Brigade Group forms $247M JV with Singapore’s GIC for residential realty projects

BY  Swet Sarika

Dutch pension fund APG and Canada’s CPPIB had also struck similar platform deals in the Indian realty space.

Bangalore-based Brigade Group has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Singapore's sovereign wealth fund GIC to jointly invest up to Rs 1,500 crore ($247 million) in residential developments in select cities of South India, the company said in a stock market disclosure.

The JV aims to acquire land for residential and mixed use developments in cities reporting strong secular demand for high quality residential units.

MR Jaishankar, chairman and managing director, Brigade Group, said, "Our first joint venture project - Brigade Cosmopolis is a well conceived, residential community with several amenities coming up at Whitefield, Bangalore that will be home to over 880 families. This JV will provide us a platform to acquire and execute a series of similar projects in South India."

Lee Kok Sun, managing director and co-head, Asia, GIC Real Estate, said, "As a long term investor, GIC is a believer in India's growth potential. We seek partners who share our philosophy and values and have a reputable track record in the markets in which they operate."

A number of real estate and infrastructure developers have formed alliances with global investors for investment and development of real estate in India. In February this year, Piramal Enterprises Ltd and Canada-based CPPIB Credit Investments Inc joined hands to offer rupee debt financing to residential projects in major urban centres of India. The two partners committed an initial investment of $250 million each for the same.

Recently, it sealed its debut deal from the joint venture where it invested Rs 110 crore in a luxury residential project of Advance India Projects Ltd in Gurgaon.

In March this year, The Xander Group Inc. and an investor consortium led by Dutch pension fund asset manager APG Asset Management NV, announced the creation of a $300 million (Rs 1,800 crore) venture that will buy income generating, institutional grade commercial assets across India’s main office markets.

Two years ago, Godrej Properties forged a residential property development platform with a string of foreign institutional investors led by Dutch pension services provider APG. The platform focuses on developing mid-income residential properties in Mumbai, Delhi-NCR and Bangalore besides looking at opportunities in Pune and Chennai. Godrej Properties is the exclusive developer of the projects and also gets development management fee.

(Edited by Joby Puthuparampil Johnson)

Reliance Inds formally opts out of proposed Haryana SEZ

BY  Anuradha Verma

Reliance and HSIIDC had formed a JV in 2006 for setting up SEZs in Haryana.

Reliance Industries Limited’s (RIL) group company Reliance Haryana SEZ Limited (RHSL) has returned 1,383.68 acres of land in Gurgaon which it had acquired from the Haryana State Industrial & Infrastructure Development Corp (HSIIDC) to set up special economic zones due to revision of strategic priorities.

This formally ends RIL’s proposed plan to develop an SEZ, which was already in the cold storage for years.

RSHL – a joint venture between RIL and Haryana government-owned company HSIIDC – was formed to develop SEZs, model economic townships and other infrastructure facilities in Haryana. HSIIDC has also exited the venture and project, the company said on Monday.

However, RIL would continue with development of a part of the project.

“The model economic township project will continue to be developed in the Industrial Model Township framework on the directly-purchased land. The development work has started on 290 acres of land as an 'industrial colony'. Companies such as Panasonic and Denso have established their manufacturing units in the MET Project,” it said in the statement.

Reliance Ventures Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of RIL, and HSIIDC had formed a JV in 2006 for the development of a large multi-product SEZ in Gurgaon and Jhajjar districts of Haryana.

HSIIDC transferred 1,383.68 acres to RHSL in 2007 to development the project. In 2010, Haryana government approved the development of SEZ over the land transferred by HSIIDC in Gurgaon and development of Model Economic Township (Industrial Model Township Framework) on the directly purchased land.

However, the Indian government withdrew the fiscal concessions of exemptions of MAT of DDT for the SEZs following which RSHL decided to return the 1,383.68 acres in January 2012 as SEZs became unviable with the withdrawal of fiscal incentives.

Earlier this year, the Haryana state cabinet gave approval to return the land to HSIIDC at a price much lower than the price at which it was transferred to them. It also approved the exit of HSIIDC from the project. Source VCCircle

(Edited by Joby Puthuparampil Johnson)

Piramal Fund invests in Lotus Greens’ Noida residential project

BY  Swet Sarika, VCCircle

Piramal’s realty investment unit plans to invest as much as $1 billion towards real estate this fiscal.

Piramal Fund Management, the real estate investment arm of Piramal Group, has invested in a residential project by north-based developer Lotus Greens, two people familiar with the development told VCCircle. The investment has been made in the form of structured debt.

VCCircle could not immediately ascertain the size of the investment but it could be in the same range as its other recent deals.

