Category: Real Estate Information

Citi arm takes 40% in BPTP

New Delhi :- Property investment division of Citibank has invested one hundred sixty million dollar in real estate major BPTP. earlier Citibank Property Investment (CPI) had invested eighty million dollar in the company to take 5.89 per cent stake. The hottest investment will be made in a special purpose vehicle (SPV) of BPTP, which is executingfour SEZs in the national capital region. According to a source, CPI will acquire 40% stake in the SPV.

The SPV is applying IT specific SEZs at Noida, Greater Noida, Faridabad and Gurgaon. The Noida SEZ is being developed on 25 acre of land, Greater Noida on 100 acre, Faridabad on 54 acre and Gurgaon on 27 acre of land. In the first phase, the company will develop six million square feet in the four SEZs by 2010. The total area to be developed in the four SEZs is 20 million square feet.

All four SEZs have got the approval of the government and land has been acquired. The money raised by the SPV will fund the project.

The government rejected to extend the tax benefit for software technology parks after March 31, 2009, IT SEZs have become popular amongst the export oriented units. The developer of SEZ will get tax concessions not only on profit, but also on all inputs required for the project.

The deal reveals that the real estate tale in the country is still shining and the investors are prepared to put money, provided the project is at the implementation stage, said a banker. He said if India maintains an eight per cent growth, it will require enormous real estate supply.

BCCL Picks Up Stake In Mantri Realty

Bennett, Coleman & Co Ltd (BCCL) has picked up Rs 60 crore worth preference shares in Mumbai-headquartered real estate major Mantri Realty Limited, which has operations in both Mumbai and Bangalore. Mantri Realty is an associate concern of Mantri Enterprises. The company, which has so far completed over 35 residential and commercial projects with over 3 million square feet built up area across 15 cities, has a land bank of more than 1,400 acre. Mantri Realty will use these funds for developing new projects. Read More »

Buy a home abroad, get a jet free

One can get a BMW or a private jet, a multiple entry visas or a free ticket to fly down as an incentive for buying a home or investing in property  abroad. The Luckiest person can get a permanent residency or citizenship too. Read More »

World’s largest shopping centre

The Dubai Mall, world’s biggest shopping and entertainment destination, developed by the foremost Dubai real estate developer Emaar Properties PJSC and located in the Dh73 billion mega-project Downtown Burj Dubai, is putting concluding touches to quite a few retail and entertainment concepts that are a first for the region.

The Dubai Mall, with an approx area in excess of Twelve million square feet, is setting a new structure in mall development with a range of construction machinery in fact epic in proportion and scale. The structural steel used in The Dubai Mall is twice that of deployed for the Eiffel Tower (seven thousand three hundred tones), and the stone and tile works of 1.2 million square feet already laid are nearly eighteen times the size of a football field measuring sixty nine thousand square feet. The net leasable floor area will be equivalent to the size of fifty football grounds put together.

Triangle RE fund to raise $500 m for Indian realty

To cash in on the growth of organised retail in India, UK and South Africa-based real estate investment groups have launched retail property focused Triangle Real Estate Fund (TREF) for India. The $500 million fund will be routed through Mauritius and will be managed by Property Zone – a joint venture between Old Mutual Investment Group Property investment Ltd., South Africa and ICS Realty Private Limited, India.

Strutt & Parker Real Estate Financial Service Limited (SPREFS) has been appointed as UK and European placing agent. “Unlike most other real estate investors, the fund will dedicatedly concentrate on tier 2 and tier 3 cities in India.
Four projects in cities of Aurangabad, Jaipur, Indore and Nagpur have been selected for the first phase of investment. Surat is also being considered,” Nick Harvey Jones of SPREF told DNA Money.
“It is a high net worth investor fund which requires minimum investment of $5,00,000 form an individual and $5 million form institutional investors,” he added.
Two deals, consisting of 11 projects and having cumulative worth over $200 million, are in the pipeline.

Real Estate Companies planning for Low-Cost Residential Projects

NEW DELHI: Playing on the basic economics of small margins-high volume, realty majors are now adding low-cost residential projects to their portfolio. Omaxe, DLF, Ansal API, Parsvnath, BPTP, et al are setting their eyes on the small and mid-income home buyer segment and lining up projects which will meet the aam aadmi’s need. Read More »

Holding Company ‘Dubai Properties Group’ Launched to Further Consolidate Operations

Leading master real estate developer Dubai Properties, a member of Dubai Holding, on 16th march revamped its corporate structure and pronounced the establishment of a fresh holding company – Dubai Properties Group – combining all its existing businesses into separate business unit, and fetching them under one roof organization.

