Bhartiya group announces $2-billion township in Bangalore

 

Bhartiya group has launched $2-billion Bhartiya City, a 125-acre integrated township in Bangalore. The city has IT SEZ component as well.

The group has partnered with Leela Group to operate a 300-room hotel, which is planned as part of the project.

Announcing Bhartiya City, Snehdeep Aggarwal, chairman, Bhartiya group, said, “The project will be developed in phases. In the first phase, we are taking up development of residential, IT office space, retail and hotel.”

“In the first couple of years, we plan to take up 3.2 million square feet of residential, 0.6 million IT office space, 0.7 million retail and 0.5 million hotel,” he added.

The project is located within the BBMP limits. The township is master planned by Perkins Eastman from New York and architects include Broadway Malyan from the UK/Singapore, RSP-Bangalore and Edifice-Mumbai.

“For executing the project, we are leveraging our two decades of expertise in global fashion industry to use design as the differentiator,” said Aggarwal.

As per the master plan, the township comprises of eight districts – residential (Nikoo Homes), mixed use retail, residential and entertainment districts, certified IT-SEZ with an option of ready-to-use office spaces and also an international school, community space and a hospital.

According to Sasi Madathil, CEO, Bhartiya group, the project is a design-driven innovation applied to real estate project. The whole project is likely to be completed in 8 to 10 years.

The group has partnered Leela Group to operate a 300-room hotel. “The group will spend Rs 250 crore for hotel construction and the Leela group will manage the hotel titled Leela Bengaluru,” said Arjun Aggarwal, CEO, Bhartiya City Developers.

“The group has partnered with a few Italian kitchen and furniture makers to provide customised homes at very reasonable prices,” said Swaroop Anish, COO, Bhartiya City Developers.

Spate of property launches in Blore

This Kind Of Trend In Realty Sector Seen Prior To 2008 Downturn 

Its the start of the festive season and property developers are keeping the spirits high with a host of new product launches.Much like what is being seen in the automotive space.

In under 30 days,the city has seen some five new residential launches by A-grade developers,a trend last seen prior to the 2008 downturn.

The new launches range from 2-BHK apartments to 4,000-sqft villas,with prices starting at Rs 37 lakh.

In the first quarter of this financial year,Bangalore was the single largest market in terms of volume.The real estate market in the city has been robust despite the subdued marco-economic sentiments, said Pirojsha Godrej,MD of Godrej Properties.The Mumbai-based developer launched two residential projects in the city in under two-weeks.

On Thursday,Godrej launched a 1-million sqft project,called Godrej E-City,in Electronics City Phase-1,which offers 2,2.5 and 3-BHK apartments,with floor spaces ranging from 964 sqft to 1,625 sqft,at prices starting from Rs 37 lakh.

Prior to this,the company launched a niche villa project,Godrej Gold County,on Tumkur Road,which comprises of 87 units priced above Rs 2 crore.

Mayank Ruia,head-residential of The Phoenix Mills,said,In under a month we have sold close to 350 units of the 400 units on offer in the first phase of our project. The Mumbai-based developer has launched an ultra-high end residential project,One Bangalore West,in Rajajinagar,which has apartments ranging in size from 2,400 sqft to 4,000 sqft at a price of Rs 8,400 per sqft.

In a similar price bracket is Embassy Groups luxury residential project Embassy Lake Terraces at Hebbal.This new project has apartment sizes ranging between 3,500 sqft and 9,900 sqft.Prices start from Rs 3 crore.

Puravankara Projects launched an ultra premium property,Purva Whitehall,on Sarjapur Main Road,which offers buyers only 3 and 4-BHK apartments.

Jackbastian Nazareth,CEO,Puravankara Projects,said The number of enquiries for luxury projects (priced above Rs 2 crore) has increased by close to 30% in the last six months. Nazareth added,The demand for luxury projects is being fuelled by first generation entrepreneurs,senior management from the IT/ITeS sector,and the larger HNI and NRI base in the city. 

In order to showcase to buyers the breadth of offerings now available,Times Property is launching the 8th edition of its property expo,Home Affairs.The expo will be held on October 20 and 21 at The Lalit Ashok.

COMING BACK TO LIFE 

Projects nearing completion in South East and North Bangalore witnessed an increase in capital values of 10-15 % during the first half of 2012 During the January to June period capital values of mid-segment residential units in South East,East and Off-Central locations increased by around 4-8 %,while those in the Central,North and South Bangalore were higher by 1-4 % as compared to the same period a year ago

Bangalore IT.biz 2012 kicks off. Yawn

India's premier IT event was launched today. Did you hear of it? If not, you are in good company. 

