DLF is looking at setting up a Rs 800-crore venture capital (VC) fund with a mandate to invest in companies engaged in equipment management and construction activity. This is being seen as a strategic move by DLF to support its rapidly expanding construction activity.

The Delhi-based firm has filed the documents with market regulator SEBI seeking approval for setting up the VC fund. DLF rejected to comment beyond this because the matter is under SEBI process.

The realty boom of the past three years has rapidly changed the scale at which realty firms worked in India. Companies have seen unprecedented growth and have taken up projects several times the size they had done in the past, requiring manpower, equipment and management skill on a completely new level.

DLF, India’s largest real estate firm, has been a leader in taking up bigger projects and executing them at a rapid pace. It constructed 9 million square feet of space in the last fiscal and plans to complete 16 million square feet this year.

It has set a target of 22 million square feet for the next fiscal. With such an ambitious target on mind, DLF needs a strong support infrastructure in place. The company has already been focused on strengthening its execution capabilities and significantly improves its performance.

A venture capital fund is only going to augment DLF’s effort towards quicker execution. The fund will invest in small companies which will manage equipment, construction material and manpower. The VC-funded companies may buy advanced equipment, critical for fast execution and then lease it to DLF for construction. Similarly, these companies can independently manage construction material and manpower and become a solid source of supply to DLF, whose operations have now spread across the country.

These VC-funded firms, which are likely to have long term agreements with DLF, will have the flexibility to put to use their men and material by offering them to other developers.

The government is planning to scrutinise investments flowing in from tax havens such as Andora, Aruba, Bahamas, Costa Rica and Dominica where investor details remain confidential due to banking policies.

According to sources in the department of industrial policy and promotion (Dipp), the government is concerned about Indian residents parking money in the island nations to route them back for investments. There are also mounting fears of money being used for terror funding and laundering activities.

Investments in the nations do not get reported as the island countries maintain banking secrecy and do not reveal the nature of investments.

Intelligence agencies have expressed fears that funds from such places were flowing into the stock market through participatory notes issued by foreign institutional investors.

“We need to crack down on such investments. Intelligence authorities and National Security Council (NSC) would assist in tracking such investments,” a government source said, adding that most such funds flow into the real estate sector.

According to estimates, funds from such nations flowing into the real estate sector totaled $150 million. Although the money through the route may be a paltry amount compared to $2-billion FDI in 2007-08, the government fears this is just the beginning of an impending influx.

The slowdown in the real estate sector has started impacting the securitization of loans to the industry. The demand for such securities has dried up as debt mutual funds turn wary and cut exposure to these securities, considered the most illiquid of tradable papers.

The market for loan securitization was Rs 31,000 crore, of which real estate loan securitization accounted for 20% of the total market as on March 2008. Both ICICI bank and the State Bank of India refused to comment.

It is allowed to a bank or a NBFC to sell the loan as a securitized paper. Mutual funds are the major buyers of these papers, return on which is linked to the rating of the loan. Following the securitization, loan disappears from the balance sheet of the banks or NBFCs, who in turn communicate to the borrowers that their loan has been sold to an investor.

From borrower’s point of view, it could mean lesser disclosure. Borrowers then keep repaying to the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) where such paper is parked instead of the bank or NBFC. Banks make good the spreads between lending at a certain tenor to selling the loan for a higher yield. Rajiv Shastri, Lotus MF said, “We have been very wary about these loans from the very beginning, primarily because they didn’t offer high asset cover-age. Most papers floating in the market offered one-and-a-half times asset coverage, which is nothing if prices start falling. Last November-December, we just took two papers, which offered us a coverage of 3-4 times”.

Debt funds from the houses of Reliance, DWS and HSBC have been fairly aggressive in buying real estate loans. Reliance MF CEO Vikrant Gugnani said, “We are more cautious in today’s conditions like anyone else. We have always been conservative in our investment policy and we remain so”.

BNP Paribas Chief Investment Officer (CIO) Mr. Ram Kumar said, “If it is a loan taken by a big realty company, the rating will be higher and there are more buyers for such papers. But we treat these investments like any other paper, although they are illiquid. We do not invest in them anymore. We did, two years go”. Many other fund managers too have changed their stance now.

For over two years now, the RBI has raised the risk weight for commercial real estate loans to 150% in addition to issuing guidelines on multiple occasions to banks to limit their exposures to the sector. Nevertheless, real estate loans form only a small part of most banks’ balance sheets, thus allowing them to continue financing real estate assets.

