Global PE majors woo Prestige to buy out SEZ

Global private equity majors are understood to be holding discussions with Prestige Constructions to buy out a special economic zone (SEZ) here for close to Rs 1,800 crore.

Called Cessna Business Park, the 4.5-million sq ft project houses marquee technology majors like Cisco as its clients. The rental-yielding fully-developed SEZ on the Sarjapur-Marathalli outer ring road, is one of Prestige’s landmark commercial space developments.

A spokesperson for Prestige said there have been offers for this tech-park from global private equity players. “We have not yet decided to sell the property,” he told Business Standard.

Prestige recently completed a year of tapping the public markets. It is among the few realty developers that have heavily tapped the private equity route for development. Chairman and managing director Irfan Razack had recently this newspaper that his company was working on a couple of deals to unlock value for investors.

Prestige, in addition to this development, has so far completed 157 projects, spanning a total development of 44 million square ft across residential, commercial, retail, leisure & hospitality sectors last year. It is embarking on another 62.29 million sq ft spread over 61 projects.

If Prestige decides to go ahead with the sale, it will be the second major such deal — after global private major Blackstone picked up a significant stake in another tech park developed by the Embassy Group for $200 million. Prior to this deal, Ascendas India Trust expanded in India to buy five tech park buildings in Phoenix Infocity for Rs 855 crore, while Kotak Realty Fund exited Peepul Tree Properties to Tata Realty for Rs 525 crore.

Prestige, a South India-focused realty developer, had debt of close to Rs 1300 crore at the end of the second quarter of FY12, with a gearing of just under 0.4 times. The company for last fiscal posted profit of Rs 200 crore on a topline of Rs 1,232 crore. It is on track for a total sale of Rs 1,500 crore during FY12. According to a spokesperson, the company’s rental income is around Rs 150 crore. “We are working towards increasing this to Rs 500 crore in two to three years’ time,” he added.