Chennai IT Park change hands

Shapoorjis IT park put on block 

Xander,Temaseks Realty Arm Eye 450Cr Chennai Property 

Anshul Dhamija & Reeba Zachariah TNN 

Bangalore/Mumbai: Global investment house Xander Group and Mapletree,the real estate unit of Temasek Holdings,are in the fray to acquire Indian construction major Shapoorji Pallonjis business park SP Infocity,in Chennai,valued at Rs 450 crore.The Information Technology (IT) park is 27-lakh-sq-ft development,and the deal on the table comprises of 8-lakh sq ft of tenanted office space leased to clients like HSBC,Amazon,Saksoft,Hapag Lloyd,Lister Technologies,and Neeyamo.
It may include right of first refusal to buy rest of the development,possibly at a pre-determined price.Global real estate consultant CBRE is said to be the advisor to the deal.SP Infocity is located on Chennais IT corridor and is 2 km away from the citys first IT landmark,Tidel Park.
This is the latest in the real estate sale series by the Shapoorji Pallonji Group.Some time ago,it sold Shapoorji Pallonji Biotech Park in Andhra Pradesh to Calfornia-based Alexandria Real Estate Equities.A Xander spokesperson said the company does not comment on market speculation.CBRE officials too declined to comment citing confidentiality norms.
Private equity groups like Blackstone,Baring and GIC of Singapore have stepped up its interest in Indias office buildings,especially assets in the outsourcing hubs of southern India,as a stable route to participate in the domestic real estate play.
Mapletree,which owns about S$20 billion of real estate assets,has been betting big on India.Some months ago,it acquired a technology park in Bangalore for Rs 800 crore.The $2-billion Xander that has Lord Jacob Rothschild,Harvard professor Arthur Segel and Sid Yog as its founding partners,is also extremely bullish on the Indian real estate market.
TOI,in April,had reported Xanders interest in buying a 1.2 million-sq ft retail cum hotel space in Chennai from southbased developer Ozone Group for Rs 350 crore.Xander also bought Futura,a grade-A business park,located in OMR from Appaswamy Real Estates Limited for US $40 million.

CLSA arm to sell 6.15% in Apollo Hosp 

Mumbai: An arm of the global financial major CLSA is selling its 6.15% stake in the Chennai-based Apollo Hospital for about $130 million (around Rs 725 crore) through block deals.The transactions could be put across at the bourses through bulk and block deals on Thursday.Citigroups India arm,the brokerage house that did most of the block deals so far this year,is the sole manager to the offering,market sources said.
According to the details of the deal,which has been shared with mutual funds,insurance companies,FIIs and other select institutional investors,CLSA Mauritius,which usually deals with participatory notes (P-notes ),has put up for sale 85.5 lakh shares of Apollo Hospital at prices between Rs 824 and Rs 876.6 per share.At the lower end of the price range,the discount works out to 6% to its Tuesday closing of Rs 876.6.CLSA Mauritius is the fourth largest shareholder in the healthcare company.TNN

Chennai Real Estate Prices keep on going up

56-ground plot in city centre on the block for 340 crore 

Rajesh Chandramouli TNN 

Chennai: NRI businessman C Sivasankaran has put on the block a 56-ground plot off Cenotaph Road in south Chennai for 340 crore.At this price,the valuation works out to roughly 6 crore a ground (1 ground equals 2,400sqft).
After a couple of aborted attempts to sell the land,Sivasankaran,sources said,was close to signing a deal.We are talking to several buyers.We are close to finalizing it,but in such deals nothing can be said unless you get the money, officials at Siva Ventures said.
Market sources said Chennai-based Khivraj,Landmark Constructions,Jain Housing,Arihant and another Bangalore-based developer were interested in the property,located opposite the Japanese consulate and DMK leader M K Stalins residence.
The difference between the offer price and the asking price is not much.We can expect the deal this time, sources said,adding that the buyer had to get some financial support from private equity investors or real estate focussed fund houses.

Siva sells assets bought from B&C 

The landing cost for the FSI (floor space index),will be nearly Rs17,000 per sqft,at the estimated sale price of Rs 340 crore.This may result in the buyer quoting an unprecedented price of upwards of Rs 25,000 per sqft for apartments promoted there.
Chennai is witnessing some large real estate transactions.Tafe groups purchase of land at nearly Rs 6.4 crore per ground in Nungambakkam set a new benchmark for that locality,while Tablets India picked up L&Ts regional headquarters land on Club House road for nearly Rs 4.6 crore per ground.
Sivasankaran had acquired the property off Cenotaph Road in early 2006 for nearly Rs 120 crore from Best & Crompton Engineering.Beacon House came to the fold of UB chairman Vijay Mallya after he acquired Best & Crompton.Later,when B&C was acquired by Indonesia's Polysindo Texmaco group,it decided to sell the property.Since Sivasankaran had picked up stake in B&C,it helped him to clinch the deal.TNN

