Royal Group,GTC in Race to Buy 26% in Raheja Group’s Engineering SEZ

Royal Group of UAE and Netherlands-based GTC Real Estate are in the
race to acquire 26% stake in the Delhi-based Raheja group’s engineering
SEZ in Gurgaon for Rs 500 crore. It has been learnt that the Raheja
group may ink the deal with either of the two groups in the next few
weeks.

Raheja Developers MD Navin Raheja declined to comment on the development,
but said his company was in talks with some investors to sell equity
stake in its SEZ. The 257-acre SEZ project is being valued at Rs 4,500
crore with the land component accounting for almost half of it, according
to sources. The foreign investor will initially take 26% stake in the
SEZ for around Rs 500 crore and May later bring in more funds towards
construction cost, sources said.

The Royal Group, led by the royal family of Abu Dhabi, is a conglomerate
of 30 companies engaged in several sectors such as media, real estate,
trading, services, construction and technology. The other likely investor
GTC Real Estate is a Netherlands based firm, listed on Tel-Aviv Stock
Exchange. Dutch-Israeli investment fund The Kardan Group, which holds
64.3% stake in GTC Real Estate, is mulling the latter’s merger with
itself.

In an earlier investment in India, GTC Real Estate had reportedly agreed
late last year to form an equal joint venture with D S Kulkarni Developers
to develop 250 acre multi services SEZ at Pune. GTC had reportedly agreed
to invest $96 million into the project in a phased manner.

Raheja Developers are a privately held firm with a net worth of Rs
1,225 crore. Their engineering SEZ has recently been notified by the
government. The total usable area in the SEZ will be 21 million sqft,
of which 9.68 million sqft will be used for industrial purpose. An 8
million sqft of space will be utilised for residential purpose, while
the rest will be used for commercial, institutional and educational
purposes. The SEZ will be completed in phases with the first phase being
completed within 3 years, according to Raheja Developers. The company
says that it has been approached by several international and national
Engineering Companies for taking space in its SEZ.

Photo: A metro train arriving at Baranagar Metro station in Kolkata, India by Ravi Dwivedi, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.