The new group structure consist 6 business components whose focal point will be real estate verticals like hospitality, property services, international investments and real estate development. Every entity will operate as a separate business subsidiary within the Dubai Properties Group, individually responsible for the unit’s management systems, strategic planning and business results.

Reflecting its parent company Dubai Holding’s mission, Dubai Properties Group will also look for investment opportunities on a worldwide level, launching an aggressive expansion and diversification drive to double its investment portfolio up to seven hundred billion over the next three years.

More over to Dubai Properties, which has notched quite a few milestones in the real estate market, the new group structure comprises Dubai Asset Management, Dubai Retail and Dubai Hospitality.

REITs For Booming Real Estate

SINGAPORE, March 17 – The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) said on Monday that it was looking at the introduction of real estate investment trusts (REITs), but this will come only after other financial market liberalisation moves.

“We have got remarks from market players. I would say that in the timetable, that will be later than the stock lending scheme and currency futures,” the stock market regulator’s chairman C. B. Bhave told an investment conference in Singapore via teleconference.
SEBI in December released draft guidelines on setting up REITs in India, which would pave the way for wider participation by retail investors in the country’s booming real estate sector.

Regulators are also mulling over the introduction of currency futures to help investors hedge foreign exchange risks, and a new system for the borrowing and lending of securities.

Goa Real Estate, Developments With Full Amenities, Appeals International Community

Goa is the smallest state in the Indian Union is located on its western coast. This erstwhile Portuguese colony is a prime vacation destination for international and Indian tourists alike. Goa borders the Arabian Sea and the states of Maharashtra and Karnataka, and two of its greatest attractions are its laid-back pace of life and its 105 km long coastline, which is made up of several white sand beaches.
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Real Estate International Mortgage Marketing in Brief

Mortgage lending rose 160 % previous year, bringing the total to 611 billion rubles ($25 billion), Vedomosti reported last week, citing the Central Bank. Sberbank and VTB Group, the country’s first- and second-biggest lenders, respectively, saw their share of the total rise to 70 % from 55 %, said Vasily Belov, general director of mortgage brokers Fosborn Home, the newspaper reported.

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The local builder will not participate the mega goa show

March 8, 2008, Panaji. Although Times Business Solutions Limited has invited a lot of local real estate developers and builders to take part in its grand Exclusive Goa Property Show to be held in New Delhi, on March 15th and 16th, most of them have decided not to attend the event, hence leaving the field wide open for the builders based in Delhi, Mumbai and other cities.

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Goa property show in Delhi

Panaji; The extensively promoted ‘Exclusive Goa Property Show’ scheduled at New Delhi, organised by Times Business Solutions Ltd, an enterprise of The Times of India Group, looked headed for some controversy with Goa’s internationally reputed fashion designer Mr Wendell Rodricks turning down their invitation to open the show.The  show is at the famous Tivoli Garden-chatterpur temple near mehrauli, on 15-16 March 2008 .

The property show, explained by the company as a “Premium real estate event” is billed as one of the biggest shows for developers interested in selling and buying prime properties in Goa.
Addressing a press conference, at the historic Azad Maidan, in the city, on 07th march, Mr Rodricks said, “I am alarmed and concerned, and implore and beg to Goan developers not to sell the land for money but to undertake development which would support progress of the tourism sector.”

Mr Rodricks further said that the government needs to take steps and position as to what  the unique selling point (USP) of Goa, is?. “The government has to take a stand as regards the people who are coming here and trying to kill the main ingredient (read as identity),” he said, adding “which would result in properties coming up on green hills.”

Aaround 60 developers have been invited to participate in the “Sell Goa” fair, Mr Rodricks said, “This is our land and someone else is selling it.

Hinduja Group appoints Ravinder Babbar as COO

Hinduga group one of the leading diversified groups in the world, today announced the appointment of Ravinder Babbar as COO for Aasia Properties Development Ltd., the real estate arm of the group.

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Real estate prices in Hyderabad getting down

Hyderabad:- Continuing  with good growth of three years, it is time for the real estate prices in Hyderabad to go down. Prices, which had shot up to three hundred per cent in the majority areas, have started going down. It suggests either very low growth rates or stagnation.
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India approves ONGC Videsh Venezuela jv, Qatar investment

LONDON – The Indian government formally approved ONGC Videsh Ltd’s (OVL) 102.21 mn USD investment in a Qatar-based project and also its formation of a joint venture with CVP/Petroleos De Venezuela SA (PDVSA).

