Indian Property News on 'February, 2008'

Israeli Giants Enter Indian Retail Sector

Israeli mall giants, owners of retail-linked realty assets across the world, are buying into India’s money minting retail sector. Tel Aviv-based mall giant Gazit Globe has tied up with one of the HDFC funds to pump in $150 million into developing assets, including supermarket anchored retail play. Big Shopping Group, of of Isreal’s biggies has teamed up with Lehman Brothers Real Estate Private equity to set up ‘open malls’ in tier I and tier II cities.

Israeli tycoons and families, which raked in money from core real estate developments in the US, have turned their attention to retail assets from Sao Paulo to Macedonia, as mall ownership and management provides attractive 20% plus annualised returns in developing markets. Billionair eChaim Katzman, at the helm of Gazit Globe, is no exception as he went on acquiring shopping centres from market to market.

While Gazit Globe’s retail play in the Indian market is still not clear – it is also looking at getting into business parks and special economic zones (SEZs) – Big Shopping Group along with Lehman has drawn up plans to show up with 60 centres over the next 10 years. This will entail over $2 billion in investments, with over $100 million pumped in as initial corpus through Big Holdings Mauritius, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Lehman Brothers real estate private equity.

Indiabulls Real Estate Acquires UK’s Dev Property Development

Indiabulls Real Estate Ltd has acquiring the entire stake in Dev Property Development Plc in a 138- million-pound sterling (10.9 billion rupees) share-swap deal.

Dev, which listed on London’s junior stock exchange in 2007, is promoted by the Indian property developer and holds stakes in several of Indiabulls’ projects in India. Indiabulls Real Estate will issue its own shares to Dev’s investors, which include Farallon Capital, Fidelity, Govt of Singapore and Citigroup.

Dev shares closed on Wednesday at 75.50 pence, valuing the firm at around 120 million pounds sterling. Several Indian developers, keen to expand in a booming urban real estate market, have raised funds from London’s AIM exchange in the past two years. These include Mumbai-based developers such as the Rahejas and Hiranandani group.

Dubai Properties Participate at Mumbai Extravaganza

One of the leading Real Estate Developers of Dubai, Dubai Properties participated at the premium luxury show ‘Mumbai Extravaganza 2008’ in Mumbai, India to showcase its latest portfolio of realty developments including the latest to be announced ‘Mudon’ project. The show marked the presence elite audience of high net worth visitors and top tier conglomerates.

Expressing his delight on the same, Mohamed Binbrek, CEO, Dubai Properties, said, “Mumbai Extravaganza gave us an opportunity to present investors with instant information on the latest developments from Dubai Properties, as well as introduce our latest project launches to a new market. Indian nationals are amongst the top investors within the booming real estate market in Dubai”.

In 2007, Indian Nationals spent Dh4 billion on real estate in Dubai and over the past 10 years, they have spent a total of Dh6.5 Billion on the Dubai property sector. While the majority of these buyers were Indians living within the UAE, 10% of them were living in India or otherwise, proving the existence of a substantial demand for Dubai real estate from outside the UAE.

BJP demands Transparency and Accountability in the Real Estate Sector

Criticising the economic policies of the United Progressive (UPA) Government, Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Murli Manohar Joshi said that the economic reforms of the Central Government have deformed the country.

“The real growth should move from bottom to top,” Joshi said while addressing the conclave organized by his party’s investor cell.

Submitting a memorandum of demands to Prime Minister, Mr Manmohan Singh, the BJP has asked the government to bring transparency and accountability into the real estate sector and form a National level Real Estate Regulatory Authority.

“Lakhs of lakhs of rupees of the common man has been siphoned off by the illegal real estate agents,” said Joshi.

He further added that the prices of the property are skyrocketing and buying a home is getting beyond the reach of a common man.

Raising concerns over the rising volatility of the stock market, the party has asked the UPA Government to come out with a white paper on investments through participatory notes and foreign institutional investors (FII).

BJP’S vice president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Delhi state unit chief Harsh Vardhan and RSS point person Ramlall also slammed the government on host of issues.

Realty, Hospitality Sectors Attract (PE) Funds

With IT projects taking a backseat on the investment front, private equity (PE) funds are cosying up to residential, commercial and hospitality spaces in South India.

Pragnya, a Mauritius-based private equity fund focused on the real estate market in India, has so far invested about $40 million in realty projects, including an integrated township project by L&T in south India, and expects its investments to reach $100-110 million this year. It is also planning to come out with a $150-million Pragnya Fund 2, which will invest in realty and hospitality projects, particularly in the South.

In December 2007, Red Fort Capital, a global real estate private equity fund, announced a Rs 400-crore investment plan for Chennai’s realty market over the next six months. It has acquired 10 acres of land for a large residential project in Chennai. The company has already invested Rs 1,200 crore on projects in Bangalore and Hyderabad.

Hospitality projects in the region are also attracting private investments. Last month, Sabari Inn, which promoted two boutique hotels in Chennai, secured investments of Rs 62 crore from ICICI Prudential PMS Real Estate Securities Fund to fuel its growth plans.