The three-day Bangalore IT.biz 2012 - inaugurated with the theme 'Future of ICT: India's big shift to innovation' - began with a function at 10am, 35 minutes late. The small hall, with a capacity of accommodating a few hundred people, was not brimming with people either.

If the few hundred people and stalls put up by various companies are anything to go by, it seems the Bangalore IT.biz, the state government-sponsored event, has been losing its sheen gradually year by year. 

Thousands of people used to vie among themselves to get entry into Palace Grounds, where Bangalore IT.com used to be held. After a few years, the event was shifted to Hotel Ashok. There was no problem for people to visit the event by paying entry fee since the venue was within the city. Though the ongoing event is meant for business-to-business visitors, there were not many people at the event and most of the stalls wore a deserted look.

Chief minister R Jagadish Shettar lackluster speech only added to the gloom. Shettar's speech was full of announcements that were made at events held during his tenure or DV Sadananda Gowda's tenure. During his speech, the chief minister mentioned Karnataka's contribution to IT exports and the job opportunities for engineers in Bangalore. 

As if it is not enough, the chief minister allocated most of his time repeating the number of memorandum of understandings (MoUs) signed during the Global Investor Meet 2010 and 2012. He had also repeated state government's policies for promoting semiconductor and electronic hardware manufacturing. 

He has also mentioned the state government's policy on animation and gaming and how animation and gaming sectors will further strengthen the IT prowess of the state. 

On the much-publicised and hyped Information Technology Investment Region (ITIR) to be established between Devanahalli and Chikkaballapur, the chief minister did not make any announcement on its progress, except indicating that the Union government had given 'in principle' clearance to the project. However, he told media on the sidelines that work on the ITIR will commence before the assembly elections.

Then the chief minister gave out figures. He narrated how the state government had constituted Karnataka ICT Group under the leadership of Mohandas Pai during the Global Investors Meet 2012 to increase the ICT export revenues to Rs 4 lakh crores by 2020 and 20 lakh jobs in ICT segment and help to incubate 1,000 entrepreneur-driven companies by 2020. Chief secretary S V Ranganath was conspicuous with his absence, while Aravind Limbavali, minister for health, was seen leaving the dais much before the chief minister has delivered his speech. That summed up the importance the event had for the Shettar government.

From Worli to Whitefield for real estate

Mumbai-based television professional Jayesh Muzumdar came visiting Bangalore to meet relatives a year ago, and ended up spontaneously buying a 2BHK apartment on the airport road. Today, the apartment in a Purvankara project has appreciated by over 30 per cent – from Rs15 lakh to Rs20 lakh. “That kind of amount would not even make up the down payment component for an apartment in Mumbai. The rates in Bangalore are relatively so low that I did not even have to take a loan,” says Muzumdar.

Another Mumbaikar, Rajesh Rao, purchased a 1000-square-foot apartment in Whitefield for Rs45 lakh earlier this year, and is now earning a monthly rent of Rs15,000 on it. “Compared to Mumbai, Bangalore has much higher demand for rental apartments,” says Rao, adding that for the same rent in Mumbai, he would have had to invest at least twice the amount for an apartment in Mumbai’s suburbs.

For Mumbaikars, who face a starting rate of Rs10,000 per square foot even in the far-flung suburbs of their metropolis, Bangalore’s realty rates offer an easier entry point. Even prominent upcoming areas like Hosur Road, Whitefield, Tumkur Road, Kanakapura Road and Mysore Road have projects priced between Rs2500 and Rs4500 per square foot. “A good percentage of buyers in my Bangalore projects are investors from Mumbai, and even Pune,” says Sunil Mantri, Chairman, Mantri Housing, whose nine projects are in different stages of execution in Bangalore.

“Bangalore's weather and is also a pull factor for individual investors from Mumbai, who are keeping the option open of eventually settling down here,” says Mantri. While Mumbai’s residential realty market has been stagnating for the past one year, Bangalore has witnessed good activity — and upward movement of prices — thanks partly to investors from outside the city.

“While the short-term economic inhibitors currently at play across the country have definitely had their effect on buyers’ sentiments, Bangalore’s residential market is still one of the most resilient from a long haul perspective,” says Karun Varma, managing director for Bangalore & Kochi, Jones Lang LaSalle India, adding that most of the transactions are in the price band of Rs3000 to Rs7500 per square foot.