Binani Cement, the flagship company of the Rs 1,700-crore Binani group, is considering long-term bulk cement supply contract with real estate developers including Raheja and Hiranandani. The initiative, if it fructifies, will be the first in the industry and other cement companies may follow suit.

Binani Cement’s managing director Vinod Juneja confirmed the discussions between the company and a few real estate firms on this regard. “It is at a very initial stage. Yes, we had talks with some real estate developers on cement contracts”.

According to industry experts, this will be a win-win contract for both. The long-term contract will empower the real estate developers to control over vagaries of price fluctuations of the commodity. On the other hand, Binani Cement will get assured buyers of its produce.

Industry sources said that the realty sector may invite cement companies to participate in bidding before signing any such contracts. Asked on this, Mr Juneja said that his company would not hesitate in bidding, if required. Analysts attributed the main reason for the slow down in the real estate sector to tight monetary condition. Increase in cement prices, that too during the rainy season which normally sees a price drop, makes the situation further unfavourable for the developers.

Incidentally, Binani is also getting into the real estate sector this fiscal. The company has around 56 acres of land in Wada, about 30 km from Thane in Mumbai. It plans to develop the land jointly with a partner into an IT Park. Binani Cement is expanding in the northern and western parts of India in the next quarter. This expansion is a part of the company’s plan to become $1 billion firm by 2012. It operates from its fully-integrated cement plant at Binanigram in Rajasthan.

Brothers Vijay and Deepak Raheja who used to run B Raheja Builders, a real estate firm that operates in Mumbai, Bangalore and Pune, have split the business between themselves and set up separate companies, according to an executive at a company that does business with B Raheja Builders and who did not want either himself or his firm to be identified.

The split was confirmed by executives working for Vijay and Deepak Raheja although the brothers themselves did not comment on it.
The JW Marriott hotel under construction at UB City in Bangalore is being handled by V Raheja Design after the split . A questionnaire sent to Vijay Raheja’s Bangalore office wasn’t answered. Repeated calls to Deepak Raheja’s office on 4th July were met with the response that he “doesn’t speak to the media”.
The head of a real estate advisory claimed the split was an amicable one. “This is a planned split which is not driven by acrimony. Splits are inevitable when a company has grown big enough and two brothers decide to pursue interests separately,” said Akshaya Kumar, chief executive officer of Park Lane Property Advisors. Mint couldn’t independently ascertain the contours of the split or the events leading up to it.
Vijay Raheja’s new company is called V Raheja Design Construction while his younger brother Deepak Raheja’s firm is simply called Advantage Raheja.
Executives at the two firms said that after the split, the various properties and projects of B Raheja Builders have been divided between the brothers. For instance, the new JW Marriott hotel under construction at UB City in Bangalore’s central business area will be handled by V Raheja Design, which also owns around 100 acres of land near the city’s new Devanahalli airport.
“Vijay Raheja’s new firm has several projects in Bangalore including a villa project in Whitefield (in the city’s outskirts), a commercial complex in Richmond Circle (central business district) and another high-end residential property in Hennur. We are targeting a 2009 deadline to complete the Marriott project,” said a senior executive at V Raheja Design Construction in Bangalore who did not want to be identified as he is not authorized to speak to the press.
This executive added that the company is also looking for more land in the city to launch new projects.
Meanwhile, Advantage Raheja is developing a residential project in Mumbai, Iris Park, and another residential property by the same name in Bangalore, said a senior marketing executive at the company who, too, did not wish to be identified because he is not authorized to speak to the media. This person added that some ongoing projects including one in Bangalore’s Dollar’s Colony area would be completed by B Raheja Builders.
The 56-year-old B Raheja Builders was founded by Bhagwandas Raheja.
After developing hotels such as JW Marriott and premium residential properties in Mumbai, the B Raheja group expanded its operations to the IT hubs of Bangalore and Pune. Last year the company received an investment of $45 million from US-based investment banker Wachovia for two projects in Bangalore. Real estate firms typically float each of their projects as a separate company so as to raise money efficiently.
B Raheja Builders is privately held and no independent valuations on its size are available.
“A single company can’t have the kind of bandwidth and specialization which these individual companies have achieved. In the case of the Rahejas, the next generation has only consolidated and bettered what their predecessors achieved,” said Anuj Puri, country head of Jones Lang LaSalle Meghraj, a real estate advisory.
B Raheja, for instance, is known for its ability to manage hotel projects.
The extended Raheja clan has had its internal disputes but has also worked on projects together
Gopal Raheja and Vijay Raheja went to court two years ago over a hotel project in Bangalore before eventually settling their dispute. Gopal Raheja and Chandru Raheja have also had their differences which were made public in the initial share sale filing of the latter’s Shoppers Stop.

