DLF begins to sell land parcels

DLF Ltd, India’s largest realtor by market capitalisation, has embarked on a land-selling spree. The company recently sold 500 plots of 200-400 yards in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, mopping up around Rs 110 crore at an average Rs 800 per square feet.

More sales are being consummated, some in south India, which will garner slightly larger amounts than Indore, said sources. Rajiv Talwar, group executive director at DLF, confirmed the development but said he cannot disclose price detals.

“The valuations were reasonable. We are also looking to sell some hotel plots etc,” he said. After DLF’s exit from the Bidadi project in Bangalore and Dankuni in West Bengal, its landbank fell to 425 million square feet compared with 751 million square feet.
It added another land parcel of 350 acre through bidding at Haryana State Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation, Gurgaon.

At present it has a landbank of 432 million square feet. In the September quarter, DLF had sold two land parcels in Mumbai, which was bought by serial entrepreneur Sivasankaran. Rising prices have also helped. Samir Jasuja, chief executive of PropEquity, a real estate data and analytics provider said project launches from April 2008 to April 2009 have seen price escalations, especially since the absorption in metros has been good.

“The prices in some cases have even gone up by 5-15%, and I expect the land prices to remain stable or slightly go up now on,” Jasuja said. DLF had earlier said that it is looking to sell land assets in 2009 to raise Rs 2,000 crore in a bid to retire debt.

The plots included hotel land, residential plots and commercial land. DLF has plans to monetise its assets and was able to bring in cash worth Rs 550 crore through asset sale in the last quarter which takes the total amount to Rs 1,064 crore. The company has a net debt of Rs 12,135 crore it expects to raise another Rs 4,436 crore through asset sale.

The company is also looking to sell its windmill business for a valuation of Rs 1,100-1,200 crore for which it is unable to find a buyer, said sources close to the development.

Source:http://www.dnaindia.com/money/report_dlf-begins-to-sell-land-parcels_1313985

Duet India Hotels Invests $12M In Hyderabad VentureDuet India Hotels Ltd (DIH), the private equity firm of UK-based Duet Group, has invested $12 million in a five- star upscale hotel project in Hyderabad. The project, which comprises 210 rooms, is being developed at Gachibowli suburb, close to the IT district, of the city at a total investment of $26 million. The company will soon invest another $25 million in a hotel project in Bangalore

Duet India Hotels, which is the investor and developer of the project, will infuse the remaining amount through debt. The company has already bought the land from L&T Phoenix Infoparks for the Hyderabad project.

It is yet to finalise a hotel partner for the project, Dilip Puri, CEO of Duet India Hotels, told VCCircle.

Across five projects, the company has invested $47 million so far from its $166.5-million fund. Earlier, it has invested in projects in Jaipur, Pune, Ahmedabad and Indore. The Jaipur project is already operational and is run by Sheraton Hotels & Resorts under the brand name, Four Points. The Pune project will be operational by September 2010 followed by Indore and Ahmedabad projects in January and March 2011, respectively.

The company has also completed due diligence for two more investments, one each in Lucknow and Nashik. “We have completed the due diligence for two other projects, and will bring in equity in the next one month. These are smaller projects having equity of $3 million each for developing 3-star hotels of 100 rooms in each,” added Puri. “We are about to conclude a project at Whitefield in Bangalore, and will invest equity of around $25 million,” he said.

By the end of this calendar year, the fund will complete investments of $78 million equity across eight projects. Duet India Hotels, which has raised the fund from foreign institutional investors, plans to raise more equity for the fund and go for an initial public offering in the next two years. “We plan to raise more equity for the same fund and would be looking to do an IPO in a year-and-a-half or two years,” Puri said.

Apart from DIH, Duet Group runs another fund in India called South Asian Real Estate, which has been investing in residential projects.

Source:http://www.vccircle.com/500/news/duet-india-hotels-invests-12m-in-hyderabad-venture

Duet India Hotels eyes expansion

UK-based investment group Duet’s Indian hospitality arm Duet India Hotels is looking for more land to expand its portfolio and add more than 1,300 rooms by the end of this fiscal.

The group plans to develop 20- 30 mid- scale and upper middle segment hotels with around 5,000 rooms in the next two to three years. The company has recently signed a franchise agreement with Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide to open the Four Points hotels by Sheraton.

The company, which opened its first property on October 1 in Jaipur, a 115- room four- star hotel, is developing four such properties in Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Indore and Pune.

Dilip Puri, chief executive officer ( CEO), Duet India Hotels, said, ” The five properties including Jaipur is worth around Rs 500 crore. In these, we would have around 882 rooms. We plan to reach to 1,500 rooms by the end of this fiscal.” ” For this kind of expansion, we are looking for more land. As soon as we acquire land, we can start building. We have already acquired land in Hyderabad for developing a property similar to our Jaipur property. We are also looking at other Tier- II cities such as Lucknow, Nasik, Bangalore and Nagpur.

Bangalore would be more of a brownfield development. Among the metros, Chennai is also our target.”

Source : http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Story/64668/Business/Duet+India+Hotels+eyes+expansion.html#

Omaxe to launch four housing projects

NEW DELHI – With the housing market slowly picking up, realty major Omaxe Ltd is planning to launch four projects shortly, a top official said here Tuesday.

“We are planning to launch four projects in the next two to three months with an investment of about Rs.1,500 crore,” Rohtash Goel, chairman and managing director of Omaxe, told reporters on the sidelines an event here.

“The company is planning to raise about Rs.2,500 crore from these projects,” he said.

The projects will be launched in Faridabad, Indore, Allahabad and Chandigarh. The company has already acquired land for construction.

All these projects will be completed in 30-36 months, depending on clearances.

“Last year was really painful, but this year the demand is improving. Buyers are returning to the market and we are expecting good sales this Diwali,” Goel said.

http://blog.taragana.com/n/omaxe-to-launch-four-housing-projects-180596/

Bolywood Actress Malaika Arora to Launch India’s First Rent-Free Malls

Mumbai, Sep 9: Entertainment World Developers Private Limited (EWDPL), a front-runner in developing shopping Malls, residential townships and hospitality projects, has just announced ‘Treasure Showcase’ – a concept that offers Indian manufacturers and emerging brands to virtually showcase their products / brands in a modern, world-class mall environment.

