Commercial space bought by US school for 125 crore

source :3 DEC, 2011, 09.50AM IST, RAJSHRI MEHTA,TNN 

MUMBAI: With the construction industry reeling from an oversupply of office space, an entire commercial building has now been sold to a school. The 30-year-old American School of Bombay (ASB) has bought 1.4 lakh square feet of space in the 36-acre Kohinoor City, Vidyavihar, in a deal amounting to more than Rs 125 crore.

The six-storey building, which has been entirely bought by the ASB, was earlier planned as a commercial building. The 36-acre mixed township in Vidyavihar is promoted by Unmesh Joshi, son of Shiv Sena leader Manohar Joshi.

The newly bought premises are expected to accommodate almost 800 students and admissions are expected to begin in 2012. The ASB currently operates from an 85,000-square-foot state-of-the-art complex in the Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC). 
Joshi confirmed the deal, saying the school's presence would boost the Kohinoor City project. "We have our own school, a hotel and other commercial and residential buildings. The ASB liked being located in a project that has all social facilities,'' said Joshi. CBRE, the global property consultants who brokered the deal, refused to comment. ASB coordinator Craig Johnson was unavailable for comment as he was travelling. 
Property experts said the deal is a reasonable one, being struck for approximately over Rs 8,000 per sq ft. "Considering the stagnancy in the property market, and especially in the Kurla-Vidyavihar region, where office rentals are low at about Rs 80 to Rs 100 per sq ft, and the huge availability of space, any deal is welcome,'' said an expert. 
Two years ago, notwithstanding the economic slump, Kohinoor City witnessed one of the biggest property deals in the city when the National Stock Exchange (NSE) bought 80,000 sq ft of office space for Rs 120 crore. The NSE is expected to use the Kurla property for its operations, as its main office in BKC is not adequate for its operational requirements

Emami Group buys land worth Rs 200 crore for realty venture

Source :5 DEC, 2011, 03.59AM IST, ANURADHA HIMATSINGKA,ET BUREAU 

KOLKATA: Emami Group, a Rs 3,700-crore diversified conglomerate, has bought about 850 acres of prime real estate in a countrywide property expansion binge. The company has spent more than Rs 200 crore to buy land in Hyderabad, Chennai, Coimbatore, Jhansi and Kolkata for developing up-market large scale residential and commercial complexes.

Top officials from Emami are negotiating more land deals and expect to clinch them in 2011-12, RS Agarwal, group joint chairman, Emami, told ET. "We are indeed in a hurry to lap up huge tracts, but will not close the land deals in haste.

All pros and cons will be weighed before we clinch the property," he said. Agarwal, however, refused to reveal the break-up of these deals citing corporate governance issues. He said the company has been supported by commercial banks and lending institutions.

"We are looking to build premium residential complexes. We also plan to develop large as well as mid-sized mixeduse housing projects comprising residential, hospitality, retails and commercial properties depending on prevailing market conditions," said Girija Choudhary, director, Emami Realty.

"Our real estate ventures, like all other projects being undertaken by us, will be financed by unsecured and secured loans, advances from customers and promoter's own funds," Choudhary said. The Emami Group, which has taken big strides in FMCG and personal care space over the years, has been actively involved in the city's realty market.

It has acquired majority stakes in some of Kolkata's landmark real estate projects being developed by a city-based realtor or a group of realtors. On its own, the group has been building residential complexes under the Orbit brand.

"Although a firm decision has not been taken, as a group we intend to grow our real estate business independently. Joint venture developments will be taken up selectively and only if the deal is lucrative. Going forward, the focus will be more on promoting the umbrella brand 'Emami'," Agarwal said, outlining the group's future plans.

DLF divests stake in IDFC JV, gets Rs 200cr as 1st tranche

Source  :  Moneycontrol.: Dec 04, 2011 at 15:02 

DLF , India’s largest real estate company, announced that Galaxy Mercantile (GML), a joint venture company of DLF Home Developers Limited (DHDL), a wholly owned subsidiary of DLF Ltd., has received Rs. 200 crore as the first tranche of infusion of capital fromIDFC .

The amount is received as part of a process for IDFC to acquire 100% stake in the joint venture company which has been received by the joint venture partners including DHDL. The balance which would be received from IDFC has been linked to the leasing milestones.

Prior to this infusion of Rs 200 crore, DHDL had a 71% equity stake in Galaxy Mercantile Ltd., which owns of the 1.3 million square feet (msf) IT Park located in NOIDA, Uttar Pradesh.

DLF spokesperson said, "This stake sale is in line with our objective of divesting the non-strategic assets."

Spokesperson of IDFC Limited said, "We are pleased to partner with DLF, country’s largest and most experienced developer. This investment in GML is the first ever by by IDFC as a part its strategy to invest in a portfolio of yield generating office infrastructure assets in major markets around the country."

Not done anything wrong knowingly: DLF's KP Singh

Source : CNBC-TV18: Dec 02, 2011 at 15:08:

DLF has not done anything wrong knowingly, says chairman Kushal Pal Singh. However, he admitted that inadvertently mistakes can happen.

Last month, the Competition Appellate Tribunal (Compat) stayed the Rs 630 crore penalty imposed by fair trade watchdog Competition Commission of India (CCI) on DLF, India’s biggest real estate firm by market value, over alleged abuse of dominant market position.

Speaking to exclusively to CNBC-TV18's Sheeren Bhan, Singh said that he is confident of DLF’s case at the Compat. “My son Rajiv drives the company. I know his philosophy. He is a very hard taskmaster. He is very clearheaded. He makes no moans about it and he deals in a manner according to rules and regulations. But sometimes people misunderstand,” he said.

Shifting focus to reforms, Singh said. FDI in multi-brand retail is a very progressive step. But on the Land Acquisition bill, he said, the 80% consent nod is not a practical one.

"I think townships must not be kept of public purpose definition."

Bangalore best Indian city to live in: Global Survey

Source :ET :29 NOV, 2011, 04.19PM IST, PTI 

NEW DELHI: Pipping past the four metro cities of New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai, the southern technology hub Bangalore has emerged as the best city to live in India, a global survey said today.

Despite its top Indian ranking, Bangalore's worldwide rank is very low at 141st position in a list of 221 cities globally in terms of standard of living, compiled by the 'Quality of Living Survey - Worldwide Rankings, 2011' by the global HR (human resources) consultancy major Mercer. 
Vienna has been ranked as the world's best city to live in on the global list, 

which has five Indian cities -- 

Bangalore (141st), 

New Delhi (143rd), 

Mumbai (144th),

Chennai (150th) and

Kolkata (151st). 

Globally, Vienna is followed by 

Zurich, 

Auckland,

 Munich, 

Dusseldorf, 

Vancouver,

Frankfurt, 

Geneva, 

Copenhagen and 

Bern 

among the top-ranked cities in terms of quality of living, Mercer said. 

In another list of the world's best cities in terms of personal safety standards, Luxembourg has been placed on the top, followed by Bern, Helsinki, Zurich, Vienna, Geneva and Stockholm. 

On this list, Indian cities have been ranked a little better, as Bangalore has got 117th place, New Delhi and Kolkata shared the 127th position, Mumbai is at 142 and Chennai is placed at 108th. 

Bangalore has been ranked as the best Indian city both in terms of quality of living and the personal safety standards. 

The personal safety ranking has been on measures of internal stability, crime levels, law enforcement effectiveness and host-country's international relations.