The Mindspace complex in a Mumbai suburb has both Gopal Raheja (better known as GL Raheja) and Suresh Raheja holding a stake in the project being developed as a joint venture with the Nusli Wadia-promoted FE Dinshaw Trust. Even the Marriott in Juhu, Mumbai, was co-developed by various Raheja companies.

Higher input costs, low market valuations and scaled up capacity amidst reduced demand is likely to take its toll on the cement industry. The growth rate of the industry is projected to drop below 10 % for the current fiscal.

According to a report by Edelweiss Research, weak fundamentals and mounting cost pressures are likely to further pull down the replacement costs, even as valuations have corrected sharply in the recent past.

High inflation and home loan rates have slowed down the growth trajectory of the real estate sector, which accounts for 60 % of the total cement demand.

This slowdown is likely to hurt the cement sector the most. The surplus of cement in the industry is predicted to be as high as 20.7 million tonne in 2008-09 and 47.4 million tonne in 2009-10.

The major expansion plans announced by the companies will further add to their woes, as low market demand will significantly reduce the capacity utilization.

Setting up of new facilities will impart additional capacities of 34 million tonne and 45 million tonne respectively in 2008-09 and 2009-10. This is likely to bring down the capacity utilization in the industry down from the current 101 % to 82 %. Even as it loses power to dictate prices, increased cost of power, fuel and freight will add pressure on input costs.

Among the cement majors, valuations for ACC and Ultratech seem to have bottomed out with discount as high as 35 % of the replacement costs.

Ambuja Cements too is trading at a higher discount than previous down cycle, suggesting bottom valuations. However, replacement valuations for Madras Cements and India Cements indicate scope for further down slide when compared to their previous down cycle valuations.

The report has suggested that speedy implementation of sixth pay commission and lower inflation and interest rates are necessary for the up cycle to begin. It has added that aggressive consolidation in the cement sector can also help them to avoid surplus production.

HDFC chairman, Mr. Deepak Parekh criticized developers for not differentiating between super built-up area and carpet area of the houses that they deal. He pointed that developers mis-guide buyers by selling on the basis of super built-up area, without clearly mentioning how much the carpet area is. In Delhi, the authorities are following the recommendations of new Master Plan of Delhi 2021. But these are not enforced.

Mr. Anuj Puri, chairman and country head, Jones Lang Lasalle Meghraj said, “Building bylaws and regulations differ from state to state and even city to city. However, it invariably turns out that property buyers are required to pay for construction that falls in FSI-free areas—areas of congregation, passage, and common conveniences. In a typical project, these areas do not tend to constitute more than 15-20% of the overall FSI. Nevertheless, all that a buyer would really wish to pay for is the exact amount of space available for personal use in the property, in other words, the carpet area”. Mr. Puri said that you can’t have a house without walls so the buyer ends up paying for the space occupies by the walls as well occupy, by this criterion, the buyer will have to pay for built-up area. Puri contends, “This is, of course, unavoidable.”
Also, if one takes an example of any of the projects in the country, he will find by a simple calculation that he is being charged extra. Let us say the developer is charging two thousand five hundred rupees per square feet as a basic rate. The buyer is interested in buying an apartment of 1,250 square feet. So the value of the apartment stands to be Rs 31.25 lakh. But this does not include the parking charges and maintenance charges. The price calculated does not include the preferential location charges either.

Pune-based DS Kulkarni Developers Ltd has inked a shareholders contract with GTC Cyprus to mutually develop a two hundred fifty acre multi-services special economic zone (SEZ) in Pune through a 50:50 joint venture.
GTC Cyprus is the real estate company of the Netherlands-based Kardan Group.
The Kardan Group has real estate projects in western eastern and central Europe, and China. This will be the group’s first venture in India.
“GTC will invest ninety million dollar to acquire the land,” a DS Kulkarni official said. “Any further equity contribution shall be made by DS Kulkarni Developers and GTC in their respective shareholding proportion,” he added.
The overall built-up area of the project is estimated to be more than 15 million sq ft and the total investment in the project is estimated at around one million dollar.
In 2007, GTC Real Estate had signed a “term sheet” with DS Kulkarni Developers for the development of a phased commercial and residential project in Pune.
The term sheet had stated that both the parties would set up a 50:50 joint venture. DS Kulkarni Developers will transfer to the JV a plot of approximately one million square metres. In consideration for its share in the joint venture, GTC will transfer, in installments.
Kardan is an international investment company based in the Netherlands, listed on Euronext Amsterdam and the Tel-Aviv Stock Exchange.