The most notable feature of Treasure Showcase is that it is a unique ‘no-rent, no cam, no deposit and no maintenance’, which will be featured in 20 malls in 11 states across India by 2011, offering one million square feet of international quality retail space on a revenue share basis. The cities include Agra, Amaravati, Bangalore, Bareilly, Bhilai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Indore, Jabalpur, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, Mohali, Nanded, Pune, Raipur, Thiruvanathapuram, Udaipur, Ujjain and Vadodara, featuring categories ranging from apparel, footwear, electronics, food, accessories, cosmetics, jewellery and home furnishings. ‘Treasure Showcase’, in fact, is the new face of Indian retail. It is an opportunity for every manufacturer / brand with a vision, to gain from modern retail and take their brand across the nation.

“With ‘Treasure Showcase’, the idea is to enable more Indian products and brands to benefit from modern retail practices, leveraging retail intelligence and a new business / revenue model. Here, emerging brands will rub shoulders with established brands under the same roof. Besides, it will also lead to an increase in footfalls, drawing in consumers, who are currently non-mall customers, offering them greater choice,” said Manish Kalani, managing director of EWDPL.

According to him, EWDPL has always believed that besides creating world-class retail infrastructure, its role is really to promote consumption, by providing emerging Indian consumers access to a wider bouquet of brands / merchandise / choice / price points. This will help modern retail create fresh demand and generate new revenue streams.

Keeping this in mind, EWDPL is creating Retailocracy and a level playing field between what is considered traditional retail and modern retail. The idea is to expand the market for modern retail by promoting consumption and innovating retail, thereby enabling emerging and aspiring manufacturers and brands to enter malls.

Kalani strongly believes that everyone should gain from the emergence of modern retail – manufacturers, brands, retail realty developers and most of all consumers. According to Kalani, while India’s aggregate consumption is set to quadruple by 2025, the emerging middle class in metros, cities and towns will significantly drive consumption across categories, thus creating the need for a whole new generation of brands that are young, trendy and affordable.

‘Treasure Showcase’ brings its partners, mall management experience, operational and retail expertise, trend spotting and an opportunity to be alongside the world’s best brands and reach customers directly. Further, management information systems and databases will be shared to ensure a profitable and efficient business, added Kalani.

Gaurav Marya, president of Franchise India, strategic partners for ‘Treasure Showcase’, said, “internationally, revenue sharing model is getting popular and we feel this will unleash a new era of retailing in India.”

The group expects to generate revenues of over Rs 500 crore by 2011 from Treasure Showcase. Nearly Rs 300 crore will be invested in creating and promoting Treasure Showcase, which would include the cost of real estate. The whole concept will be based on a transparent / pre-determined margin sharing revenue model, added Kalani.

“This concept would have a great impact on the real estate industry, as more realty players will formally join the fray, which will lead to market expansion for modern retail,” said Marya.

Kalani, Marya and others were present at the press meet that was held at Taj Land Ends, here on Tuesday September 8.

Source : http://www.daijiworld.com/news/news_disp.asp?n_id=65437&n_tit=Bolywood+Actress+Malaika+Arora+to+Launch+India%92s+First+Rent-Free+Malls++

Indiabulls to spend $500 mn for new projects

India’s third-largest listed developer, Indiabulls Real Estate has planned to use more than $500 million raised from a recent share sale to launch projects.

According to Gagan Banga, chief executive of the group’s flagship, Indiabulls Financial Services, the company will launch 6-7 residential projects in the financial year ending in March 2010 on the back of an expected recovery in demand.

In the month of May, the company raised $556 million through a share sale to institutions including TPG Capital and Fidelity.

The company, with a market value of $1.7 billion, is targeting housing demands in second-tier Indian cities such as Baroda, Ahmedabad and Indore.

Source : http://www.expressestates.in/full_story.php?content_id=93849

Ginger Hotels plans 11 properties

Ginger Hotels, a budget hotel chain from Roots Corporation Ltd, a subsidiary of Indian Hotels Company belonging to the Tata Group, is planning to invest around Rs 100 crore for setting up 11 budget hotels across the country. The hotel chain is planning to add 1,100 rooms by December 2010.

Prabhat Pani, CEO and director, Roots Corporation Ltd, said Ginger Hotel operated 19 hotels across the country with an inventory of 1,800 rooms.

A 100-room Ginger Hotel required an investment between Rs 10 crore and Rs 15 crore in each property, depending upon the model used in the location. The company was planning to set up these hotels through ownership, lease, public private partnership and management contracts, he said.

Some of the hotels under construction include Surat, Indore, Chennai, Tirupur, Jamshedpur and a second hotel in Pune.

In the south, Ginger Hotels’ properties are operational in Bangalore, Mangalore, Mysore, Puducherry and Thiruvananthapuram with nearly 480 rooms. The company will widen its network in south India with the launch of Ginger in Chennai and Tirupur. It is also evaluating options in Hyderabad and putting up a second hotel in Bangalore.

Ginger Hotel in Chennai, which is currently at an advanced stage of construction, is coming up next to the IIT campus in Guindy. The hotel would have 86 rooms and the proposed investment is around Rs 12 crore, he said.

Pani added the growth in the branded budget hotel segment was a reflection of the changing Indian consumer and his lifestyle.

Though there are no formal estimates, this sector is expected to be one of the fastest growing segments in the Indian hospitality industry. The main growth drivers are the economy’s and the customer’s inclination to shift from the unbranded to branded segment.

Source : http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/ginger-hotels-plans-11-properties/357738/

Tata Housing eyes Rs 700 cr from low-cost projects

Tata Housing Development Company, a unit of Tata Sons, expects to earn Rs 700 crore in revenue from low-cost housing in the next four years, a top company official has said.

Tata Housing is launching over 1,000 low-cost houses under the brand “Shubh Griha” priced between Rs 3.9 lakh and Rs 6.7 lakh in Bhoisar, on the outskirts of Mumbai, and plans to launch around 4,000 such houses across other cities in the next four years, mainly targeting industrial workers and other low-wage earners.

The company is targeting Rs 15,000 crore revenue by FY13 from its projects, covering an area of 20 million square feet. It plans to build 10,000-13,000 homes by then. The company aims to earn 5 per cent of its revenue from low-cost houses.

“Low-cost projects have more velocity and can be completed in two years. We see huge opportunity in this space, especially in industrial belts,” said Brotin Banerjee, managing director and chief executive of Tata Housing.

The company is launching two-three such projects in Bangalore and the national capital region in this fiscal and plans joint development with land owners, wherein it will share a percentage of revenues with the owners of the land, and outright of purchase of land in other cases, according to Banerjee.

A host of companies such as Omaxe and Ansal API have launched low-cost apartments to target the low-wage earners and generate cash in the downturn. While New Delhi-based Omaxe has launched 5,000 apartments in Rs 5.99-8.99 lakh range at Mayakhedi in Indore, Ansal API has launched 4,000 low-cost apartments in Jaipur, Jodhpur, Agra and Meerut.