ONGC Videsh is a unit of Oil & Natural Gas Corp, India’s largest oil and gas exploration company.

The government also authorised ONGC Videsh to directly invest in Najwat Najem appraisal, development and production sharing agreement (NNADPSA) Qatar project.

The joint venture with the Venezuelan company will be formed — or development of San Cristobal field located in the Orinoco oil belt, directly or through OVL’s wholly owned unit, a government release said.

The Qatar-based project, in which OVL can obtain a 40 pc stakes, will be the company’s first property in Venezuela.

India said ONGC can provide funding and guarantee support to OVL in both projects, without seeking budgetary support from the government.

Indiabulls in Pounds 138m Aim Deal

In the biggest deal of its type, Mumbai-listed real estate company Indiabulls will make an all-share offer for Aim-listed Dev Property Development.

It will be the first time that a deal of this size – Pounds 138 million – will be financed in the UK entirely by Indian shares.

Indiabulls is a property and financial services conglomerate with a Pounds 4 billion market capitalisation. It is the parent group of the largest real estate company in India, Ibrel, which is handling some of the biggest commercial projects in Mumbai.

The deal, which still has to be approved, will value Isle of Man- based Dev Property at a 32 per cent premium to its closing price of 75 .5 p.

The economic boom in India, where GDP is growing at nearly nine per cent a year, has fuelled investment from international companies setting up offices in Mumbai, which has ignited the commercial property market.

Last year, Dev Property was the fourth Indian developer to launch an Aim listing of a fund that allowed investors to take part in the Indian real estate market through a UK investment vehicle.

ICICI Venture buys 15% in Arrow Webtex

 Private equity firm ICICI Venture has picked up a 14.9% stake in Mumbai-based textile and real estate development firm Arrow Webtex through a preferential allotment. The deal is estimated to be in the region of around Rs 130-140 crore. The transaction gives the private equity fund a stake marginally below the level which mandates an open offer for public listed firms in India.

Arrow Webtex is engaged in the business of woven and printed labels, elastic tapes, apart from various activities related to real estate, hospitality and gaming business through its subsidiaries. For the quarter ending December 2007, it had consolidated net sales of Rs 46.03 crore with consolidated net profit of Rs 2.76 crore. The company has a market capitalisation of around Rs 645 crore.

As per the disclosures made to the stock exchanges, ICICI Venture, which manages various private equity, real estate and mezzanine funds, has picked up around 2.03 crore shares through the allotment last week. If the deal was struck at the market price on the day, it would be valued at about Rs 132 crore. However, preferential allotments are usually done at a small premium.

Early this month, Arrow Webtex had also made another preferential allotment to another firm, Pacific Corporate Services. This deal gave Pacific Corporate Services a 8.8% equity stake in Arrow Webtex. Through the two equity placements, the company has now raised about Rs 200 crore over the past two weeks.

Good Budget For Real Estate Sector

The Indian real estate sector has  largely welcomed the overall effect of  the budget, although saying that it could have done more for the industry.

Pradeep Jain, chairman of Parsvnath Developers Ltd. told that the budget will enhance the socio-economic infrastructure of the country by giving needed emphasis to education, health and hospitality sector. The budget has, however, not fully addressed the demands of real estate industry.

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Dubai Properties displayed at Mumbai Extravaganza aiming Indian Investor

Foremost master real estate developer Dubai Properties has participated at the premium luxury show ‘Mumbai Extravaganza 2008’ in Mumbai, India to showcase its most recent portfolio of realty developments including the latest to be announced ‘Mudon’ project, to an elite audience of high net worth visitors and top tier conglomerates.
Mohamed Binbrek, CEO, Dubai Properties, said, “Mumbai Extravaganza gave us an opportunity to present investors with instant information on the latest developments from Dubai Properties, as well as introduce our latest project launches to a new market. Indian nationals are amongst the top investors within the booming real estate market in Dubai”.
In 2007, Indian Nationals spent Dh4 billion on real estate in Dubai and over the past 10 years, they have spent a total of Dh6.5 Billion on the Dubai property sector. While the greater part of these buyers were Indians living within the UAE, 10% of them were living in India or otherwise, proving the existence of a substantial demand for Dubai real estate from outside the UAE.

