Peninsula plans rupee, dollar fund to buy land

Peninsula Land Limited, the real estate arm of the Ashok Piramal group, is planning to launch two funds totalling Rs 2000 crore, a domestic and a dollar fund to finance its land acquisition programme. The Indian fund, to be called Indigo, will be of Rs 300 crore with a green shoe option of RS 150 crore while the dollar fund, Paramount, will of $ 200 million with a $ 150 million green shoe option. The domestic fund is expected to open by the end of this month. The dollar fund which will target NRIs and other high networth individuals and Foreign Institutional Investors will open a few weeks after the Indian fund. Both funds are expected to close in a six to eight week time-frame. The dollar fund will be raised in London, Dubai, Singapore and Hong Kong. Rajeev Piramal, managing director of Peninsula Land told the Business Standard that the amounts will be invested in acquiring land for the company's planned expansion in the south and West. The company has planned a series of IT parks and retail mall developments across metros like Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad as well as some of the second tier cities like Nagpur and Pune. The company plans to build around 15 million sq ft pf IT space and a similar amount of retail mall spaces in these these cities. The company is also planning to the hospitality space, Piramal said. Piramal explained that the fund and the real estate company will invest together in these properties - while the fund will put up 75 per cent of the land cost, the company will invest remaining 25 per cent. He clarified that the new fund will not be used to fund the development of existing properties. The company is currently developing some residential and commercial office spaces in Mumbai. Source: Business Standar

Ascott acquires 2 more properties in India to develop service residences

The Ascott Group has secured its second and third properties in Chennai and Bangalore in India. The acquisitions are part of the master development agreement signed with The Rattha Group in August. Under the agreement, the partners will acquire and develop seven serviced residences in India by 2010. Ascott will take a 40 percent equity stake in the two new properties with the remaining majority stake going to Rattha. The two service residences will be named Somerset Whitefield in Bangalore and Citadines Boulevard in Chennai. They will treble Ascott's portfolio in India to 660 units. Ascott will manage the properties for a period of ten years with an option to renew the management contracts for another ten years. Ascott did not disclose the financial details of its latest acquisitions. Source:Channelnews Asia