“Our revenues are doubling every year and we hope to continue by being present in different categories and launching innovative products,” said Banerjee. Currently, the company has more than 10 million square feet under development.

Banerjee says more land is now available for developers and land prices have come down to realistic levels. “Earlier, land prices used to escalate within a month. Prices have hit their bottom and I expect them to remain sluggish for the next eight-nine months,” he said.

Source : http://www.google.com/url?sa=X&q=http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/tata-housing-eyes-rs-700-crlow-cost-projects/357607/&ct=ga&cd=IKkcjF1VKlg&usg=AFQjCNFRhGsdR8mKdu4SCTncXKC8v_Ye1Q

Hyatt Corp in JV with Emaar MGF to build hotels in India

NEW DELHI: US-based hotel chain operator Global Hyatt Corporation announced a 24:76 joint venture with property developer Emaar MGF for buildingsix hotels in India by 2013. The two partners will jointly invest about Rs 1,000 crore(~$200 million) to build these hotels under the mid-market brand Hyatt Place.

Besides picking a minority stake in a JV with Emaar MGF, Global Hyatt has signed management contracts with different individual property developers for another 14 hotels under its premium brands-Park Hyatt, Grand Hyatt and Hyatt Regency. Under the management contract, the real estate developer sets up the hotel and the hotel operator charges a management fee from the real estate developer to manage the hotel.

Global Hyatt Corporation global head-real estate & developments Steve Haggaerty said, “We will spend about $ 200 million on six hotels jointly with Emaar MGF. This investment would be a mix of equity and debt and we are in the process of raising the debt component.”

He added that Global Hyatt Corporation on its own will invest $20-25 million as equity into the six hotels to be located in Gurgaon, Hyderabad, Mysore, Lucknow, Indore and Mangalore. These hotels will add upto 950 rooms with the first hotel planned to open by 2011.

“We have also entered into management contracts with several local real estate developers to open 14 hotels with an inventory of over 3,000 rooms by 2013,” said Global Hyatt Corporation senior vice president-South Asia Ratnesh Verma. These premium hotels will be build in cities such as Kolkata, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Chennai, Goa and Pune.

Talking about the impact of the global economic slowdown, Mr Haggerty said that occupancies and demand has softened at its existing five hotel properties in India.

“There are concerns about how several real estate players that entered the hospitality sector have scrapped their plans and delayed their projects. However I would like to assert that under our JV with Emaar we have already acquired land for the six hotels and construction for the other 14 hotels is in various stages,” he added.

Source : http://www.indiarealestateblog.com/?p=2333

Zoom Developers mulls Rs 1,000 crore investment in hospitality projects

Real estate developer, Zoom Developers, has chalked out a Rs 1,000 crore investment plan to develop hotels in various cities in India. The realty major plans to develop 35 hotels across India by 2011.

The 35 hotel projects will be spread across Jaipur, Jalandhar, Itanagar, Ranikhet, Ooty, Kochi, Katra, Amristar, Bhowalil, Bhatinda, Indore, Danta, Alwar, Patiala and Pushkar. Construction has already begun in a few locations that include Itanagar, Ranikhet and Patiala. These properties are expected to be complete before the Commonwealth Games in 2010.

Source : http://www.travelbizmonitor.com/zoom-developers-mulls-rs-1000-crore-investment-in-hospitality-projects-4642

Omaxe to launch 10,000 homes in Indore at Rs4-10 lakh

New Delhi: Realty firm Omaxe on Wednesday said it will launch 10,000 low-cost homes in Indore in February, which would be developed at about Rs1,000 crore.

The company will launch the flats in the range of Rs4-10 lakh.
“We will launch 10,000 affordable houses in February at a 200-acre township in Indore,” Omaxe chairman and managing director Rohtas Goel told reporters on the sidelines of an Assocham function on real estate.

Asked about the investment, he said the project cost would be about Rs1,000 crore and the size of the flats would be 350 square feet upwards. Construction would be complete in 18 months.
Goel noted that the company would sell these units at a margin of 10-15%.

In May 2007, Omaxe had announced that it would develop 10 lakh affordable homes for low-income consumers in five years at Rs80,000 crore. To take its plan forward, it would launch similar projects in Raipur, Rohtak, Sonepat, Chandigarh, Bhiwadi and Ludhiana.

While Omaxe would develop affordable housing in North India, in the south, Mumbai and Ahmedabad, such projects would be launched by a group company ‘National Affordable Housing and Infrastructure Ltd´, Goel said.

Omaxe would soon launch housing projects at Rs12-19 lakh at Faridabad, Greater Noida and Ludhiana, he added.
On correction in property prices, Goel said the rates have declined by 10-40% across the country and there is no further scope for reduction.

Stating that sentiment in the market has improved after the stimulus package, he said states should also pitch in to boost housing by reducing stamp duty to 2-3% for the next two years, raising the density norm and offering interest subsidy to buyers.

Source : http://www.livemint.com/2009/01/14162729/Omaxe-to-launch-10000-homes-i.html

Lemon Tree Dials in for Expansion

The mid-scale hotel chain Lemon Tree plans to add 11 more properties across the country in the next two years, taking the total number of hotels and resorts to 20 with an investment of Rs. 12 billion across 15 cities in India, not including the possibility of handling a 9-hotel project with DIAL for which it has bid recently

“The group would add an inventory of 1,700 rooms in the 11 new hotels to take the total room strength to 2,500 from the existing 800 rooms,” Lemon Tree Hotels Chairman and MD Patu Keswani said.

“The Current economic turmoil and ongoing slowdown of the Indian economy is short term in nature. Reduction in demand for hotel rooms is therefore fundamentally temporary. Demand for rooms will rebound by 2010. At the same time, new supply of hotel rooms will be significantly below that which was envisaged just 6 months earlier due to this deflation in demand and the tight liquidity conditions in the market,” said Keswani in a release.

After the recessionary bells started ringing, the hotels have generally maintained a low profile with realtors postponing or cancelling almost all the new projects.

The company plans to invest Rs. 12 billion in 15 major cities in India, including South Delhi, Gurgaon, East Delhi, Pune, Goa, Alleppey, Indore, Aurangabad, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai, Jaipur, Chandigarh, Shimla and Ahmedabad

It has opened three new hotels at Ahmedabad, Aurangabad and Indore with a total inventory of 300 rooms since October, 2008. with an investment to the tune of Rs 830 million. It already had two hotels in Gurgaon, one in East Delhi, a resort each in Goa and Kerala and a hotel in Pune.