Piramal recently sealed a deal with Satya Group for a Gurgaon project, where it invested Rs 100 crore. In the first deal from its separate alliance with Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB), it invested Rs 110 crore in a luxury residential project of Advance India Projects Ltd in Gurgaon.

The latest investment has been made in a project called Lotus Greens Arena located at sector 79, Noida. This luxury residential project is spread across 10 acres and offers 3 & 4 BHK apartments ranging from 1,495 sq. ft. to 2,395 sq. ft. The project forms a part of developer’s township Sports City.

“The deal was closed recently,” said a source quoted above.

Emails written to Khushru Jijina, managing director, Piramal Fund Management and P Sahel, vice chairman, Lotus Greens, did not elicit any response till the time of filing this story.

Lotus Greens is present across residential, commercial, hospitality, education and healthcare verticals. Founded by Nirmal Singh and led by its vice chairman P Sahel, the company has ongoing projects in Noida and Gurgaon.

As for Piramal, it plans to invest as much as $1 billion towards real estate this fiscal. In the last four months, it has invested Rs 2,000 crore on behalf of proprietary debt book and funds business. In a recent interaction with VCCircle, JIjina said he will be approving between Rs 600-800 crore of transactions every month through the rest of the year.

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Blackstone, others gear up to list REITs as India finalises rules

NEW DELHI – Blackstone Group(BX.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and its partner, Embassy Group, are laying the groundwork to cash in on their property holdings by setting up India’s first real estate investment trust (REIT) and listing it on one of the country’s stock exchanges.

The move comes as Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government works to finalise rules as early as next month that will govern the trusts. The finance ministry is expected then to clarify tax rules for REITs in the budget, people with direct knowledge of the matter said.

The world’s biggest property investor and Embassy have a joint portfolio of more than 20 million square feet of offices in India, which is likely to help value their REIT at $2 billion, said Jitendra Virwani, chairman of Bangalore-based Embassy.

Listing REITs gives companies like Blackstone, The Xander Group, an emerging markets investor backed by the Rothschild family, and private equity firm Red Fort Capital, which counts Abu Dhabi Investment Authority among its investors, an attractive option to exit some of their investments.

“We are actually gearing up because we feel the pace the government is moving at is faster than what we would want, so it is better to be prepared much earlier than later,” said Virwani, who was set to meet Blackstone on Thursday to draw up a plan for the listing.

A spokeswoman of the tax department did not answer requests for comment. Blackstone did not respond to a request for comment.

The long-awaited move by India will be implemented by the country’s market regulator after the ministry clarifies tax rules to transfer assets into a separate vehicle before listing the trust, which had triggered worries over double taxation.

Implementing REITs will also be one early sign from Modi of how he wants to bolster the economy, which is suffering its longest spell of under-5-percent growth since the late 1980s.

India issued draft regulations for REITs in 2008, but was forced to shelve the plans after the global financial crisis dried up investor interest and an economic downturn dimmed the outlook for real estate investments.

If REITs are approved, India will follow China, where regulators in April approved the first property trust. The absence of REITs in China and India made Singapore and Hong Kong the preferred markets for listing property assets in the region.

REITs, listed entities that invest mainly in leased office and retail assets and distribute most of their income to shareholders as dividends, will give developers a new avenue to raise funds by allowing them to sell finished commercial buildings to investors and list them as a trust.

MORE LIQUIDITY

Between 2008 and 2013, private equity funds invested more than 452 billion rupees ($7.6 billion) in Indian real estate, of which more than a third was spent on office and retail assets, according to data from Cushman & Wakefield, an international property consultant.

“If there is more liquidity in the market, if people believe they have clearer exit possibilities, obviously it is helpful to any investor,” said Siddharth Yog, managing partner at Xander.

“If REIT laws came into being and a potential REIT listing in India was possible, it could be one of many potential exit strategies that could be explored,” said Yog, adding that REITs, however, will not dictate the company’s investment plan.

In 2012, Blackstone paid $200 million for a 50 percent stake in three office assets managed and owned by Embassy and mainly located in Bangalore. Earlier this year Blackstone and Embassy hived off their portfolio of assets into a separate vehicle, taking their first step towards listing a trust in India.

The portfolio, leased to tenants like Microsoft (MSFT.O: Quote, Profile, Research), IBM (IBM.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and Goldman Sachs (GS.N: Quote, Profile, Research), generates an annual rental income of 8 billion rupees and Virwani expects this to rise to 10 billion rupees by the time it lists a REIT.

“To have a brand like Blackstone along with us will help us market the REIT and get a better valuation.”

Source: Reuters, By Aditi Shah (Additional reporting by Rajesh Kumar Singh; Editing by Sumeet Chatterjee and Matt Driskill)