NEW DELHI: Canadian firm Brookfield Asset Management is acquiring 100 per cent stake in four SEZs owned by Unitech Corporate Parks and 60 per cent stake in its two other assets in India for Rs 3,500 crore, two people with direct knowledge of the deals said.
Brookfield has agreed to buy the entire stake of Candor Investments, a subsidiary of London Stock Exchange-listed India-focused real estate investment firm Unitech Corporate Parks (UCP), which will give it 60 per cent share in the firm's six commercial assets in India— five SEZs and one IT park. UCP is the real estate investment company of Unitech Ltd.
The asset management firm has also signed a deal to buy Unitech's 40 per cent stake in four of the six assets. The Toronto-based company already owns 16.65 per cent in Candor and is seeking to buy out stakes from other investors that include RBS AA Holdings (UK) Ltd (20.08 per cent), SC Fundamental (13.69 per cent) and Roveda Holdings (9.01 per cent).
Unitech also holds 13.62 per cent in Candor through a company called Nectrus, which it is willing to sell, said one of the people quoted earlier.
"Further to the announcement on 3 April 2014 that the company had received an approach from a third party expressing interest in a potential acquisition of the company's wholly-owned subsidiary, Candor Investments Limited, the holding company for UCP's property interests, the company announces that it has today entered into an agreement with an affiliate of Brookfield Property Partners for the sale and purchase of the entire issued share capital of Candor," UCP said in a statement on Wednesday.
"The disposal agreement provides that Brookfield will acquire Candor, subject to certain conditions, for an aggregate cash consideration of approximately £205.9 million," it said, adding that a circular has been posted to shareholders setting out the background to and reasons for the disposal. An extraordinary general meeting has been convened on June 27 to seek shareholders' approval.
Unitech will raise close to Rs 1,500 crore from this sale to Brookfield, which will be used to reduce its debt that stood at Rs 6,316 crore at the end of March.
A spokesman for Brookfield Asset Management declined to comment. A Unitech spokesman said the company will be unable to comment beyond what it has disclosed to the stock exchange on Wednesday.
A statement by Unitech on Wednesday said that "the interest of two of the affiliates of Unitech Limited in four of the six IT SEZ/parks stands transferred to an independent company. These four are the most mature in terms of their development status."
"As part of this transaction, certain affiliates of Unitech will continue to manage and develop these assets to ensure that there is no impact on tenants and other stakeholders," the company said.
"The independent company set up by Unitech will be acquired by Brookfield, which will then own 100 per cent in four assets. The other two assets, an
SEZ in Greater Noida and an IT park in Noida, will be jointly developed by Brookfield and Unitech," the person quoted earlier said. "Brookfield may acquire them at a later stage."
UCP had raised around £360 million in an IPO on the London Stock Exchange in December 2006. The funds were raised for investment in six SEZs and IT parks—two in Gurgaon, three in Noida and one in Kolkata.
Source : economictimes.indiatimes.com