Parsvnath to raise Rs 600 cr by selling stake in realty projects

Parsvnath Developers, a Delhi-based real estate company, is in talks with various private equity funds to raise around Rs 600 crore by the end of 2009-10 by selling stakes in its projects, a key official has said.

A major chunk of the funds will go towards repaying debt, the official said. Parsvnath has a debt of nearly Rs 1,600 crore and plans to reduce it by half by the end of the current financial year, he disclosed. The company has a total 79 million sq ft of land under development.

Parsvnath recently raised Rs 168 crore by selling shares to investors such as Fidelity, Merril Lynch and Morgan Stanley through qualified institutional placement (QIP). The company plans to use 70 per cent of proceeds towards debt payment and the remaining amount to fund its projects.

Parsvnath also received Rs 25 crore investment from international property fund Red Fort Capital in its Tropicana project in Delhi. With the transaction, Parsvnath got a total funding of of Rs 115 crore in the project.

Last year’s credit crunch and decline in property sales forced many companies such as DLF, Unitech and Sobha to sell their properties to investors to reduce mounting debt and go in for QIPs with investors. Real estate companies raised over Rs 10,000 crore through QIPs since the beginning of the current financial year.