentures (OFCDs). These OFCDs offered 15% interest to the investors. Continue reading
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.
Real estate major Parsvnath Developers may soon be able to reduce a significant chunk of its debt, thanks to certain corporate giants showing interest in buying a prime piece of property it owns in the national capital.
The Sahara Group is engaged in discussions with Parsvnath to buy its commercial land near Connaught Place in New Delhi, according to sources. ICICI Bank is also among the contenders for the piece of land, it is learnt.
The 1.18-acre plot at Kasturba Gandhi Marg was bought by Parsvnath in 2008 for about Rs 200 crore, with the aim of constructing a retail-cum-office complex. But the realtor is now looking to sell it to cut mounting debt, currently at Rs 1,300 crore.
Although the Parsvnath management is looking for a price of Rs 700 crore, the interested parties are ready to sign a deal at Rs 600 crore, sources said. Property consultant Jones Lang LaSalle is advising Parsvnath on the deal.
Pradeep Jain, chairman, Parsvnath Developers, did not respond to repeated calls and e-mails. Mails to Sahara spokespersons did not elicit any response.
An ICICI Bank spokesperson said, “ICICI Bank has no plans to acquire this property.”
According to sources, ICICI is exploring the possibility of constructing a corporate house in the locality in partnership with Parsvnath, without acquiring the land.
Earlier, as part of its fundraising exercise, the company had entered into various deals with private equity funds.
In January 2011, Parsvnath signed an agreement with SUN-Apollo India Real Estate Fund LLC for an investment of Rs 100 crore in its premium residential project at Ghaziabad—Parsvnath Exotica. SUN-Apollo had acquired 49.9 per cent stake in the project SPV.
Then, the company sold a minority stake in Delhi-based residential project Parsvnath La Tropicana to JP Morgan for about Rs 150 crore. Through the deal, the previous investor, Red Fort Capital, made an exit. The company had plans to construct an office complex at Connaught Place along with the PE firm.
According to realty experts, demand for land at prime localities has risen as corporate houses look to move their headquarters to such locations.
Anuj Nangpal, director-investment advisory, DTZ India, a real estate consultancy, said, “Organisations are increasingly signaling their arrival or resurgence by moving their presence into the centre of metros. The branding benefit of such ownership of prime real estate far outweighs the costs. Further, employees are also increasingly assessing their jobs and future basis of their office infrastructure and the pride in occupying prime real estate clearly impacts long-term retention.”
Earlier, Business Standard had reported on the discussions being held by textiles major Alok Industries with various large corporate groups to sell its property at Peninsula Business Park in central Mumbai. Alok was looking at a deal in the range of Rs 900-1,000 crore.
Indian property investor Blue Mountain Real Estate Advisors has been selected as the preferred bidder for 42 Marriott hotels throughout Britain after it offered almost 750 million pounds, a media report has said.
The holding company for the portfolio of hotels collapsed under the weight of about 900 million pounds of debt, most of it held by Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS).
Blue Mountain Real Estate Advisors, a part of the Mumbai-based India Blue Mountain group, is understood to have been granted a period of exclusivity by RBS to put together funding for a deal, The Times said in a report.
The proposed sale to Blue Mountain comes as a surprise as, according to the report, the front-runners in the latter stages of the auction had been RB Capital and Sahara, the Indian group that bought the Grosvenor House on Park Lane just over a year ago for 470 million pounds.