It will open its first Red Fox brand of economy hotels in Jaipur in October 2009 to be followed up with properties in Delhi in December 2009, and Hyderabad in April 2010.

Lemon Tree was one of the four bidders for the Delhi International Airport (DIAL) project, involving commercial development of 12 plots spread across 45 acres of land , including nine for hotels around the Delhi airport. Big real estate and hotel companies have not participated due to low business sentiment. US-based real estate investment fund Starwood Capital, which has invested in some hotel projects in the country, is the lone financial investor to have participated in the auction.

Source : http://www.indianwineacademy.com/item_7_275.aspx

Sahara – Gleeds Tie-up For Townships

Sahara Prime City Ltd, real estate arm of Sahara Group, has roped in UK-based management and construction consultants, Gleeds, for its 217 Sahara City Homes coming up across the country.

Sahara City Homes is a flagship real estate project of Sahara Prime City Ltd under which the townships spread over 100-300 acres are planned to be developed. Already four have been completed in Lucknow, Hyderabad, Bhopal and Gorakhpur under the Sahara States township brand. At present, nine are being developed in Nagpur, Indore, Ahmedabad, Gwalior, Lucknow, Coimbatore, Aurangabad, Solapur and Jodhpur.

In six months’ time, 22 more townships will be taken up for construction. These air-conditioned townships will offer one to five bedroom residential units in the category of high-rise and mid-rise apartments, independent row houses and independent bungalows.

Each of the cities is to have shopping malls, multiplexes, hospitals, schools, hotels, dub, community centre, retirement homes, besides multilevel security, local transport and essential services like convenience stores, banking, homecare and postal services. The focus of these townships falls on middle and upper middle class with affordable homes priced at Rs. 2600-Rs. 2800 per sq ft.

According to Sandeep Wadhwa, Head Of Strategic Finance, Sahara Prime City, the company is talking to private equity firms, banks, financial institutions and some international developers for part-funding of the townships project.

Asad Ahmed, Head (planning and Construction) has said that each of the townships will take 4-5 years for completion and SCH will start giving possessions for its Indore, Nagpur and Lucknow townships by December 2009.

Source : http://propertybytes.indiaproperty.com/?p=3167

Lemon Tree plans to invest Rs 1,200 Crore

Lemon Tree Hotels is mulling over an investment plan of Rs1,200 Crore to set up a pan-India chain of hotels. As per the capex plan, the company intends to have 20 hotels aggregating 2,500 rooms by 2011. There will be hotels coming up in 15 major cities in India, including South Delhi, Gurgaon, East Delhi, Pune, Goa, Alleppey, Indore, Aurangabad, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai, Jaipur, Chandigarh, Shimla and Ahmedabad. The funding for these projects will be a mix of equity and bank debt.

Currently, Lemon Tree Hotels has nine properties across India in the mid-price segment and the other ten properties are under development. The Chennai hotel will open in February 2009 while the two hotels in Bengaluru, one in Electronic City and the other on St Johns Road, will open by end-2009 and by June 2010 respectively. The hotel at Hyderabad will open in 2010.

Source : http://www.hospitalitybizindia.com/detailNews.aspx?aid=3054&sid=1

Lemon Tree plans to add 11 more properties by 2011

The company has opened three new hotels at Ahmedabad, Aurangabad and Indore with a total inventory of 300 rooms during the past two months.

New Delhi: Hospitality player Lemon Tree Hotels plans to add 11 more properties across the country by in the next two years, taking the total number of hotels and resorts to 20.
“The group would be adding an inventory of 1,700 rooms in the soon-to-be-developed 11 new hotels to take the total room strength to 2,500 from the existing 800 rooms,” Lemon Tree Hotel Company Chairman and Managing Director Patu Keswani said.
He, however, did not disclose the planned investment for the properties which are to come up in next two years.
“The company is accelerating the development of its ongoing projects to meet its target of owning and operating 20 hotels across all the major Indian cities by 2011,” he said.
The company has opened three new hotels at Ahmedabad, Aurangabad and Indore with a total inventory of 300 rooms during the past two months. The total investment in the three properties was to the tune of Rs83 crore.
Keswani said that the reduction in demand for rooms being witnessed after the recent Mumbai terrorist attacks would be a temporary phenomenon.
The group’s nine existing properties, including three new hotels, has an inventory of 800 rooms.

Source : http://www.livemint.com/2008/12/17224203/Lemon-Tree-plans-to-add-11-mor.html

DLF to invest Rs 15,000 cr on affordable housing

Buoyed by robust sales in mid-income housing, real estate giant DLF on Monday said it will invest Rs 15,000 crore over the next three years to develop various residential projects across the country in Rs 15-40 lakh range.

DLF, the country’s biggest real estate developer, had last year announced its plan to enter into mid-income housing segment, realising the huge untapped demand in this category.

“We will be investing Rs 5,000 crore a year over the next three years on mid-income housing projects,” DLF Home Developers Vice President A Harikesh told media.

“Mid-income homes will be our focus area and will witness significant growth in the coming quarters,” he added.

DLF’s investment plans for affordable housing coincides with announcement by public sector banks to boost the segment by cutting home-loan interest rates, putting caps of 9.25 per cent for Rs 5-20 lakh and 8.5 per cent for loans of up to Rs five lakh.

Harikesh said internal accruals, advances against sales and capital raised through private equity would take care of the planned investment. DLF had raised Rs 1,675 crore as private equity in eight projects in November 2007.

DLF Home Developers, the wholly-owned subsidiary of DLF, would construct about 40,000 housing units in the mid-income category, sizes of which would vary between 1,000 sq ft and 1,800 sq ft, he added.

The company has witnessed tremendous response for its mid-income housing projects and sold over 7,000 flats so far this year, despite slowdown in the housing demand for the last six months on account of high interest rate and capital value.

DLF has launched mid-income housing projects in Bangalore, Gurgaon, Hyderabad, Indore, Kochi, Kolkata and Pune.

Source : http://propertybytes.indiaproperty.com/?p=3092

Landmark puts on hold hospitality play in India

BANGALORE: The Landmark Group, a Dubai-based retail chain, has put its plans for the hospitality sector in India on indefinite hold. The group,  which had plans to set up 30 mid-market hotels in India, is learnt to have asked some of the property developers it was in talks with for possible tie-ups to look for new partners. A Landmark spokesman declined to comment on the development.

While announcing its hospitality venture Citymax Hotels India last year, Landmark had said it planned to set up over 30 mid-market hotels in 10 years, with the first four-star hotel to come up in Indore in September 2008. The company confirmed that the new hotel had not come up yet but declined to say if it was delayed or shelved.

