Unitech group firm sells six realty projects for Rs 1,850 cr

Unitech Corporate Parks (UCP), the London listed Unitech group firm, on Wednesday said that the company had completed a deal to sell its stakes in six IT-SEZ projects in India to Canada's Brookfield Asset Management for £188.9 million (Rs 1,850 crore).

However, the total sale proceeds are lower than the amount agreed initially in June at Rs 2,050 crore. In June, UCP had signed the agreement to sell its 60 per cent stake in the six projects to Brookfield for about £205.9 million (Rs 2,050 crore). Separately, Unitech had also sold its 40 per cent stakes in four projects to Brookfield.

With completion of sale of UCP's stake in six projects and Unitech's 40 per cent stake in four projects, sources said that Unitech is likely to receive around Rs 1,500 crore from this entire deal and the fund would be used to retire debt. Unitech's net debt stood at around Rs 5,900 crore at the end of June quarter. UCP and Unitech were jointly developing five IT special economic zones and one IT Park in Gurgaon, Noida and Kolkata. In these six projects, UCP held 60 per cent stake and Unitech 40 per cent.

That apart, Unitech had direct stake of about 13-14 per cent in UCP.

Recently, the Board of Approval (BoA) for SEZs has cleared the deal of UCP to sell its stake in the 5 SEZs in India to Brookfield Asset Management.

In a statement, UCP said: "The Board of UCP is pleased to announce completion today of the sale of the entire issued share capital of Candor, the Company's wholly owned subsidiary and holding company for all UCP's property interests".

"The consideration received from Brookfield today amounted to £188.9 million which reflects the announced sale price of £205.9 million less an adjustment of £15.8 million in relation to certain funds placed with two financial institutions which had not been repaid by completion and £1.2 million in relation to payments made by Candor to or on behalf of UCP prior to completion," it added.

UCP said its Board would write to shareholders in November to outline proposals for an initial cash distribution.