Unitech group firm UCP in talks to sell stakes in 6 projects.

NEW DELHI: UnitechBSE 2.88 % Corporate Parks, a Unitech group firm listed in London, today said the company is in talks to sell its majority stake in 6 IT SEZ/Park projects in India being developed jointly with the realty major.

UCP, which got listed on Alternative Investment Market (AIM) of the London Stock Exchange in 2006, had invested in Unitech's six IT SEZ/Park projects -- two in Gurgaon, three in Noida and one in Kolkata.

According to sources, the total value of these six assets could be in the Rs 8,000-10,000 crore range at present.

UCP has 60 per cent stake in each of these projects while Unitech has the remaining. Unitech holds 13.7 per cent stake directly in UCP, which had raised 360 million pounds in 2006 via IPO to invest in Indian commercial real estate.

In a regulatory filing to the LSE, UCP said that "it has received an approach from a third party expressing interest in a potential acquisition of the company's wholly owned subsidiary Candor Investments Ltd and that it is currently in discussions regarding a possible sale of this subsidiary".

Candor Investments is the holding company for UCP's interests in its six real estate projects.

UCP also announced that a separate discussion to sell one of the SEZs in Gurgaon has been "suspended".

UCP and Unitech were last year negotiating with PE firm Blackstone and Singapore's sovereign wealth fund GIC to sell a IT-SEZ in Gurgaon for about Rs 2,700 crore, sources had said.

Separately, Unitech informed BSE that the company has also been approached by the third party for entering into strategic alliance to complete these six under-construction projects.

The interested buyer is also keen to purchase Unitech's stake in certain projects.

"We would like to announce that along with the approach to UCP, the Unitech group has also been approached by a third party in relation to a strategic alliance for carrying out the remaining development of the IT SEZs/Parks currently under development along with the potential acquisition of its stake in certain IT SEZ/Parks," Unitech said.

Unitech generally follows a strategy to exit from its commercial projects after developing them. The company had sold its large office building in Saket, south Delhi, for around Rs 500 crore in 2009.

Source : economictimes.indiatimes.com