Asian real estate board sees Singapore as major REITs centre

Singapore – The Asian Public Real Estate Association said on Tuesday told that a body which represents publicly traded Asia-Pacific real estate has set up a chapter in Singapore to ultimately serve as a major cross-border REITs centre.

Market capitalization of the city-state’s real estate investment trust (REIT) market amounts to 21.6 billion dollars, second to Japan with a capitalization of 46 billion dollars.

“For some players, 2008 will represent a period of good opportunities for companies that are well capitalized and don’t rely on credit, “The Business Times quoted Peter Mitchell, the association’s chief executive officer, as saying.

Hong Kong ranks as the third-largest REIT market with capitalization of 8.5 billion dollars, followed by Taiwan at 1.7 billion dollars, Malaysia at 1.l6 billion dollars and South Korea at 0.6 billion dollars.

Mitchell described the REIT sectors in Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore as mature. The general downturn in the economy could see a return to fundamentals,” he told the newspaper.

Mitchell said projections of another 10 REITs being listed in Singapore this year seems a bit optimistic amid the US subprime crisis and global credit crunch, but there are still opportunities in Asia.

The city-state has the potential to become a major centre for the region, Mitchell said, mentioning upcoming listings of Indian, Japanese, Chinese and Indonesian REITs.
The Singapore chapter follows those set up in Hong Kong and Japan.

BJP will Advise The Government For Real Estate Regulatory Authority

NEW DELHI: The BJP will represent to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, now the need for setting up the Real Estate Regulatory Authority, in order to prevent fly-by-night builders from cheating innocent people, who put in their lifetime earnings into their dream house project.

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Investment In Promising Cities In India

India is internationally recognized as a booming economy, making it a  favored real estate investment destination for both commercial and residential properties. Still, there is always the confusion of whether to invest in an recognized area or in potentially more money-making area.

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Gurgaon Becomes Hub For Multinationals

Multinational companies are showing their interest in properties in Gurgaon. The rentals rates for Commercial space in Mumbai & New Delhi had always been a guiding and driving force behind Gurgaon’s commercial rentals. Delhi has broken its own record of expensive office with rentals in Connaught Place, almost touching Rs 400 + per sq. feet per month. On the other side, Mumbai has proved to be world’s 5th most costly office space.
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Israel firms in Joint venture for realty project

Property and Building Corporation (PBC) and Electra Real Estate, both Israel based firms, today pronounced plans of developing Rs 4,000-crore real estate projects in Hyderabad, Chennai and Mysore through a recently incorporated Indian joint venture, PBEL Property Development (India), with Hyderabad-based Incor Infrastructure as a 10 percent stake holder.

PBC is a subsidiary of the IDB group whose business interests vary from telecom to real estate with its worldwide assets pegged at over $27 billion while Electra Real Estate is a subsidiary of Elco Holdings of Israel. Both companies hold 90% of the equity in PBEL at equal ratio.

The company has already invested Rs 500 crore in obtaining 110 acres of land for building 4 projects, 2 in Hyderabad and one each in Chennai and Mysore, which together would offer over 10 million square feet of built up space – residential commercial and IT, Meir Boukris, director & founder, PBEL, said.

The company has obtained 58 acres in 2 land parcels in Hyderabad and 42 acres in Chennai for a mixed township project and a 10 acre residential area in Mysore.

While the high growth potential being offered by Hyderabad and Chennai over other cities in India besides their preceding business relations with local cities have played a key role in pronouncing first phase plans from Southern part of India, the company is open to discover opportunities in other parts of the country as well, he said. The company would invest another Rs 4,000 crore on a variety of project in the next 2-3 years time in India, Boukris said.

Executive director of PBEL Anand Reddy said that all four projects are in the process of receiving compulsory approvals.

Sistema is now planning to invest in India real estate

NEW DELHI, Feb 12.  Russian services conglomerate Sistema  will enter the real estate business in India, a top company official said on Tuesday. The firm will bring its real-estate business Sistema-Hals to India, and will look at opportunities around the national capital of New Delhi, Goncharuk said. 

“We are entering real estate … We might have partners but we have not decided yet,” Chief Executive Alexander Goncharuk told reporters on the sidelines of a conference in the Indian capital.

“India is a strategic market for Sistema … Besides telecoms and real estate, the next direction is high-tech,” Goncharuk said, referring to its microelectronics firm Sitronics .Goncharuk declined to say when Sistema would introduce to India the rest of its diversified portfolio, including Sitronics, saying the details would be announced later.