Brigade Enterprises, a Bangalore based real estate developer has bagged 5 acres in Kochi to develop IT SEZ space. The Info Park Kochi is the IT Park developed by the Government of Kerala.

Mr. M R Jaishankar, Chairman & Managing Director, Brigade Group, said, “We are glad to announce that we bagged the Info Park Project, our first commercial project in Cochin. The work on the project would start in a couple of months and will be completed three years thereafter. The built up area is likely to be around 6,00,000 sq ft of IT space which will be co-developed with Info Park Kochi”.

Unity Infraproject has announced it’s FY08 results. Unity Infra project’s profit after tax (PAT) for FY2008 stood at Rs 600 million, up 42% from Rs 423 million in FY2007. EPS for FY2008 was Rs 44.9 versusRs 32.9 in FY2007, a growth of 36%.

Out of the current order book, 56% pertains to government and 44% to private sector. The current order book as on May 2008 is at Rs 30224.6 million.

In order to diversify across real estate and infrastructure development, the company has initiated real estate projects across 3 cities through a wholly owned subsidiary.
The real estate projects are across Pune, Nagpur and Goa all in JV with BSEL Infrastructure.

Going forward, the company expects continued rapid and profitable growth – targeting topline and bottomline growth of more than 40% over the next couple of years.
The order book in March 2009 is expected to grow by more than 50% over that of March 2008.

Company is increasingly focusing on bigger ticket projects. It recently bagged on road project worth Rs 250 crore.

After having lived outside of India for close to 40 years or even more, many NRIs are now joining a reverse flow into India, and investing in property back home.
Many are looking for retirement, or semi-retirement homes that may later tempt their children or grandchildren into connections with India. But it can also be good investment.
Interest is growing among both the older NRIs, and the younger lot of professionals who have recently migrated from India.
Developers and financiers are now tempting NRIs with fancy new housing and they could not have picked a better time.
The new signs of interest follow an offer of new housing that wasn’t around before.
Arijit Sanyal of HDFC said, “The interest has always been there. I just think that now we are able to serve that interest. Because provision of finance, is easier, the developers are willing to come, they are better able to exhibit their properties to the NRI community”.
Now the interest is attracting property developers and financiers from the wider London market as well.
Andrew Fassnidge, MD, Navyroof.com, said, “Currently, there are huge potential investments. If we look at investment banks, Meryll Lynch has increased 7%”.

Indian companies picking up stake and buying out foreign businesses. Not only Indian Inc, but Indians are also showing their interest towards foreign destinations for second home. At the time when the Indian economy is struggling to get hold of the rising inflation, many of the rich Indians are actually busy fussing over and worrying about which part in the world to set up their second home. Analysts say that this trend of the swish set setting up second home abroad is only logical, going by the way the Indians are lining up to play a much bigger role, be it professionally or entrepreneurially, on the global stage. As the Indian economy is growing, so is the number of wealthy people. In developed countries, the trend of acquiring second homes is normal, and the wealthy have been buying second and third homes since ages now. And, now it is time for India to follow the same trend.

Aditi Vijayakar, Director, Transaction Services, Residential, Cushman & Wakefield said, “Indians have typically preferred markets like Dubai, Singapore, Malaysia, the US and the UK. The latter two locations have been preferred by end users or NRIs who live and buy locally in these countries. Dubai, Malaysia and Singapore have been locations which have generated interest over the last two to three years as investment destinations and prices in all three markets have soared”. Dubai, the Middle East, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, London, Sydney, Melbourne and Mauritius are most definitely some of the most popular destinations where Indians are buying a second home.

As far as the money is involved in the process of buying a home abroad is concerned, it depends on the country where the person plans to buy the home. But the one policy which has most certainly helped in the rise of this trend is where the Indian government has offered two lacs US dollars annual personal allowance to be spent on property abroad.

There are quite a few formalities one needs to take care of in order to buy a home abroad. Of course, one will have to comply with the rules and regulations and the legal requirements of the country one plans to buy the home in. The procedure and entire process for buying a home abroad varies from country to country, and it’s imperative that one is well versed with the local laws and requirements.

Even though it might not be an easy task to acquire a home abroad, there are certain benefits of investing in a second home in another country which might seem inviting. Most of these destinations have a stable and mature real estate market which helps in the assured and high rental returns on the investments on the property.

