NEW DELHI: Unitech, India's fourth-biggest real estate firm, has put two hotels near Delhi and some land parcels in southern cities on the block as it seeks to raise 800-900 crore to pare debt, two people close to the development said.
The hotels put for sale are the 200-room Country Inn and Suites in Gurgaon and the 250-room Marriott in Noida. While the Gurgaon hotel is operational, finishing work is on at the Noida property.
"The two properties are likely to fetch the company 500-600 crore," one of the people quoted earlier said. The land parcels that the developer is selling are part of three townships that it owns in Bangalore, Mysore and Chennai. Unitech is looking to raise close to 300 crore from their sale.
A spokesman for Unitech declined comment.
Unitech is already in the process of selling a 3.6-million square feet IT
SEZ in Gurgaon, which is part of its Corporate Park portfolio. The developer has 40% stake in it. US-based private equity company Blackstone and Singapore's state fund GIC are in the fray to buy the property for around 2,600 crore.
These deals will provide succor to Unitech in the aftermath of its failed telecom joint venture with Norwegian firm Telenor and help it focus on its core business of real estate development, besides reducing debt. In October, Unitech sold its 33.75% stake in mobile phone and accessories distributor Unitech Wireless to Telenor for an undisclosed amount.
The company's net debt rose to 6,240 crore in the quarter to September from around 6,000 crore in the previous quarter.
Like most other real estate companies, Unitech's performance has been weighed down by slow sales and higher costs over the past few quarters, which was reflected in the 48% drop in its consolidated net profit in the quarter to September.
Source : economictimes.indiatimes.com