Landmark exits Wave project in NCR after tripling returns

The fund was invested in 2007 in the township in the form of equity, which was bought back by Wave group

Beating the slowdown, Dalmia group's private equity firm Landmark has exited a real estate project in NCR after tripling its initial investment of Rs 111.26 crore in about six years.

It has exited Wave Group’s township project spread over 4,500 acre in Ghaziabad at Rs 350 crore, Landmark said in a statement today.

"Landmark Group exits Wave project for Rs 350 crore. Landmark has earned 3.15 times on its initial investment..in the ongoing scenario where private equity investors in real estate are struggling to recoup their investments, this successful exit envisages the payout taking place in six tranches between June 2013 and February 2014," the statement added .

The first phase of Wave’s project will have 20,000 units, out of which 4,000 units are close to being delivered. The total project will have over 75,000 units.

A senior official from Landmark said the fund was invested in 2007 in the township project in the form of equity and the same was bought back by Wave group.

Landmark has exited two more investments this year. The investment in the ATS Group resulted in earning of 2.3 times on its investment, while the other exit was from Shipra’s housing project in Ghaziabad made 2.10 times its original investment of Rs 50.53 crore.

Landmark has also invested with prominent developers such as Ansals, Wave, Parsvnath, Forum, Pioneer, ATS and Kumar Builders among others. It has invested in 25 projects as an equity or a quasi-equity investor.

The developers are struggling to increase sales in a slow market. Due to the slowdown in the realty market, the inventory levels have also risen. Mumbai has an inventory of close to 48 months, Delhi of 23 months and Bangalore of 25 months. This is above the comfortable level of 14-15 months, according to a report by JLL.