Frasers Hospitality, undaunted by the uncertain global economic outlook, is pursuing an aggressive expansion strategy in China, India, Vietnam and other markets.
The hospitality arm of Singapore-listed conglomerate Fraser & Neave is a ‘contrarian’ that aims to add about 5,000 serviced apartments over the next two years, despite fears of a global economic slowdown, said its chief executive Choe Peng Sum.

He sees ‘a lot of pent-up demand’ in cities such as Singapore, London and Sydney – where its residences have enjoyed occupancy rates of more than 90 %.

It is also the ‘right time now to get into China’ while growth opportunities are still bright in Vietnam and India, Mr Choe told a media conference yesterday to mark Frasers’ 10th anniversary, as well as to share its expansion plans.

In Singapore, where Frasers already operates two high-end serviced residences, it is planning a third property, but details will be released later, he said.

He added that Frasers has seen a robust 26 % rise in average room rates to about $400 per night for certain units in Singapore.

Farther afield, Frasers is also planning to plant its brand in places such as Edinburgh, Bahrain and Perth.

Noting that ‘growth in Asia and Europe (for extended-stay accommodation) is just starting to take off’, Mr Choe said Frasers expects to expand its portfolio to 8,478 units by 2010.

It will focus on China, India and Vietnam, which have strong long-term growth momentum.

Frasers is targeting new property launches in cities where demand for serviced apartments has been driven up by expatriates working for multinational companies that set up shop in these countries.

In China, where Frasers already has 12 properties in key cities such as Beijing and Shanghai under its brand, the company is looking to grow in other cities such as Chengdu, Nanjing and Tianjin.

As for Vietnam, while skyrocketing inflation poses challenges for the hospitality industry, land prices are now becoming ‘more reasonable’ as land owners are more realistic in pricing. This offers opportunities for Frasers to expand there, Mr Choe added.

India is another key growth market for Frasers, which has seven properties scheduled to be launched there over the next three years.

Frasers is also in talks to set up private equity funds to invest in China, India and South-east Asia.

Indore has gained a reputation of being the test ground for corporations looking to test revolutionary and innovative ideas that later go on to inundate the rest of the country. Bharti chose this city to launch its private telephone network (which was also India’s first private telephone network). Radio Mirchi came here first, before going to the metros and the rest of the country. And till the 1990s, Bollywood movies were released here on Thursday, while they were released on Friday in the rest of the country.
Not surprising then that the city is testing some of the latest trends in real estate as well. One such project is Silver-springs. It has attracted FDI from Fire Capital Fund. An interesting feature here is that a section of the project has been allocated to be sold only to defense personnel. This decision could have been prompted by its nearness (about 30 km) to Mhow (a premier military training centre).
The township is segregated into enclaves that are themed around elements of nature: earth, air, water, fire. While this is also a good idea, it remains to be seen how many people will actually want to live in an enclave named after fire, and further how many people will move into (or stay out of) an enclave based on their astrologers’ advice.
Currently only a Town House sample villa is ready, and thankfully here the builder are delivering houses that most of urban India has come to expect. The house is big and there are no surprises here. Of course, the whole concept of townships and group housing is new to the area and that is one place where this pioneering city is taking a cue from the developments in the rest of the country.

UK-based Eredene Capital has picked up a 50% stake in Apeejay Infra-Logistics (AILPL), the infrastructure arm of Kolkata-based Apeejay Surrendra Group.

The group is setting up a state-of-the-art logistics park in Haldia in West Bengal’s West Midnapore district. Eredene Capital has invested Sterling Pound 5.25 million or Rs 42 crore to pick up the 50% AILPL stake. This was confirmed by Abdul Wahid, the new chief executive officer of AILPL.

Eredene Capital invests in infrastructure projects and in real estate development in India. It focuses primarily, but not exclusively, on logistics, distribution of warehouses and port services. Mr Wahid, who will be responsible for all infrastructure related activities of the Apeejay Surrendra group, has over 17 years of experience as a senior supply chain management professional.

Speaking to media, Mr Wahid said: “The Eredene group has picked up a 50% stake in APILPL at an investment of Rs 42 crore. The Eredene group has a crack team with core experience in real estate, infrastructure, ports and logistics and we see them as natural partners in the development project at Haldia. We look forward to working with them in this and other future projects as well.”

In fact, Eredene and the Apeejay Surrendra group have entered into an agreement whereby the former would be Apeejay’s exclusive partner for all infrastructure and logistics projects in nine eastern states of India.

The proposed logistics park at Haldia will be located 7 kms away from Haldia port. It will provide distribution, warehousing and transport services to industrial units located there. The park will have anicllary facilities such as commercial offices, hotels, shopping malls and light processing workshop.