The development reflects the prevailing sentiment in the hospitality industry. “There is uncertainty in the overall market sentiment for the hospitality sector, especially for greenfield projects. Capital intensive projects are either put on hold or are put on a slow track,” said Ernst & Young real estate and hospitality analyst Ajit Krishnan.

While the principal reason for the uncertainty in the sector is the economic slowdown, the recent terror attack in Mumbai has aggravated risk, he said.

Citymax had said last year that it would invest Rs 325 crore by 2012 to set up 12 hotels in cities including Bangalore, Pune, Gurgaon and Hyderabad. Landmark Group, owned by NRI businessman Micky Jagtiani, entered India almost a decade ago with its department store chain Lifestyle. Since then it has forayed into value retail with Max chain and tied up with Dutch retail giant SPAR for hypermarkets.

Source :  http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News_By_Industry/Services/Hotels__Restaurants/Landmark_puts_on_hold_hospitality_play_in_India/articleshow/3815334.cms

Small Cities Witness 35% Drop in Property Prices

As many realtors deferred their projects due to higher borrowing costs, the demand for real estate in smaller cities and towns has declined by nearly 35 per cent in the first seven months of the current fiscal. The sharp decline in demand for property has been witnessed in Tier II and Tier III cities including Pune, Chandigarh and Bhopal. “Nearly 35 per cent fall in demand of purchase of properties in most of Tier II and Tier III cities has been noticed in the first half of current fiscal due to high cost of borrowings,” industry body Assocham said in a report. The buyers of dwelling units have also not been able to make payments as higher interest rates and also still higher inflation have come in to partly dampen their enthusiasm and eroded their budget, Assocham noted. The report has been prepared on the responses from real estate firms based in tier II and tier III cities such as Meerut, Bulandsahar, Muradabad, Bhiwadi, Dehradun, Rudrapur, Chandigarh, Sonepat, Panipat, Manesar, Pune, Nasik, Bhopal and Indore.

Source :indianrealtynews.com

What will real estate cos do now

Following an appeal by finance minister P Chidambaram to the entire real estate industry to cut prices and make houses more affordable to the
buyers, the developers’ associations — National Real Estate Development Council (Naredco) and Confederation of Developers Associations of India (Credai) — both responded with appeals to their members to come up with whatever cuts that are possible.

So have developers cut prices and what does this mean for the end user buyer who had been priced out of the market during the boom years?

Rohtas Goel, Naredco chairman and CMD of Omaxe, says his company is offering 1-5% discounts to existing clients who have not defaulted on any payments. The discount is applicable for the Noida and Greater Noida projects. This discount would be offered on the balance amount to be paid. The discount would be applicable for about a year or according to market conditions.

Future projects in Noida, Faridabad, Ludhiana, Indore and Chandigarh, which are to be launched in 25 days or so, have discounts of between 5% and 10%. Affordable housing projects, the first of which is to be launched in Indore on January 26, come with a 15% discount.

Explains Prodipto Sen of Alpha G Corp, “We have not cut prices per se. But even before the FM’s appeal, we had launched a special category in our Karnal project where defence officers and public sector undertaking employees had been offered price discounts. This worked very well and we were overwhelmed by the response to our offer. So the price discounting is often market-linked rather than because of a specific appeal. After all, the developer has to factor in the cost of land, debt servicing and construction.

The appeal by the developers’ bodies has evoked mixed response across the board. Explains Pradip Jain of Parsvanath Developers, who is also a part of Credai, “We have not specified who has to cut how much. Some may have already cut prices according to market conditions. We can’t force them to cut prices again.” Jain maintains that he feels it is difficult for developers to drop prices on existing projects. New projects with lower specifications, sizes or facilities can be launched at lower prices.

“In our Greater Noida project, for instance, we had launched premium projects with high-end specifications. To suit the clients’ affordability today, we will launch the next round at lower prices with lower specifications such as tiled or stone floors instead of Italian marble floors.”

Kumar Gera, chairman of Pune-based Gera Properties and chairman of Credai, says it is important to understand what the association had issued in its appeal. “We had talked about five agencies that need to cooperate to bring down prices — the developer, government, material suppliers, service institutions and financial institutions. Simply dropping prices does not trigger sales. The fence-sitting buyer then waits for prices to fall further. The decisions to tinker with prices are largely on a project to project and location to location basis. The only reason for cutting prices is to impact the sentiment in the market and change the mood which will trigger buying.”

Suresh Jain of Vijay Shanti Developers in Chennai says prices had come to realistic levels even earlier because of market corrections about three to four months ago. Properties on the outskirts of the city that had been launched at about Rs 2,600/sq ft and progressively raised to Rs 4,300 per sq ft have come back to the launch price. This is a realistic value. However, if the government too can match this realism with a reduction in stamp duties and service tax that would help trigger sales.

Says Jain, “We are a group that has traditionally focused on the mid-segment buyers. That consumer is still worried. Earlier, getting a loan was not a problem for him. Today, even when loans are expected to be in the range of 85% of the published prices, many banks are only lending about 60% of the value. That leaves a deficit of 40%. If the government agencies can match the developers’ efforts with some financial trigger, it would help boost the markets.”

A West India-based developer who did not want to be quoted said they were reducing rates on a case to case basis. “Where the project had already sold almost 90%, we do not reduce rates but if a project is just being launched we have offer discounts between 2% and 15% according to the merit of the project, the location and various other factors.”

Ultimately, the rate cuts are not altruistic at all. The developer needs to cut rates to trigger sales as much as the government wants them to do so. However, policy measures to boost finance to the sector too may be required before the reluctant consumer is converted into a buyer.

Source : http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News_by_Industry/What_will_real_estate_cut_prices/articleshow/3774578.cms

Buyers hesitant to take the plunge

A weak sentiment and constant negative commentary have aggravated the problems of affordability and high mortgage rates in real estate, according to Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd.

A report by the company, based on an interaction with international property consultants, states that buyers are shying away from new projects and those under construction if delivery times are more than a year away. They feel that prices could drop further in the medium term and they are not sure if the developers would have the ability to stick to schedules. So presales, an important source of funds for developers to meet construction cost, is under threat.

List prices are no longer relevant as developers with projects in the pipeline and those that have been announced offer discounts of 30-50 per cent on listed price. They do not lower prices officially because they do not believe this would attract more buyers but would only aggravate the situation by making people wait for a further cut. A few leading developers such as Orbit Corporation and Oberoi Construction have dropped list prices, according to the report.

