DLF sells wind turbine project in Gujarat for Rs 282 cr

Country’s largest real estate player has sold off its 150MW wind turbine project in Gujarat to Bharat Light and Power for Rs 282.30 crore as part of its strategy to exit from non-core business.

"The company has entered into definitive business transfer agreement with BLP Vayu (Project 1), a subsidiary of Bharat Light & Power, for transferring of its undertaking comprising of 150MW capacity wind turbines situated at Kutch, Gujarat on ‘as is where is basis’ by way of slump-sale for a lump sum consideration of Rs 282.30 crore," DLF said in a filing to Bombay Stock Exchange.

The company has 227 MW capacity wind turbine projects in 4 states engaged in generation and sale of electricity. Besides Gujarat, it has wind turbine projects in Rajasthan (34MW), Tamil Nadu (33MW) and Karnataka (11MW), which is likely to be sold off soon. The total valuation is estimated to be around Rs 800-900 crore.

This is the third major deal by the country's largest realty firm in last six months, all three being the biggest non-core assets of the company. In August last year, DLF had sold a 17-acre land in Mumbai to Lodha Developers for Rs 2,727 crore. In December 2012, it announced sale of Amanresorts back to founder Adrian Zecha for about Rs 1,650 crore.        

DLF had said it would bring down its net debt to Rs 18,000 crore by end of March 2013, from Rs 23,220 crore as of September 30, 2012 with the sale of its non-core assets. The developer is looking at cutting its net debt to Rs 15,000 crore in another year or so.

Besides, DLF is also targeting a significant pick-up in launches during 2013-14. While the thrust will be on pan-India residential, office and retail launches too will add up to make for the realtor’s project mix of 12 to 16 million sq ft during the coming year. “It’s time to get down to business,” Rajeev Talwar, group executive director, DLF, had told Business Standard.

To achieve that, the company may offload some more non-core assets that it has in the form of plots which have remained unused across NCR and other parts of the country and a few hotels as well. The realtor is also eyeing 20 per cent increase in rental in leasing office and retail space, to garner Rs 3,000 crore by the end of 2015, from Rs 2,000 crore currently. 

DLF, which has been under scrutiny for alleged land deals  with Robert Vadra, son in law of Congress president Sonia Gandhi, is expected to soon begin work on its luxury mall project—Emporio—in Delhi where Chanakya cinema was situated earlier. Also, a similar project is set to come up in Gurgaon. The company currently has an Emporio mall in Delhi’s Vasant Kunj area.