‘Bangalore has a lot of job opportunities’

Expatriates love Bangalore for its cosmopolitan lifestyle, salubrious environment, food and people. Christopher Willcocks, an expat from the UK, shares his experiences here.

Christopher Willcocks from the UK came to Bangalore for a three-week holiday — but now, he calls this place a home away from home. The City mesmerised him so much that he decided to stay back. “The first flight that I took in my life out of Europe was to India. My friend invited me here to see what a great country it is. I realise now how true he is. I’ve made such good friends here — I’ve never met people like that back home in London,” he says.

He adds that Bangalore has a lot of career options that suit expatriates. “I work here as a cross-cultural communication trainer for the BPO sector. I train people to think from the UK perspective; I cannot imagine doing this job anywhere else. Bangalore has a lot of job opportunities,” he states.

Going down memory lane, Christopher mentions that he misses the charm that the City had a few years ago. “I came to Bangalore seven years ago. Back then, Bangalore had a good nightlife. It was not this crowded. It was calm and serene. In fact, it reminded me of a small city in England. But now, Bangalore is growing rapidly. It looks like a metropolis,” he says.

Most expatriates do face their own share of problems when they come to the City. For Christopher, it was the language issue.

“Since I have stayed in Bangalore for over seven years, many people criticise me for not learning Kannada. I consciously make an effort to speak in the regional language. But the problem is that in Bangalore, very few people speak in Kannada. I try to talk to an autorickshaw driver, and he wants to practice his English on me. He says, ‘My children go to an English-medium school, I want to learn English to speak with them’. Everyone converses with me in English. In such a situation, learning a language becomes difficult,” he says.

Indian cuisine is not just popular in India but across the world. Christopher points out, “I used to love Indian food, even when I was in England. The UK has the largest number of chains of Indian cuisine in the West. Indian food is very popular there. I love the simplicity that is present in Indian dishes, especially those from South India. My favourites are rice, rasam and dal.”

Adding to that, he says, “My partner is from the North-East. She enjoys different Assamese delicacies. The variety of food found in India is unbelievable!”

Ask him if he dislikes anything about Bangalore, and he says, “Garbage is a big problem here. The City is great and the people are friendly — so, if the garbage is managed properly, it will have everything in place to match international standards.” Christopher’s passion has always been music and in Bangalore, he has got a chance to pursue it.

“In 2006, I got together with a bunch of guys and formed a band called ‘Usual Suspects’. We were one of the first Bangalore bands to play punk rock. Currently, I am working on a project called ‘Crash TV’,” says Christopher.

Indian movies have always got worldwide attention. Christopher says, “Though I do not understand the language, I watched ‘Rock On!’ and enjoyed it. Another movie I love is Taare Zameen Par — I cried watching that film. Indian movies portray emotions elegantly.”

To sum up, Christopher says, “I love this City and its people. They have welcomed me here!”

Sun-Apollo to invest up to $50 mn in Sobha Developers

Private equity firm Sun-Apollo will invest up to $50 million in projects developed by Bangalore based real estate company Sobha Developers sources with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters. 

The investment will be on a project basis, and Sun-Apollo will invest 20-25 percent of its commitment in the first project, one of the sources said. Executives at Sobha and Sun-Apollo could not immediately be reached for comment. 

Sobha, based in the southern Indian city of Bangalore, has built more than 51 million square feet of homes and offices since its inception in 1995. 

Sun-Apollo, a joint venture between India's Sun Group, controlled by the Khemka family, and U.S.-based AREA Property Partners, formerly called Apollo Real Estate Advisors, raised more than $600 million in 2006 to invest in real estate projects in India. 

In December 2011, it invested about 450 million rupees ($8.5 million) in a subsidiary of Mumbai-based Godrej PropertiesBSE 2.36 % . 

Private equity investments in real estate fell 44 percent in the September quarter to $394 million from $726 million a year earlier, according to Venture Intelligence, an industry data tracker.

PE firm Blackstone inks India’s biggest commercial real estate acquisition deal

US private equity firm Blackstone has inked India's biggest commercial real estate acquisition deal, which will give it 50% stake in a Bangalore builder-owned portfolio of three business parks for $200 million (over Rs 1,000 crore).

The deal beats Citigroup's acquisition of a Mumbai office building earlier this year for Rs 985 crore, which was bigger than Maple Tree's Rs 800-crore buyout of 2 million sq ft from Assetz Global Technology Park and Baring PE Partners' Rs 500-crore investment in RMZ Corp for 6 million sq ft space.

