DLF to monetise properties worth Rs 15,000 cr to reduce debt

Is looking to raise Rs 3,000 cr by selling 50% stake each in housing projects to PE firms

Realty firm DLF is looking to monetise properties worth about Rs 15,000 crore to boost its cash flow and reduce debt, a senior company official said.

DLF had a net debt of Rs 20,336 crore at the end of the December quarter.

"We have a total of Rs 14,000-15,000 crore stocks. Out of this, Rs 4,000 crore is in finished projects and more than Rs 10,000 crore is unsold stocks in projects which are launched and are under development," DLF Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Ashok Tyagi told PTI.

These stocks would get monetised as and when the demand picks up, resulting in improvement in cash-flow as well as reduction of debt, he said when asked about the company's strategy to reduce the huge debt.

Stating that sales have been "low" since last year, Tyagi said bookings would comfortably cross Rs 3,000 crore in this fiscal, lower than Rs 4,070 crore in the 2013-14 financial year.

DLF has achieved sales bookings of about Rs 2,700 crore till February 15 of the current fiscal.

With property market showing sluggishness, Tyagi said the company is looking to raise about Rs 3,000 crore by selling about 50% stake each in four housing projects to private equity firms.

"Since sales are slow, we are planning to raise about Rs 3,000 crore through private equity. In the short term, PE funds will be the substitute for the cash flow which would have normally come from sales," Tyagi said.

Tyagi said only about Rs 6,500 crore debt pertains to development arm DevCo and the same would be eventually reduced with monetisation of these Rs 15,000 crore worth stocks.

On reducing of about Rs 14,000 crore debt pertaining to rental business RentCo, DLF CFO said the company plans to launch two Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) to monetise the rent-generating commercial assets.

The company earns an annual rental income of over Rs 2,000 crore from its office buildings and shopping malls covering about 30 million sq ft area.

Last month, DLF had reported 9% decline in consolidated net profit at Rs 131.79 crore for the quarter ended December against Rs 145.29 crore in the year-ago period.

Income from operations fell 5% to Rs 1,956.72 crore for the third quarter of this fiscal from Rs 2,058.42 crore in the corresponding period of the previous year.

Recently, Sebi slapped fines totalling Rs 86 crore on DLF, its top executives, their family members and various other related entities for entering into "sham transactions" to mislead IPO investors about eight years ago.

DLF had said that it did not violate any laws and would challenge the order. The company had also said it was guided by the advice of "eminent legal advisors, merchant bankers and audit firms" while formulating its IPO documents.

DLF has a land bank of about 295 million square feet, of which 50 million square feet is under development.