The 72-acre plot for the Haldia project has already been specifically marked for industrial use by the Haldia Development Authority. The process of lease acquisition is on. The total cost for development of logistics at the park is Rs 192 crore.

Talking about funding of the project, Mr Wahid said it will be done through a mix of debt and equity. “An equity investment of sterling pound 10.5 million will be shared equally between Eredene and Apeejay Surrendra group. The balance will be funded through debt.”

“We are trying to give land to the Apeejay group as quickly as possible, so that they can start work at the site,” said PA Siddiqui, chief executive officer of Haldia Development Authority.

After losing more than 71% of its market cap in the past six months, the country’s largest real estate developer DLF has announced a share buyback.

The company is likely to spend around Rs 500 crore on the buyback programme, which will result in around 1 crore shares (equivalent to 0.6% equity stake) getting extinguished.

The quantum and the price at which the shares will be bought will be decided in the board meeting slated for July 10. The company is likely to buy shares from the market over a period of several months, stretching to a maximum of six months, at market determined prices.

It could be inferred from the proposed investment plan that the company is looking at an average acquisition price of Rs 500 per share, which is lower than the DLF’s issue price of Rs 525.

The promoter group holds 88.17% in DLF. As per the SEBI norms, promoter holding beyond 90% could trigger delisting proceedings. Therefore, buyback option is limited to acquisition of around 3 crore shares, which will hike promoters’ stake to 90%.

DLF stock has slid 71% off its January peak of Rs 1,225 to reach an all-time low of Rs 350 on Wednesday. Following the buyback announcement, scrips rose 14.7% to close at Rs 423 on the NSE after touching an intra-day high of Rs 439. Over 1 crore shares changed hands on Wednesday.

Analysts feel the buyback plan will bring little relief to the flagging stock.
The share price will again fall as soon as the buyback offer is over. Mostly, companies use surplus cash reserves to buy back shares in order to shrink capital base and enhance earnings per share. But in the case of DLF, as also in the case of a few other Indian companies earlier, a buyback is being resorted to put up a brave front before investors, which may not necessarily work.

Global credit crisis and rising interest rates in the country has made borrowings very expensive for realty firms, and DLF, like its peers, too is facing a major cash crunch. It had to reverse the sale of its office property to the promoter group company DAL in March quarter after failing to find investors for DAL.

In such a circumstance, DLF’s Rs 500-crore investment for share buyback will only put extra burden on the company’s balance sheet. The global turmoil and domestic inflation have hit realty firms hard with several realty stocks being hammered out of shape.

Unitech has lost 75%, while Parsvnath and Omaxe have slid over 80% each. Given the changed economic scenario, most brokerage firms have been revising downwards the net asset value (NAV) as well as target price of real estate firms.

Sobha Developers Ltd leading real estate company said on 02nd July it has sold forty percent stake in an forthcoming Bangalore project to Dubai’s Pan Atlantic LLC for ten million dollar.
Sobha plans to develop a 1.7-million-sq ft residential township at the plot in south Bangalore. A senior company official said the present value of the land is estimated at 1.05 billion rupees.
Recent months have seen a spate of private equity deals in the Indian realty, as developers, faced with a cash crisis on one hand and a decelerate in demand caused by high interest rates on the other, try to unlock value in ongoing projects.
In April, Parsvnath sold thirty percent in a Mumbai project to Euronext-listed Yatra Capital and Saffron India Real Estate Fund for forty six million dollar, while Unitech sold 50% in a Mumbai project to Lehman Brothers in June, for one hundred seventy five million dollar.
Sobha plans to begin construction at the Bangalore project by the subsequent quarter, the official said.
Shares in the company extended gains to a high of 288.90 rupees, and were trading at 285 rupees, up 8.3 % in a strong Mumbai market.

In a move that could help curb hotel room crisis ahead of Commonwealth Games 2010, the government is considering relaxing entry restriction for foreign players in construction of hotels and resorts. It is looking at a suggestion to bring down minimum development rule of real estate from existing 50,000 sq feet to 20,000 sq feet for hotels included in ‘mixed’ real estate projects. This would set the ground for players with smaller net worth to invest in Indian hospitality sector.
With Commonwealth Games just 2 yrs away, the Capital needs thirty thousand further rooms to accommodate an expected 1.5 lakh tourists. Similarly, other states also require additional rooms to tackle the influx of tourists in India in 2010. According to sources, the department of industrial policy and promotion (Dipp), at present, is considering relaxing entry norms in case of hotels only. However, the Investment Commission had recommended to the government to relax the entry restriction in the entire sector, which includes housing and shopping arcades as well.
The Dipp has already circulated a Cabinet note proposing waiver of two conditions — the 3 yr lock-in on foreign investment and the minimum investment criteria of five million dollar for joint ventures or ten million dollar for wholly-owned ventures. This waiver has also been sought for hotel related real estate projects.
However, the country has been seeing an asset bubble since the beginning of the current fiscal. According to realty verticals head R. Ahuja“With real estate prices heading southwards, tardy stock market, high interest rates especially for the real estate sector, the sector will continue to remain low for sometime”.