Property consultants felt that the outlook for real estate companies has worsened in the last few months along with their financial condition and were hesitant to give estimates of the possible time for recovery. But it is possible that the residential businesses could stabilise by March 2009 with some deals happening then.

The residential real estate prices are likely to realign with the present market situation by then and stimulate demand from end-users.

The property consultants expect demand to start improving first in Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Delhi as the pent-up demand is higher in these cities. This will be followed by strong Tier II and Tier III cities such as Ahmedabad. However, any significant improvement in demand is not expected in the next few quarters.

Financial year 2009 is likely to be one of consolidation with industry leaders differentiated from peers. Developers with staying power will utilise this consolidation phase to emerge stronger and position themselves in an advantageous manner to capitalise on the growth phase post-consolidation. Focus should be on companies with high visibility on monetisation of assets over the next 3-5 years; low leverage and robust financials; and strong execution track record.

Tier II/III cities hold potential

Pension funds can exploit the relatively stable realty markets in India to park their funds, according to Jones Lang LaSalle Meghraj.

A report by the international property consultants says that with $20 trillion in assets, pension funds worldwide are the largest category of any investments. These can look at realty investments in India where the market is less volatile and property consistently priced making it an ideal investment option for prudent investors.

India’s Tier II and III cities rank higher than those of China’s, indicating less diversity in transparency within India. This is a reassuring factor for investors seeking to enter India’s secondary and tertiary cities.

The levels of transparency in Tier II cities are only marginally below Tier I cities. In the Asia-Pacific region investors may find greater reassurance in investing in smaller cities in India than in other countries.

According to the international property consultant, of the total domestic and foreign investment of $6 billion announced in India in the first half of 2008, over 63 per cent is in Tier I cities and 33 per cent in Tier II cities and the balance in smaller location. In 2007, Tier I cities accounted for over 95 per cent of the total investments.

In Tier III cities there have been investments in IT parks and SEZs in Nagpur, Kochi and Jaipur; retail in Ahmedabad and Chandigarh; hotels in Goa and Jaipur; and mixed development in Indore and Visakhapatnam. — Our Bureau

Source : http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/iw/2008/11/30/stories/2008113050691700.htm

Fall in demand for purchasing property: Assocham

High cost of borrowing has resulted in nearly 35 per cent fall in demand for purchase of properties in most of Tier II and Tier III cities during the first half of the current fiscal year, according to an assessment by The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham).

Assocham assessment reveals that over 2 crore people in about 25 Tier II and Tier III cities are the claimant for buying of dwelling units who are unable to make purchases as higher borrowing cost have compelled most of real estate developers to defer their projects.

The buyers of dwelling units have also not been able to make payments as higher interest rates  and higher inflation have come on their ways to partly dampen their enthusiasm and eroded their budget.

The assessment has been arrived at the Chamber in its latest exercise about as to what has been happening in purchase of properties in Tier II and Tier III cities in first 7 months of current fiscal in which the properties purchases had registered a growth of over 25 per cent between April-October in the last year.

The analysis of Assocham is based from the feedback received from  well known real estate members like Parsavnath Developers, Omaxe, DLF, Unitech, BPTP among others that are developing real estate projects in number of tier II and tier III cities which include Meerut, Bulandsahahr, Muradabad, Bhiwadi,  Dehradun, Rudarpur, Chandigarh, Sonepat, Panipat, Manesar, Pune, Nasik, Bhopal, Indore and many other such cities and towns in Southern and other parts of the country.

Source : www.business-standard.com

Real Estate Developers Suffer Reality Bite

With Diwali having come and gone and no increase in sales in the real estate sector, it now seems certain that developers will be forced to reduce prices at least in the residential segment. The biggest reason for concern for all real estate players is that a number of private equity deals did not materialise.

This is coupled with isolated or barely any property changing hands this festive season. In fact, many desperate developers had offered major freebies — ranging from consumer durables to luxury cars — but it seems nothing worked. And now developers who had taken huge loans from banks would be forced to reduce the prices so that the end users come back to the market.

In fact, in various markets, despite a slowdown in demand, essentially from the end users and speculative investors, developers will be looking at reducing rates further by 10-15%. Some have already started offering the lower rates.

“All the developers have tried to use the freebies route but nothing has paid off. In many residential projects not a single apartments has been sold. We may have to offer a 10-15 % discount soon to bring the end users back to the market,” feels CMD of a leading real estate company on the condition of anonymity.

Sales in secondary markets have also taken a beating with very few transactions taking place at relatively lower price points than market expectations. Says Anuj Puri, chairman & country head of Jones Lang LaSalle Meghraj: “It was unreasonable for the promoters to hope that the Diwali season would somehow pull the real estate market out of the doldrums. The situation is a result of deeper economic issues. Currently, the equity markets in India are in a rather low phase and credit is extremely tight, resulting in the Indian real estate sector taking an unprecedented body-blow. We expect domestic demand to sink by another couple of degrees and international interest to remain at cautious levels before the situation gets better.”

Industry sources, in fact, say that across all metros and tier II cities such as Mohali, Pune, Kundli (Sonipat), Chandigarh, Jaipur, Lucknow, Indore, Surat, Ahmedabad and Cochin there has been an estimated 80-90% drop in the number of deals. The situation is so bad that there are no buyers for any kind of residential real estate in these markets.

Many feel that it will take at least couple of years before the realty market witnesses a turnaround. Says Sanjay Verma, executive MD, South Asia, Cushman & Wakefield: ”Once real estate prices sink to more realistic levels, the watch-and-wait stance currently evident on both the domestic and international investor fronts will give way to cautious forays and eventually to steadily increasing market recovery. The turnaround phase should come in another 18 months to two years.”

Source : Indianrealtynews

Indore firm to sign deal with Sarovar Hotels

Indore-based Entertainment World Developers (EWDPL), in which Mumbai-based realtor Phoenix Mills holds 42 per cent stake, is all set to sign a deal with hospitality major Sarovar Hotels and Resorts to manage its 11 hotel properties in the country, according to a top company official.

The hotels, which will be under Sarovar’s 4-star brand Sarovar Premiere and 3-star brand Sarovar Portico, will have a cumulative strength of more than 1,500 rooms. EWDPL will spend nearly Rs 450 crore on building these hotels that will be operational by 2010, and another Rs 500 crore on fit outs, said Manish Kalani, managing director of EWDPL India.

“We have finalised all the terms and conditions. We will sign the deal very soon,” said Kalani. EWDPL will pay a management and operational fee to Sarovar Hotels. These hotels are being built on top of the malls, which EWDPL is building in tier-II cities such as Raipur, Udaipur, Nanded, Jabalpur, Chandigarh, Indore, Ujjain, Bhilai among others.