L& T Sells Estantia Land

Lancor buys property on GST Rd for 40cr 

Rajesh Chandramouli TNN 

Chennai: Property developer Lancor Holdings has acquired a 6.5-acre plot near Maraimalai Nagar on the GST Road for Rs 40 crore,or Rs 6.15 crore per acre.
Lancor,in a regulatory filing with stock exchanges,said,The company has concluded the purchase of 100% equity shares of L&T Commercial Projects Private Limited.As a result of this acquisition,approximately 6.5 acres of prime land on GST Road has become available for development into Residential and Commercial projects with good potential to earn profits. 
We have not decided to the end matrix of land development.Wewanttodevelop at least one acre for residential and some commercial space.The land is classified as commercial one.Negotiations with L&T started in May last year and was concluded on Tuesday, Lancor managing director R V Shekhar said.I do not wish to comment on the acquisition cost.We have bought the company and therefore the land which was in the companys books. 
The eco-system of having a university (SRM University ),commercial establishmentslikeFordI ndia andothers,coupled with IT SEZ of Estancia and the presence of Vidya Mandir School,brings additional strengths for property development in that area.

Thirunelveli Temple 100 Crore Lands

Kapaleeshwar Temple Lands

College Building Violations

100 Chennai colleges under scanner for bldg violations 

2,400 Institutions Across State Told To Submit Approved Plans

TIMES NEWS NETWORK 

Chennai: The Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) has asked more than 100 colleges within its jurisdiction to submit approved plans of buildings on their campuses.
The CMDAs move has come close on the heels of the Directorate of Town and Country Planning (DTCP),which has jurisdiction over the rest of the state,asking about 2,400 colleges in various districts in September to submit their approved building plans.
The regulatory agencies clampdown on educational institutions started after reports of rampant building violations appeared in the media.In one such case,on August 6,a basketball stadium,which was under construction at Jeppiaar Institute of Technology in Kunnam village near Sriperumbudur,collapsed,killing 10 workers.
CMDA officials said notices were issued to many arts and science colleges in Chennai and several private engineering and medical colleges in the suburbs.Officials said private engineering and medical colleges were the worst among the violators.They have constructed buildings without any approval.Some of them have taken approvals from panchayats,which have no authority to approve such buildings.Those who fail to respond to CMDA notices would face stringent action,an official said,adding,Some colleges have taken our notices lightly.
Meanwhile,responding to the DTCP directive,about 10 colleges have submitted their plans for approvals.If they confirm with the development control rules,we will grant approval.But a fine would be levied for not obtaining permission before constructing the buildings, said an official.The rest of the 2,400 colleges have sought additional two months to respond to the DTCP notices.
M G Devasahayam,a member of CMDAs high court-appointed monitoring committee that looks into building violations,said a random check of land documents proved that many private colleges in the suburbs,who actually own less than 10 acres of land as per documents,had encroached upon more than 100 acres of public land and constructed buildings.Several schools and colleges in the city lead the list of violators, said Devasahayam.
A CMDA official said that many professional colleges had obtained approvals for engineering colleges from the All India Council for Technical Education and medical colleges from the Medical Council of India by submitting wrong information about their land holdings.They have also falsely claimed that their buildings were approved by the regulatory agencies.But the fact remains that most of them have not even applied for approval.
Asenior CMDA official said the agency would also look into the land holdings of these institutions as scrutiny of land titles forms part of the exercise.

Chennai Real Estate Prices keep on going up

56-ground plot in city centre on the block for 340 crore 

Rajesh Chandramouli TNN 

Chennai: NRI businessman C Sivasankaran has put on the block a 56-ground plot off Cenotaph Road in south Chennai for 340 crore.At this price,the valuation works out to roughly 6 crore a ground (1 ground equals 2,400sqft).
After a couple of aborted attempts to sell the land,Sivasankaran,sources said,was close to signing a deal.We are talking to several buyers.We are close to finalizing it,but in such deals nothing can be said unless you get the money, officials at Siva Ventures said.
Market sources said Chennai-based Khivraj,Landmark Constructions,Jain Housing,Arihant and another Bangalore-based developer were interested in the property,located opposite the Japanese consulate and DMK leader M K Stalins residence.
The difference between the offer price and the asking price is not much.We can expect the deal this time, sources said,adding that the buyer had to get some financial support from private equity investors or real estate focussed fund houses.

Siva sells assets bought from B&C 

The landing cost for the FSI (floor space index),will be nearly Rs17,000 per sqft,at the estimated sale price of Rs 340 crore.This may result in the buyer quoting an unprecedented price of upwards of Rs 25,000 per sqft for apartments promoted there.
Chennai is witnessing some large real estate transactions.Tafe groups purchase of land at nearly Rs 6.4 crore per ground in Nungambakkam set a new benchmark for that locality,while Tablets India picked up L&Ts regional headquarters land on Club House road for nearly Rs 4.6 crore per ground.
Sivasankaran had acquired the property off Cenotaph Road in early 2006 for nearly Rs 120 crore from Best & Crompton Engineering.Beacon House came to the fold of UB chairman Vijay Mallya after he acquired Best & Crompton.Later,when B&C was acquired by Indonesia's Polysindo Texmaco group,it decided to sell the property.Since Sivasankaran had picked up stake in B&C,it helped him to clinch the deal.TNN