NEW DELHI: Century Real Estate plans to develop 7 million sq ft of commercial projects in Bengaluru over 6 years and is in talks with private equity investors to raise Rs 1,000 crore.
Bengaluru-based Century Real Estate Holdings has huge land bank of more than 3,000 acres in this IT city.
“We have completed 2 small commercial projects of 2 lakh sq ft each in the past. Now, we are looking to enter commercial segment in a big way,” the company’s MD Ravindra Pai told .
He said Century has prepared a business plan to develop 7 million sq ft of office space in the next 6 years.
To create this rental portfolio, Pai said, “we are looking for an equity partner. We are in initial talks with few private equity firms”.
The target is to raise to Rs 1,000 crore, he added.
The company had earlier raised funds from Kotak, Piramal, JM Financial, Xander and others to develop projects, he said.
Century plans to create a separate SPV (special purpose vehicle) for the development of commercial projects.
In February next year, the company will start development of one million sq ft area involving construction cost of Rs 350 crore.
With the real estate sector facing multi-year slowdown particularly housing, developers are focusing on office projects which are doing better and attracting huge investment from domestic as well as foreign funds.
Asked about the residential business, Pai said the company has so far completed about 15 projects comprising 3,000 apartments and 2,000 plots.
About 10 projects are being developed and all of them would be completed next year, he said.
Pai said the company’s ultimate aim is to monetise the land assets at the best price and this could be through own development, joint venture and outright sale.
Century would continue to focus on Bengaluru and has no plans to enter into any new location, he said.
On fresh acquisition of land parcel, he said: “We keep exploring but we are not pro-actively buying land.”
The company was founded in 1973 as land aggregator and facilitator. It has provided land to almost all the big developers in Bengaluru. It became real estate developer 10 years ago and started doing projects on its own.
PTI