Real estate developers like Lodha, DLF, Unitech and Raheja have begun ramping up their presence in Business school campuses in the past two years in a move to have a more professional image. The move coincides with the growing interest of business school graduates in the real estate sector.
The real estate firms have sold promising careers to the students by offering competitive compensation packages. They usually hire students with prior work experience so that within two years they are ready to hold fairly senior posts.
Lodha, one of the highest paying companies on campuses made offers approximately in the range of Rs 16 lakh per annum. Real estate companies have felt a need to keep pace with growth and build organizational capabilities. Unitech has roped in McKinsey to conduct a study to on the balanced ratio between professional and family work force.
Unitech general manager of corporate planning, R Nagaraju said, “Although family continues to handle board level positions, senior strategic positions were taken by professionals. There is a higher level of delegation now at the professional level.” Unitech hired around 15 students from IIMs and ISB this year. This number was similar to last years.
Having had an experience with the Indian real estate majors, B-schools are now looking at luring foreign real estate companies. Many are looking at real estate companies based in Dubai and Singapore as potential recruiters. Some are already strengthening ties with existing players.

A slump in the Indian real estate market has cast a shadow on the property funds listed on London’s Alternative Investment Market (AIM). All the five India-focused property funds floated by local developers have been under-performing in the past two months.

On an average, they registered an 18% negative return over the last two months. The market capitalization of all the Indian developers has eroded around 60-85% during the past few months and it has had its impact on the AIM market.
Unitech Corporate Parks, the AIM-listed entity of the Delhi-based real estate firm Unitech, has been the worst performer with 27% negative return; while the Mumbai-based Hiranandani group’s Hirco has suffered a 23% fall.

KPMG executive director Jai Mavani said, “This is largely due to the environment and has nothing to do with a particular developer. The projects offered by the AIM entities are largely construction and development rather than operating ones. Currently, they are not generating cash. This is the reason why these funds have been lagging behind since the time of their listing”.

The India-focused funds listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange tell a similar story. The recently-listed Indiabulls Properties Trust is also trading below its issue price.

According to a recent Credit Suisse report, despite developers’ assertions that prices remain at an all-time high, a deeper look shows that all is not well with the sector. Recent land auctions, discounts being offered by developers, cancellations and prices in the secondary market all point to an impending price correction.
It added that mortgage disbursals, stamp duty and registration fee collections also indicate a slowing demands. Developers are finding it increasingly difficult to raise funds and distress sales are on.

India’s largest real estate company, DLF Ltd, said on 02nd july that its board of directors would meet on July 10, to consider and approve a buy-back of equity shares. The buy-back proposal comes at a time when the company has seen sharp erosion in its share price over the past few weeks.

The announcement lifted the sentiment of the stock on 02nd July. It was ruling at all-time low of Rs 350.30 on the BSE, but ended the day with a gain of 15 % at Rs 423.95 against 01st July closing price of Rs 368.40.

DLF  promoted by billionaire Mr K.P. Singh  had debuted on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) in July last year at Rs 582 per share, almost 11 % higher than the issue price of Rs 525 per share. However, the stock value has eroded since the start of 2008, after it opened the year at Rs 1,055, it reached an all-time high of Rs 1,225 (on January 15, 2008), and a low of Rs 350.30 on 02nd July.

“The shares today are at a level lower than the intrinsic value of the company. The company wants to give a signal to its shareholders and the market that it will take the necessary steps to ensure that the stock is quoting at a fair value. The company is concerned that the stock is quoting below the issue price,” a DLF official said.

However, the company has not specified the size of the proposed buyback or its price. Sources said that the company was likely to consider an open market route for the buyback.

At present, the public holding in the company is pegged at about 12 %. The company has cash of about Rs 2,000 crore on its balance sheet, sources pointed out.

The real estate sector has been at the receiving end of the bourses following the increase in interest rate and on firm inflation numbers.