EWDPL is developing multiple-use properties, such as malls and hotels, in six cities and planning to launch similar projects in Thiruvananthapuram and Nagpur, which will create nearly 25.49 million sq ft of retail and commercial space in the next one-and-a-half years.

Recently, German realty fund MPC Synergy invested Rs 1,300 crore in various special purpose vehicles of EWDPL and Phoenix Mills, which are developing realty projects across the country. MPC Synergy picked up 16 per cent to 49 per cent in the respective SPVs.

After two years of growth, the Indian hospitality industry is going through a rough patch this year. Occupancy rates have fallen 10 per cent in the last six months and are expected to fall further by a similar percentage in the next six months to a year given the current economic conditions.

However, over the next two years, major hotel chains such as Oberoi group, Taj, Leela Ventures, Asian Hotels among others are expected to add 7,500 premium to mid-budget hotel rooms to the current availability of around 110,000 rooms.

But Kalani is optimistic that chains like theirs would attract more guests as companies cut premium travel and stays and opt for cost-effective expenses. “We will not be affected from this. We see an excellent business opportunity for our hotel chain when executives are asked to stay in three- and four-star hotels,” said Kalani.

Shreenath Shastry, national director, hospitality and leisure for Knight Frank, said, “Hotel business is very cyclical and India has seen many such slowdowns in the past decades. There are concerns about short-term concerns. However, there are excellent opportunities in the medium to long term,” he said.

“If you acquire land at reasonable rates and look for long-term returns, then hotel business is good,” he said. Phoenix Hospitality, the hospitality arm of Phoenix Mills, is also developing nearly 14 hotels across the country. Phoenix has tied up with Hong Kong-based Shangri-La to manage its hotel property in Lower Parel in Mumbai and has also tied up with the Hyatt Group and US-based Marriott International to manage its other hotel properties.

Source : Business Standard

Overbuilding promises a kick in the gut for realtors

Demand-supply mismatch in residential, commercial developments intensifies.

MUMBAI: Nipun Sahni, director and global head of commercial real estate at Merrill Lynch Capital, says the number of information technology parks and special economic zones in the 21-km Old Mahabalipuram Road — popularly known as OMR — in Chennai surpasses demand in the entire IT industry in India.

“It will be difficult for builders to raise finances for their other developments and in subsequent phases, projects will also be postponed,” he said at a Ficci seminar recently.
OMR, realty analysts say, is symptomatic of the overbuilding that has happened in far too many pockets.

Two other plum areas that are likely to face the same fate, they said, are Lower Parel in Mumbai and Noida in the National Capital Region, both of which are hotspots for A-grade office space.

They predict high vacancy rates.

Lower Parel has a ready office space of 4.5 million sq ft and will add a minimum 5 million sq ft by 2009, taking the total commercial space to 9.5 million sq ft.

Of this, DLF, India’s largest realtor, alone will add 3.8 million sq ft through office space and a mall.

Indiabulls Real Estate, Peninsula Land and Orbit Corporation are also busy completing their projects in the locality.

To boot, top players such as DLF, Unitech, Emaar-MGF, Akruti City, Puravankara and others have expanded to states they were not present in, and have ended up in close proximity to each other, creating oversupply pockets.

What started as a building boom in 2007 across emerging markets such as Chennai, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Indore is a year later, a very different story thanks to the Reserve Bank of India’s rate hikes, the wealth-depletion effect of falling stock markets and economic headwinds.

The slowdown in the IT industry as a result of the turmoil in the United States has only made matters worse.

“IT companies are not ready to sign long-term lease deals such as for five years. Now, they are signing short-term leases and this trend will continue for the next 18-24 months. This will lead to softening of prices. Deals that were earlier signed for rentals of Rs 275-300 per sq ft are likely to be cancelled,” said an analyst with a local brokerage, who did not wish to be named.

A DLF official said the company would complete its projects by 2009 and look at an average rental of above Rs 200.

In the coming months, oversupply will hit the residential space too, especially in places such as OMR in Chennai, Whitefield in Bangalore and Gurgaon, a recent report by Enam Securities said. The 21-km stretch of OMR Chennai has seen a flood of residential projects by developers such as the Hiranandani Group, DLF and Puravankara.

This led to developers lowering prices to keep the working capital going.

According to an analyst, the stiff rivalry between developers will intensify with oversupply.

But Ramesh Sanka, group chief financial officer, DLF, sees no mismatch. “We haven’t faced residential oversupply yet. Yes, there will be pocket-to-pocket oversupply but that will be at a micro level,” he said.

Kuldip Chawlla, director (asset management) at international private equity firm Red Fort Capital Advisors, says there is a temporary oversupply and it is mainly in the luxury segment in the top seven cities in India.

“Developers have built projects in Delhi that exceed Rs 75 lakh per unit but the demand is in the Rs 25-55 lakh segment. It is the disproportionate demand-supply that is leading to an oversupply in the market,” he said.

The problem isn’t plaguing just metros. Tier II markets are also likely to be hit, says Anuj Puri, the country head of real estate consultants Jones Lang LaSalle Meghraj.
“Top Tier II cities where we are already seeing a slowdown are Indore, Bhopal, Ludhiana, Mohali and Jaipur. These places have also witnessed a steep 45-50% correction in prices,” he said.

Retail investment in India

Developers and private equity players are set to put India´s retail space market on full throttle with investments worth anywhere between $5 billion and $10 billion in FY09-FY10.

In moves that would lend retail space gigantic proportions, the Runwal Group and Singapore´s GIC will use a joint venture to launch a ´Our City Centre´ retail mall over 1.1 million sq ft of area in Ghatkopar, Mumbai. In the second phase of their foray, they will develop another ´Our City Centre´ over 7 million sq ft of area in Hyderabad. Mumbai-based ICS Group is their project advisor.

Equally bullish is Sheth Developers, which is building a shopping centre called ´Viva City´ over1 million sq ft in Hyderabad and Thane, Mumbai. The company is investing Rs 400 crore in this new retail development and has not associated with any private equity firms.

The sudden gush of investments has also swept across smaller cities. Media major Dainik Bhaskar Group will develop a 7.5-lakh sq ft retail mall in Bhopal. With construction already under way, the mall is likely to be up and running in December 2009. The mall comprises a basement, ground and six floors with seven anchor shops, 180 retail shops, six-screen multiplex and food courts. JMC projects have been appointed as the civil contractors and Bentel Associates, Mumbai, are the property advisors.

