New York's Interups plans to acquire assets worth $8 billion in India

New York-based Interups, which has bid for Lavasa Corporation, said it plans to acquire assets worth $7-8 billion (around Rs 56,800) in India, which include an airline, luxury resorts and a financial services company.
 
In its filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in the US, Interups, which was set up in 2012, said the total value of the transactions in progress is estimated at $8 billion in asset value. If all the transactions conclude successfully, Interups said it would earn $80-$100 million in gross cash revenues, excluding any equity value earned.
 
The company has appointed Deloitte India as its advisor.

 

According to the bankers, the problem is that the company’s financial information is not available and its shares have been suspended from the US stock markets for not filing statutory information since 2016.
 
An email sent to Interups seeking its financial information did not elicit any response.
 
The company has also bid for properties  of Hotel Claridges in New Delhi, Mussoorie and for a luxury resort near Chennai in 2018, it said in its filings with the SEC. It is offering Rs 1,260 crore Claridges Hotels and Rs 252 crore for Mahabalipuram Intercontinental Hotel Resort.
 
The fund said it was structuring several transactions under its REIT/InvIT practice to takeover assets in India. This includes a private hospitality REIT in the US that would funnel investments for an all equity buyout through specially structured entities into an Indian Infrastructure Investment Trust (InvIT).

 
For Lavasa, the company said it would set up an India Real Estate Equity Management as specific purpose private REIT/Investment structure. It will raise funds across the globe for Lavasa buyout.
 
The New York firm will invest up to $450 million (Rs 3,205 crore) for an all equity buyout of Lavasa and expects to spend an additional $150 million (Rs 1,068 crore) towards maintenance and working capital of Lavasa Corporation.
 
Filings with the US regulator shows Interups has hired JLL India & Cushman & Wake·eld, Chennai, for conducting due diligence and valuation analysis for Lavasa. The company may also look at a joint venture partner to develop Lavasa once the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) accepts its expression of interest.

 
Apart from Interups, the latest entrant to Lavasa race is Mumbai-based real estate firm Oberoi Realty, which has also sent its expression of interest for the company. Haldiram Snacks, UV ARC and Pune builder Anirudh Deshpande are the other bidders for the company.
 
The hill city near Mumbai was set up by construction firm HCC but after the environment ministry cancelled the project’s environment permit in 2010, the company collapsed and defaulted to bank loans worth Rs 6,200 crore.