According to Enam Securities, “Given the falling demand/capital values, project sales/internal accruals falling short of funding requirement, more pain is expected in the near term. It is time to tread cautiously on this sector, the report added.

“Due to rising interest rates and property prices in the last one year, there has been decline in the transaction volumes in the residential side. Prospective buyers are now waiting on the sidelines for the property prices to correct. In the wake of increasing interest rate scenario, we are increasing our discounting rate assumption for the real estate companies under our coverage,” said a recent Emkay report.

Country’s largest real estate developer DLF Ltd will develop eight shopping malls under leasing format in the metros this financial year.

DLF Retail only leases out space in its properties. Company would also open four shopping malls in current year, of which three would be in Delhi NCR and one in Chandigarh.

Chandigarh mall will be smaller one, while the three malls in the Capital will have three-to-four lakh square feet leasable area per mall.

Leaving the price of the land, the construction cost is around Rs 3,000-4,000 per square feet.

DLF is focusing primarily is on the metro cities like Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad and Delhi. DLF will also look at smaller cities in future. DLF is in discussion with many big retailers, but nothing has been finalized yet. DLF Retail currently has five operational malls.

Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc, a hospitality and leisure chain, plans to roll out its upscale brand ‘Aloft’ in India. “We have tied up with a few developers and Citibank subsidiary for the Aloft brand,” said Larry Malarkar, regional director, sales and marketing, India, Nepal and Bangladesh, Starwood Asia Pacific Hotels & Resorts Pte Ltd. “They will come up in Chennai, Bangalore and a couple of Tier II cities including Pune, Ahmedabad starting 2009,” he added.
The company is also in the process of finalising plans for its other brands including five star luxury brand St Regis, W Hotels and four star brand Four Points. Currently, the company has its brands including Westin, Sheraton, Le Meridien and The Luxury Collection in the country. It has no plans to get the Element brand to India. ITC Hotels has been Starwood’s partner in India for more than 30 years. It has 10 year franchise agreement with the US-based Starwood Hotels and Resorts for re-branding its seven hotels and bringing them under latter’s ‘Luxury Collection’.
“We are in talks with a real estate company for a property in Mumbai for St Regis and will probably tie up with a developer for a multi-hotel pan India deal for Four Points,” he said. He added that the company sees big potential for the Four Points brand in India while it will be very selective for its W Hotels brand. “No concrete plans for the W Hotels as of now,” he said.
Asked if Starwood plans to partner with the Anil Ambani Group for St Regis brand, the group was reported to be looking at joining hands with Starwood for the brand, Malarkar said, “The group has expressed interest to enter the hospitality sector. People have been asking us if we plan to tie up with them. Earlier, we used to say no comments but now I can say there are no such plans.” Typically, a St Regis hotel has 300 rooms. Starwood sees huge market in Tier I cities for its luxury brands. “There are no hard and fast plans to confine brands to a few destinations only, but the luxury brands will only be sustainable in the major metros to begin with. We do not see big market for luxury brands in Tier II cities,” Malarkar said.
For its Westin brand, the company has tied up with real estate companies including Mumbai-based real estate company Oberoi Construction for property in Mumbai and Vatika group’s subsidiary, Vatika Hospitality Pvt Ltd, for properties in Delhi and Gurgaon. “We have also signing one more property with Vatika for property in Bangalore ,” he said. By 2011, the company plans to add 30 hotels to the bank of 23 at present in the country.

Real estate development at the eight hundred crore rupees Sabarmati River Front project is all set to begin by the end of this fiscal year.

About 22% of the total 168 hectares of land reclaimed as part of this key landmark project will be open for developments in both commercial and residential segments.

About 22% of the land (34 hectares) will be released for sale for the development of commercial and residential properties on the riverside. These developments in the centre of the city will result in the expansion of the city’s already established business districts like Ashram Road, the walled city, Shahibaug, Kalupur and Relief Road.

According to Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC), the civic body handling the project, the reclaimed land would be available for real-estate developments as early as coming December.

Country’s largest lender State Bank of India on Tuesday said that it would review the interest rates on home loans in the next 10 days. SBI Chairman O P Bhatt told, “We are still examining the market condition and will take a view on home loan rates in another week or 10 days”.

SBI had increased its PLR by 50 basis points to 12.75% last week. Following the hike in lending rates, the bank also increased deposits rates for various maturities.

The bank expects net interest margin in the range of 3% as compared to 3.09% in the previous year.

Bhatt said credit growth this year would moderate by 2-3% and aims advances to grow at 20-21%.

Speaking about profitability, he said less business would mean less profitability. Impact on volume would have some impact on profitability.