Realty player DLF, on Friday, announced that it would raise around Rs.3,000 crore through the sale of its non-core businesses such as hotel chain Aman Resorts and wind energy business by the end of this fiscal. This would bring down the total outstanding debt of the company to around Rs.15,000 crore, it said.
The company also announced plans to launch around four projects in Gurgaon by March 2013 through which it hopes to generate around Rs.15,000 crore in sales over the next four years.
Stating that Aman Resorts was a complex deal and would take time to mature, DLF Group Executive Director Rajeev Talwar told journalists here that the sale of wind energy business was likely to be concluded faster than the hotel chain sale. The company was engaged in active negotiations in both the deals and expected to close the transactions by the end of this fiscal, he added.
He said the sale of two non-core businesses would help the company generate something between Rs.2,500 crore and Rs.3,000 crore. The company had recently sold prime Mumbai plot to Lodha Developers for a record Rs.2,700 crore.
Mr. Talwar asserted that the decision not to sell the Aman Resorts unit in Delhi was not the reason for the deal being delayed. “Global Investors are more interested in Aman properties, which are located outside India. It makes sense to hold Delhi’s Aman hotel because of value of land,” he added. Aman Resorts has about 25 properties across the world. He was confident that the company would be able to meet its debt reduction target of Rs.18,000 crore by March 2013. Mr. Talwar said ‘the company would launch three projects in Gurgaon, which would give DLF a sales realisation of about Rs.15,000 crore.
He said the company was planning a follow-on public offer (FPO) before June to dilute promoters’ stake to 75 per cent as per market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India’s (SEBI) guidelines.
“We will issue fresh equity shares. Most likely, it will be an FPO, unless foreign and domestic institutional investors bid competitively for our shares,” he said.
On the timing of the issue of fresh shares, he said it would be before June next year as per the SEBI guidelines, unless the regulator extended the deadline. As on September 30, the promoters and their group companies held 78.58 per cent stake in DLF.
As per the SEBI guidelines, private companies should have a minimum public shareholding of 25 per cent by June 2013.
DLF will have to issue about 4-5 per cent fresh equity shares of the paid-up capital in order to bring down promoter stake to 75 per cent. The company’s promoters had sold 9.9 per cent stake in 2009 to raise Rs.3,860 crore.