On the crest of the investment wave, Coimbatore-based PS Group is developing ´Our Grand Mall´, which is to be completed over the next 8-9 months. ICS Group is the retail management adviser to this project.

The pan-Indian ripples of the ´boom´ are spreading by the day. Provogue India Ltd´s real estate arm, Prozone, and UK-based mall property developers Liberty International PLC, are building a big mall each called ´Prozone Liberty Centers´ in Aurangabad, Jaipur, Nagpur and Indore.

According to sources, each shopping centre will be spread across an area of 1.5 million sq ft. Property Zone CEO Ashwin Puri says, “Prozone has formed a special purpose vehicle (SPV) in association with the ICS Group called Triangle Real Estate Fund to manage the Prozone and Liberty International´s upcoming shopping centers in India.” Meanwhile, DB Realty is developing over five retail malls in western India.

According to Sanjeev Dasgupta, chief financial officer and head of investments, Kshitij Investment Advisory Company Ltd, “With $5 billion investments coming into retail real estate development, developers are focusing on retail projects.

Rising land prices hit property developers

NEW DELHI: The property market is desperately seeking a silver lining — but that seems to be evasive. In fact, real estate developers are facing a double whammy of a dip in prices of residences across the country by around 15-20% in the last few months, even as land prices are going up. While home buyers have reason to be happy over falling prices, an increase of 15-30% in land prices over the last eight months is causing sleepless nights for developers.

Besides cash crunch, what’s worrying real estate players is that with land prices going up, they are not being able to add to their land bank. In fact, many developers told SundayET that in the last four months, the number of land deals had dried up, with barely any land changing hands in this sector.

Industry sources, in fact, say that across all metros and tier II cities such as Mohali, Kundli (Sonepat), Jaipur, Lucknow, Indore, Surat and Cochin, there has been an increase in land prices. The situation is such that there are no buyers for any kind of land here. In fact, many developers feel they don’t want to lock up capital at this stage by buying land, as there is a holding cost involved in building land banks. Says Shravan Gupta, executive vice-chairman & MD, Emaar MGF: “There has been a significant rise in land prices in the last couple of years. The developers are finding it tough to get cheaper land so you will see that the number of land deals by developers have come down.”

In the last couple of years, land prices have escalated by 50% to 100%, depending on the location. In some places, prices have risen by as much as 200%. For developers, land is the main raw material and typically, they have made their money buying land cheap and building and selling homes on it after prices have tripled or quadrupled.

Parsvnath launches group housing project

Parsvnath Developers Limited (PDL), India’s leading Real Estate Company has announced the launch of Parsvnath Premier a Group Housing project in Parsvnath City, Indore. The Group Housing project spread over an area of 6.3 acres. The realization from the project is approximately Rs 60 crore and is scheduled to be complete by the end of 2011. Parsvnath Premier having 4.11 lakh square feet of saleable area offers 300 units. The project comprising of ground plus five floors would be equipped with two and three bedroom flats. The project to be built with rich construction specifications offers a gamut of leisure activities.

Mr. Sanjeev Jain, Managing Director, Parsvnath Developers Limited said, “At Parsvnath it has been our constant endeavor to explore opportunities to completely develop the fastest growing cosmopolitan city of India by furnishing it with residential and commercial projects so that it stands at par with the metro towns. In order to do so in the commercial capital of Madhya Pradesh where we marked our presence by launching Parsvnath City, an integrated township with IT/ ITES SEZ we are further launching Parsvnath Premier”.

MAN Industries to diversify into real estate sector

MAN Industries India, a line pipe manufacturer and part of UK’s MAN Group, today announced its foray into real estate with a newly formed subsidiary MAN Infraprojects in Mumbai, where property prices have almost doubled in the last two years. It plans to invest 10 billion rupees over three years to develop seven real-estate projects in Mumbai, Navi Mumbai and Indore. The company expects realisation of 40 billion rupees from these projects which will have a total built-up space of 10 million square feet. In Phase I, MAN Infraprojects Limited plans to develop three projects two in Mumbai and one in Navi Mumbai with a total built-up area of over one million sq ft. In Mumbai, the company is planning two commercial projects in Bandra and Vile Parle. In Navi Mumbai, MAN Infraprojects Limited will develop a mixed-use township complete with a five-star hotel, a IT-cum-commercial centre besides a luxury residential block. The site is located opposite the D Y Patil stadium.

‘Leander Sports’ ties up with Omaxe

Ace tennis player Leander Paes today joined hands with real estate developer Omaxe Ltd to design and manage fitness centers in latter’s five townships in North India.

‘Leander Sports’, the company promoted by Paes, today signed a memorandum of understanding to provide the concept and design of health clubs, spas, meditation centers, yoga cells, gyms, sports complexes in the upcoming five townships of the developer.

“This is an extension of my new career, where I will provide my expertise to design this health centers and sports fields for hockey, golf and tennis courts. It will help in providing the next generation an opportunity to keep fit and healthy,” Paes told reporters here.

According to the MoU, ‘Leander Sports’ would design and manage the health and sport centers in Omaxe’s integrated townships coming up at Ludhiana, Indore, Yamuna Nagar, Noida and Faridabad.

It is not a revenue sharing tie-up, but ‘Leander Sports’ would only charge a consolidated fee for all the five projects, the ace tennis player added.

“This partnership would help us in providing healthy living designs to our residents. Though we have tied up only for five projects, but we are looking forward to other projects also,” Omaxe Chairman and Managing Director Rohtas Goel said.

When asked if both the companies would have an exclusive tie ups for Omaxe’s all townships, Goel said: “We definitely want to extend this association with Leander to all our 50 township projects.”

Besides, ‘Leander Sports’ is also constructing two sports centers- one at Bangalore in 20 acres of land and the other at a 20-acre area in Pune, Paes said.

Ruchi Group enters into Rs 450-cr Realty Project

Ruchi Realty Holdings Pvt Ltd, a venture of the city-based Ruchi group of industries, has embarked on a Rs 450-crore real estate project for construction of 796 luxury apartments here.

Ruchi Realty Vice-President Shivam Asthana said today that the project would have the first sports-based residential condominium here and other unique facilities in six towers on 17 acre on the E M Bypass.

The project’s initial work had started and was expected to be completed by December, 2010. The maximum price of an apartment has been priced at rupees one crore, he said.

Asthana said that other real estate projects undertaken by the company were integrated townships in Bhopal and Indore, besides residential apartments in Mumbai and business hotels in Bhubaneswar, Jamshedpur and Indore.

The Ruchi group’s activities include edible oil, soya products, dairy products, de-oiled cakes, steel, import-export infrastructure and Infotech.