A person familiar with the matter told ET that Blackstone, which invests in realty firms, has bought stake in an SPV comprising three commercial properties totalling over 10 million sq ft — Embassy Golf link and Manyata Embassy Business Park in Bangalore and Embassy Tech Zone in Pune.

"Blackstone and Embassy Property Developments signed the transaction earlier this month. The deal was followed by the October 4 order of the Competition Commission of India, which gave clearance for the transaction," said the person, who did not wish to be named. "It is an equity-level investment, where a holding company was floated with three commercial assets under it. However, the deal finally cascaded down to the SPV level."

A detailed email sent to Embassy did not elicit a response while Blackstone in an email reply said, "We would not like to comment on this story. Our communication protocol does not allow us to speak on market speculation."

Experts said the deal is in line with this year's trend. "Given the uncertainties in political and economic environment, investors are risk-averse and are investing in pre-leased commercial assets. Around 70% of the transaction closed this year are in pre-leased assets," says Rajeev Bairathi, director-investment advisory at DTZ India.

As per the transaction, Blackstone will get compulsorily convertible debentures of Pune Dynasty Projects (PDP), which is currently into the development of the non-SEZ part of Embassy TechZone in Pune.

Once converted, Blackstone will hold 50% stake in the SPV. Additionally, Embassy, which owns 51% stake in PDP, will acquire 49% from Alta Vista, a Mauritius-based financial institution, making it a subsidiary of Embassy Property Developments (EPD).

"Post this acquisition, EPD will transfer its shareholding of 35.77%, 51.01% and 48.75% in the three SPVs in Pune and Bangalore that are developing business parks along with some other assets in the form of advance paid for the purchase of land and for acquiring joint development rights to PDP.

Herein after, all the three SPVs will become the investee company," said a CCI order. Embassy Golf link is a 5-million-sqft, or 65-acre, business park while Manyata Embassy Business Park is a 100-acre integrated mixed-use development business park, which has a developable area of 18.29 million sq ft.

Embassy TechZone in Pune is spread over 70 acre with 52 acre designated for a special economic zone. Some of Embassy's big tenants at its commercial properties in Bangalore and Pune include IBM, Capgemini, Mercedes Benz, Atos Origin and Accenture. "Blackstone and Embassy will jointly control and manage the entity in which the fund has invested. The deal has very complicated structure with multiple cross-holdings. Embassy will be responsible for completion of the project," the person said.

Bangalore property market surpasses Mumbai, Delhi and Chennai with 140 per cent growth

Bangalore has outpaced bigger property markets such as Mumbai, Delhi and Chennai with 140% growth in the quarter to June over the year-ago period, even as sales in most other cities stagnated or even plummeted.

In the first quarter of the current fiscal, 15.58 million sq ft of residential space was sold in the city, giving it a total market share of 13.9%, property research firm PropEquity said. In comparison, property sales in Mumbai Metropolitan Region and National Capital region fell by 60% and 57%, at 15.98 mn sq ft and 28.86 mn sq ft, respectively. The trend continued into the second quarter.

"Bangalore is witnessing higher offtake compared to other bigger realty markets in the country despite challenging times," said Pirojsha Godrej, managing director and chief executive officer of Godrej PropertiesBSE 0.74 %, which is in the process of launching projects totalling 4 million sq ft over the next few months.

Experts say Bangalore's real estate market is growing due to a combination of factors such as a higher percentage of end users among buyers than in the other cities and a relatively moderate price escalation.

In 2011-12, the southern cities, including Bangalore, contributed nearly 40% to the country's home loan disbursals of Rs 1.95 lakh crore. Since April, LIC Housing FinanceBSE 0.02 % garnered around 14.5% of the total home loan business from the Bangalore region, compared with 12% in the corresponding period last year.

"Bangalore property market is leading both in terms of loan disbursement and sanction," said VK Sharma, CEO of LIC Housing Finance.

Delhi-NCR and Mumbai witnessed a sharp drop of over 40% in property sales in 2012 compared with the previous year, mainly due to multiple increases in home loan rates and inflated property prices. The southern cities, including Bangalore, did not see such a sharp downturn partly due to the turnaround in the IT sector. 

Sentiment was bearish due to worries about macroeconomic growth trickling down to job security and increments. But policy level changes will result in improvement in sentiments and the pent-up demand is likely to be converted hereon," said Niranjan Hiranandani, managing director of Hiranandani Group.

