DLF is close to signing a deal with private equity major Blackstone, as the country’s largest real estate developer by market capitalisation is planning to offload its entire stake in the special economic zone (SEZ) in Pune.
DLF is targeting this deal for 2012, and industry sources say the announcement is likely to come within days. (The company declined to comment on the matter.) The deal size is pegged at around Rs 900 crore.
In September, the board of approval (BoA) in the commerce ministry had given its nod to the proposal of DLF Ackruti Info Parks (Pune) Ltd for sale of shares to the foreign investor.
DLF holds 70 per cent in the 11.83-hectare Pune SEZ project, while the remaining stake is with Ackruti City Ltd.
The matter of sale of equity in the SEZ to foreign investors was earlier referred to the law ministry, after the revenue department had objected. BoA approval came after the law ministry said the change in equity structure in the SEZ venture should not be treated as transfer or sale of land.
DLF is eyeing two to three big-ticket sales before the end of this financial year, to be able to keep to its debt reduction target for 2011-12. To reach the set target for the year, the developer needs to realise Rs 3,000 crore to Rs 3,500 crore from non-core asset sales. Recently, DLF executive director Rajeev Talwar had told Business Standard the developer was expecting “a couple of” big-ticket sales before the current financial year closes.
Last week, Talwar, responding to a query by this newspaper on the change in SEZ rules with respect to stake sale to foreign investors, had said the norms were changing for everybody — and not for any specific company. “The real estate companies should be appreciated for asset creation and increasing the turnover in SEZs.” According to him, there was no aberration in the policy as “the economic zone concept is about improving the turnover and exports”.
Besides offloading stake in the Pune SEZ, DLF is also looking at the much-talked Aman Resorts deal, which could fetch the company around Rs 2,000 crore.
The sale of stake in Aman will exclude the Delhi hotel (earlier Lodhi). The company may also look at selling the unbuilt land of DLF Hotels and Hospitality Ltd (DHHL), again as part of its non-core divestment strategy. Earlier this month, DLF had acquired an additional 26 per cent stake in its joint venture company, DHHL, from Aro Participation Ltd and Splendid Property Company Ltd, affiliates of Hilton International, for Rs 120 crore. The JV has only one Hilton hotel, in Delhi so far.
Another divestment that DLF has initiated is in Galaxy Mercantile, a JV between DLF Home Developers Ltd and Infrastructure Development Finance Company. In the case of Aman hotels, DLF has got the final bids from four to five companies. Investment bankers Goldman Sachs and Citibank are in the process of finalising the deal.
DLF’s net debt was Rs 22,519 crore at the end of September. It aims to bring down debt level to Rs 19,000 crore to Rs 19,500 crore by the end of this financial year, and to Rs 10,000 crore by 2013, through sale of non-core assets.
