Sobha to sell 2 land parcels in city

Sobha Developers, the Bangalore-based real estate developer, is understood to be closing in on a deal to sell two of its land parcels in the city. The land parcels cover a total area of close to 44 acres. Industry estimates the market rate for the parcels to be about Rs 120 crore.

The Rs 1,200 crore publicly-held realty firm has been looking to offload a part of its 3,000-acre land bank across India in an effort to deleverage its balance sheet. Sobha is also understood to be finalising a deal to sell a 103-acre parcel of land in Pune which is expected to fetch Rs 250 crore.

The company, during the past quarter has been making headway to settle the Rs 1,900 crore debt burden by selling parts of its 3,000-acre land bank across the country and also rece-ntly raised close to Rs 530 crore through the Qualified

Institutional Placement (QIP) route. At Rs 1,900 crore debt, the company was lev-eraged 1.6 times and it is understood that Rs 400 crore from QIP has been used to settle a part of that.

Industry sources indicate that Sobha is looking to sell a 36-acre parcel of land in North Bangalore and another 7.5 acre parcel in the commercial centre of Bangalore.

This move by Sobha Developers comes couple of months after it managed to strike a deal with an investment fund owned by

Infosys co-founder N S Raghavan to raise Rs 225 crore for selling a few chunks of its land bank.

“We understand that an investment of around Rs 150 crore has been made by the fund and the rest also will be made within three months time as they are evaluating various land parcels across 150 acres owned by Sobha Developers,” industry sources added.

According to industry sources, Sobha is in discussions with a Pune-based builder to sell 103 acres at Hinjewadi, the prime IT corridor in Pune. The land is located between the Infosys and Wipro campuses. Sources further indicate that the developer in Pune is trying to rope in overseas investors to acquire this land is the deal is expected to sewn up shortly.

In addition to selling the land bank, raising resources through Qualified Institutional Placement and is looking to rope in private equity investors for its vari-ous projects, the company is actively engaging 12 banks and financial institutions to restructure around Rs 850 crore debt which will be due for payout during the next 18 months.

Banking sources indicate that Sobha has been able to get the nod for majority of that sum and has been successful with negotiating with mutual funds to roll over debt to the tune of Rs 350 crore.