ICICI Prudential PMS Real Estate Securities Fund, which has about Rs 800 crore under management, is also reported to have lined up investments of about Rs 150 crore in various projects to be announced soon.

The Ever Growing Indian Real Estate Sector

The Indian Real Estate Industry is on a roll be it in the country or outside. The sector has witnessed immense growth in the past couple of years. The phenomenal increase in the Real Estate demand and access to funds were the key drivers for propelling the Indian real estate market into an overdrive.

The industry received the much requisite first shot of funding in 2005 wherein the foreign direct investment (FDI) route was opened up for Indian real estate. Since then there has been no looking back, the real estate sector has transformed to reach $57 billion in 2007, and has a potential to reach $90 billion by 2012 according to the Eleventh Five Year Plan.

The ever increasing momentum has paved the way for exciting opportunities for both domestic as well as international investors. The real estate industry has multiple stakeholder’s right from developers to investors (including private equity funds), financiers, buyers (including Real Estate Investment Trusts) and service providers such as property consultants, contractors and project management companies. A typical consolidation may be triggered by any of these stakeholders.

Going forward, we expect the Indian real estate market to witness greater M&A activity driven by consolidation and the growing maturity of the market. This activity would ideally be supported by requisite regulatory framework and inherent attractiveness of the real estate sector (which in turn is based on sound market fundamentals and relatively stable economic & political regime).

Ahmedabad Hosts Infrastructure and real estate exposition

The booming capital of Gujarat, Ahmedabad organized the Infrastructure and real estate exposition recently. The programme was planned by Gujarat Institute of Housing and Estate Developers (GIHED). The exhibition involved six core sectors: real estate, SEZ, township, retail and speciality projects, infrastructure, hospitality and education.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Nitin Patel, the Urban Development Minister, Gujarat said, “It is a proud moment for all of us in Gujarat to be hosting India’s largest real estate and infrastructure exposition. This initiative by GIHED will attract best leaders in infrastructure and real estate sector from across India to come and invest in the state. I welcome all of you to be integral part of the new and progressive Gujarat and India.”

According to Mr Shekar Patel, president of GIHED said, “The fourth GIHED exposition will showcase Gujarat potential to rest of the country. We intend to bring the best industry practices and thought leaderadminadmins under one roof to share a unified vision not for one state but for country at large.”

Phenomenal Hike in Real Estate Salaries

A report by Hewitt Associates, a global human resource services firm reveals that Real estate or infrastructure has provided the highest salary hike in 2007. The sector has surprisingly left behind traditional front runners like IT and BPO.

Hewitt Associates also forecasts a gradual decrease in salary increases and a stabilisation of increases to a range of 9 to 10 percent by 2012. Factors influencing stabilisation include reducing the talent gap, changing the talent model, making training vital and re-engineering talent.

Though the fundamentals of the Indian economy are strong, the recent stock market fall and a strengthening rupee herald uncertainty. For India, the immediate implications of an economic slowdown in the U.S. is not worrying, but this is getting organisations to look at “productivity” as a single most important determinant of long-run prospects, the survey says.

The two fastest growing cost components in India are real estate or infrastructure and talent, and information technology and outsourcing companies, which have more than 75 per cent of production regulated by the U.S. economy. The highest increase in salaries is predicted in the middle management, junior manager and supervisor levels ranging close to more than 15 per cent while the top and senior management are likely to witness a hike of 13-14.5 per cent in 2008. For the general staff and manual workforce, the hike predicted is between 11 to 13.5 per cent.

Sobha Developers Enter Middle East

Reckoned Indian Real Estate Developers, Sobha Group Sobha Group has broken ground on its first residential development in Dubai. Building work started on Sobha Daffodil at Jumeirah Village on 28th January, 2008 following a ground breaking ceremony.

Speaking on the development, Ajay Rajendran, Vice Chairman, Sobha Group, said, “Sobha Daffodil marks our entry into the residential real estate market in the Middle East. We are pleased to celebrate its ground breaking”.

Sobha Daffodil is a 178-apartment real estate development located in Jumeirah Village, Dubai. The 4 and 10-storey complex offers a contemporary living environment with roof top garden, large temperature controlled swimming pool and fully equipped Club House.

Armani and DLF Get Together for Retail Venture

Leading Italian designer Giorgio Armani’s firm has joined hands with India’s biggest real estate company, DLF Ltd .Giorgio Armani Holding BV, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Italian firm, will take 51 percent in the venture, the maximum allowed for a single-brand foreign retailer in India.

Armani will bring 10 million rupees ($250,000) to the venture, which would “also act as a wholesaling firm supplying Armani-branded products to other independent retailers”, it said.

The first Armani stores would be set up in New Delhi, it said. In December, the Foreign Investment Promotion Board approved an investment of 365 million rupees by Dolce & Gabbana in a 51:49 joint venture with DLF.

Luxury fashion brands are stepping up their presence in India to tap rising incomes in Asia’s third-largest economy.