Amritha Pillay l Mumbai
The promoters of Mumbai-based Godrej Properties may sell stake through the recently approved institutional placement programme (IPP) route to raise Rs500-600 crore.
Keeping with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) guidelines, the promoters are required to reduce their holding to 75% by 2013 from the current 83.79%. The company is confident of achieving this in the next few months.
IPP allows promoters to make an offer only to institutional investors, for up to 10% stake in the company or a lesser percentage required to meet shareholding norms. It can involve fresh issue or dilution by selling existing stake.
The company’s board in October had approved the proposal of issuance of further equity shares by way of various means such as a public issue, rights issue, private placement or a combination thereof, including a qualified institutional placement, to raise up to `750 crore.
The IPP proceeds are expected to help the developer reduce its current debt of `1,900 crore.
“We are now planning to explore the IPP route introduced by the Sebi in the last few weeks. This will help on all accounts and also tide the current weak macro conditions,” said Pirojsha Godrej, executive director who is to take over as managing director and CEO of the company from April, in an earnings call on Friday.
Among other efforts to cut debt, the company aims to monetise commercial property assets in Chandigarh and Kolkata while private equity deals for the BKC project developed with Jet Airways are also on the table.
For the current quarter, Godrej Properties is planning new project launches in Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Chennai and Bangalore. Company officials are positive that next fiscal would see a higher number of launches.
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