Mid-sized real estate companies have started feeling the heat of the global meltdown. Delhi-based Omaxe Construction and Infrastructure is planning to offload 26% stake to investors and private equity (PE) players and is said to be in talks with sovereign wealth funds from Bahrain, Singapore, Kuwait, and Dubai, apart from Temasak of Singapore. When FE contacted Vinay Agarwal, executive director, Omaxe, he said, ?We cannot deny or comment. But we are constantly open to such options of offloading part of our stake.?
Omaxe has recently approached Millennium Spire Ltd (a private equity investor) to raise funds. Ashish Bhalla managing director, Millennium Spire Ltd said, ?We too were recently approached by Omaxe to raise funds. However, since we offer investments at the special purpose vehicle (SPV) level and not at equity levels, we have refused the offer.?
Recently, Prestige Group in Bangalore had raised around Rs 140 crore from Red Fort Capital. Besides, Delhi-based Vatika Group too has started talking to various private equity players to offload part stake and raise funds to set up real estate projects. It is understood from industry experts that Ansal Group too has recently initiated talks with merchant bankers to offload part of its stake.
Marvel Realtors, developers of automated super luxury homes, launched a super-luxury project ?Marvel Zephyr? and also announced another high-tech commercial project ?Marvel Edge?. Marvel Zephyr is a JV project being developed in association with Och-Ziff Capital Management Group. This super-luxury residential real estate project is located in Kharadi and will have a built-up area of 1.10 million sq ft.
Vishwajeet Jhavar, CEO, Marvel Realtors said, ?While Marvel Zephyr is a Rs 600 crore project, in the residential segment, our upcoming Marvel Edge is a Rs 900 crore commercial venture targeting corporates and business owners looking at high-tech automated premises.?