According to the Confederation of Real Estate Association of India (CREDAI), new launches in the bigger markets of Mumbai and Delhi have fallen by 50% and 57%, respectively. "Lack of project approvals has restricted new property supply. Additionally, contribution requirement from home loan seekers has gone up to 40-45% as loans are now being disbursed excluding stamp duty, registration and other taxes , thus impacting sales," said Lalit Kumar Jain, president, CREDAI.

"NCR has seen a drop in home sales because work in Noida extension was stalled for many months. The Noida region was also impacted because of elections in Uttar Pradesh," said Sameer Jasuja, chief executive officer at PropEquity.

Britannia closes in on deal to sell its Bangalore head office land

Britannia Industries, the publicly-held biscuits and dairy major, may be closing in on a deal to sell its six-acre prime real estate land in Bangalore for about Rs 550 crore by the year-end. The land, which houses Britannia’s corporate head-office and residential quarters, has been on the block since December 2011, after Britannia confirmed that it is exploring options to monetise this asset.

Sources say that the asking price of this property has appreciated by a over 20 per cent to Rs 550 crore during the past year, which is why the deal could not be closed before.

According to sources, many property developers and few other corporate houses have looked at how this prime land can be leveraged.

“Piramal Group, Bharti-Walmart are among the few prominent players who have explored this land parcel,” two real estate consultants in the know told Business Standard. While Britannia maintained that they stand by their earlier statement about considering options to leverage this land asset, the company has denied any negotiations with Bharti-Walmart.

Many developers are eyeing the land, which is on the Old Airport Road connecting the central business district to the technology hub of Whitefield, for commercial and retail development. There are not many integrated retail plays in that part of the town.

Bombay Realty, the realty arm of the Wadia Group, which owns Britannia Industries, is also understood to be exploring ways on how they can work on this parcel. This is the second time that Britannia is trying to unlock this land after its attempt in 2008 fell through.

Real estate consultants indicate that about 1 million sq. ft can be developed on this property where the rental ranges between Rs 60 and 80 per sq. ft.

Over the past two years, Britannia has been battling inflation in its key ingredients and has been effectively creaming away costs. The company’s consolidated debt stands at a little over Rs 600 crore. For the first quarter of FY13, Britannia posted an 18.4 per cent increase in net profit to Rs 46.5 crore on a revenue of Rs 1,348 crore, which grew by 12 per cent.

Britannia Industries’ stock gained 1 per cent to close at Rs 477.70 per share on the National Stock Exchange on Thursday.

TE Connectivity to employ 3,000 in B’lore

Connectivity solutions provider TE Connectivity on Thursday said it will provide direct and indirect employment to 2,000-3,000 people in their upcoming manufacturing facility in Bangalore.

The company will invest close to Rs 250 crore to build a 2,80,000 sq ft manufacturing facility at the Aerospace Park, Yelahanka and would be operational by 2014. The facility would create jobs in the areas of assembly, packaging, molding, stapling, tooling machine components, copper wire, optical fibre and cable processes.

“The new facility in Bangalore will become the design, manufacturing centre for TE in India, serving global and Indian customers,” TE Connectivity India President V Raja said. At present, the company has more than 4,500 employees in its eight facilities in India, five in Bangalore, two in Pune and one in Kochi.

It clocked Rs 1,400 crore sales last fiscal ended September 2011 and, Raja said that the company targets $1 billion in sales in the next five years. TE’s manufacturing plants in Shirwal and Wagholi in Pune will be expanded over the next three years with the key focus of expanding India operations by increased local product development.

Technicolor And Rockstar Games Establish Dedicated Games Unit

Technicolor has established a new high-end game art and animation team dedicated to working with Rockstar Games.

The Rockstar Games dedicated unit leverages a segment of Technicolor’s highly experienced team of game artists, animators and state-of-the-art technology infrastructure at its Bangalore, India-based digital production studio. Technicolor India has already worked on several major Rockstar titles including Red Dead Redemption, L.A. Noire and Max Payne 3.

"This partnership reinforces Technicolor’s strong commitment and strategy to growing its art and animation business for the video game industry and we are proud to work with cutting edge industry leaders like Rockstar Games," said Tim Sarnoff, President of Technicolor Digital Productions.

"Technicolor were a fantastic resource for us during the development of Max Payne 3," said Jeronimo Barrera, VP of Development at Rockstar Games. "We’re looking forward to building the partnership on future projects."

Technicolor Digital Productions produces high-quality CG animation for television, direct-to-video, commercials, video games and location-based entertainment through its industry leading production facility in Bangalore, India. Major clients include DreamWorks Animation, Electronic Arts, Mattel, Nickelodeon, Rockstar Games, Sony Computer Entertainment America, and Square Enix.