United Engg look out for joint venture ally

The Singapore-based United Engineers (UE) group is planning to open shop in India.

The group, with interests ranging from commodities trading to construction and building management, is also on the lookout for a strategic partner to start a joint venture that will be based in Bangalore.

The UE group already has offices in Delhi and Mumbai that are engaged in commodity trading. The fresh plan for India will see the group putting up IT parks, service apartments and campuses for pharmaceuticals, genetic engineering and telecom sector.

Nirmal Kumar Singh, general manager, United Engineering Development Pvt Ltd, who spoke to Business Standard from Singapore, said, "The value of investment is still not decided. We have however identified large tracts of land exceeding 100 acre each in Chennai and Bangalore. The Indian partner can bring in the land as their share of the JV."

Singh said three pieces of land each measuring 100 acre in Chennai and two such in Bangalore have been identified for development.

Apart from Chennai and Bangalore, the UE group is also eyeing Delhi and Noida for promoting techno-complexes.

The UE group is over 100 years old with a turnover of Singapore $500 million and presence in 17 countries. "We will be bringing two of our building brands - UE Tech Park and Park Avenue Service Apartments, both of which are popular in south east Asia.

"We will definitely want to retain a controlling stake in our venture in India. At best we will offer 49 per cent stake for the partner," Singh said.

He added that the company was in talks with two or three major builders in the Chennai and Bangalore one of whom could be JV partner.

"We will be registering the company in September this year. Since we have an order for property managment from the Manipal group, the top management has decided to locate the headquarters in Bangalore," he said.

UE group recently bagged a property management deal from Mangalore-based Manipal group to manage their entire hotels, hospitals and education institutions in Bangalore. The order, Singh said, could fetch them Rs 30 crore a year. Singh is likely to be the CEO of the UE Groups property operations in India.

The group is also in talks with the West Bengal government to explore the possibility of developing IT parks in the state. The West Bengal government has of late been actively lobbying for IT investments in the state.

"Our initial plans are for Chennai, Bangalore, Noida and Delhi. But Mumbai is also on the radar for property development at a later date," he said.