Century to raise $50 mn from PE for Rs 900 cr project

Bangalore-based real estate company Century Real Estate is planning to raise close to $50 million from private equity players to fund its Rs 900 crore project in the city.

The project, coming up in northern Bangalore, will be spread over 20 acres.

Industry sources said, the property would come up on an area of 3 million sq ft with a mix of commercial and residential segments.

However, the time frame for this fund raising activity is not clear with the structure of the proposed deal.

Meanwhile, the real estate player is mulling raising Rs 350 crore at the enterprise level from a consortium of banks to further its business growth.

Century Real Estate, one of the oldest in Bangalore, has a land bank in excess of 3,000 acres, making up over $2 billion in asset value.

It has a development portfolio of over 10 million sq ft comprising of hotels, office buildings, residences, educational institutions and integrated townships across South India.

The company also plans to launch close to 6 million sq ft of projects during this fiscal.

Real estate sector, badly hit during recession, has witnessed an upward trend in recent times with a revival in demand.

Many real estate players, after witnessing a fall in their cash flow, has started launching new projects in the last two quarters.

Also, with the revival of secondary market, many realtors are planning to go public.

Industry sources said, the company plans to go public in the near future.

In its bid to go public, Century is expected to file an application with Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) in November for an initial public offer.

The company had, earlier, earmarked Rs 800 crore to launch seven projects this financial year.