Realty major DLF on Sunday said it has entered into a joint venture (JV) with GIC to build rental assets in India after its promoters sold 33.34 per cent stake in the rental arm to the Singapore sovereign wealth fund for Rs 8,900 crore.
In the biggest deal in the Indian real estate sector, DLF promoters on Friday decided to sell their entire 40 per cent stake in a rental arm DLF Cyber City Developers (DCCDL) for Rs 11,900 crore that included the stake sale to GIC as well as buyback of shares by DCCDL.
With this deal, DLF stake in the DCCDL will increase to 66.66 per cent from 60 per cent while GIC will have 33.34 per cent stake.
In a joint statement, DLF and GIC announced that they have entered into a strategic partnership to develop a rental assets portfolio under the consolidated portfolio of the DCCDL.
DLF promoter group firms, DCCDL and GIC Singapore affiliate Reco Diamond executed the share purchase and shareholders agreement on Sunday, the realty major said.
This partnership would enable sustainable long-term growth of DCCDL’s rental business and creates an optimum structure to improve efficiency, with long-term capital for growth of the portfolio, the statement said.
Commenting on the JV, DLF Vice-Chairman Rajiv Singh said the company has entered into yet another landmark transaction with GIC, which had invested Rs 2,000 crore in two housing projects in Delhi.
“Going forward, we expect this partnership to unlock significant embedded value in this portfolio and achieve scale and growth to unprecedented levels,” he added.
Lee Kok Sun, chief investment officer (CIO), GIC Real Estate, said the company has enhanced its existing partnership with DLF.
“This portfolio comprises high-quality, income-generating assets which are located across India’s top-tier cities. In addition, there is a significant development potential within the portfolio. As a long-term investor, we believe in the growth potential of India and in strengthening relationships with like-minded partners,” he added.
On August 25, DLF promoters decided to sell their entire 40 per cent stake in the DCCDL for Rs 11,900 crore. They would sell 33.34 per cent stake to GIC for Rs 8,900 crore while the remaining shares would be bought back by the DCCDL for Rs 3,000 crore.
This deal was done at an enterprise value of Rs 35,617 crore for DCCDL.
DLF promoters will get gross proceeds of Rs 11,900 crore (approximately $1.9 billion), which comprises secondary sale of equity shares to GIC for Rs 8,900 crore and two buybacks of CCPS for Rs 3,000 crore (approximately $0.5 billion) by DCCDL.
Promoters would invest a “substantial portion” of the transaction proceeds into the DLF, which in turn would use this fund for repayment of debt that has touched nearly Rs 26,000 crore.
“The transaction shall create one of the leading platform play for rental properties, with rent yielding assets of 26.9 million square feet (sq ft). The portfolio, currently, has an under development pipeline of approximately 2.5 million sq ft with further development potential of approximately 19 million sq ft within the portfolio,” the statement said.
The DCCDL earns an annual rental income of Rs 2,600 crore from its current portfolio.
DLF is the country’s largest real estate firm with about 250 million sq ft of land bank and 30 million sq ft of the rental portfolio while GIC is a leading global investment firm with well over $100 billion in assets under management.
Source: Business-Standard 