NEW DELHI, Jan 27: Close on the heels of selling its non-core assets, realty giant DLF will shift focus to its core housing and commercial ventures and plans to launch up to 15 million square feet of new projects next fiscal.
DLF has recently sold its two major non-core assets — luxury hospitality chain Amanresorts and a prime Mumbai land — for nearly Rs 4,400 crore. It is in the process of finalising sale of wind energy venture for about Rs 850 crore.
“We have successfully completed sale of non-core assets Amanresorts and Mumbai land. Sale of wind energy will also be finalised soon. This will help us in bringing down the debt to Rs 18,500 crore by March. Now, we are completely focused on our core business and new launches to improve cash flows,” DLF Group Executive Director Rajeev Talwar told PTI.
Since last couple of years, DLF has been selling its non-core assets to reduce debt that stood at Rs 21,220 crore by middle of November, 2012.
Talwar said the company will launch more projects next fiscal in Delhi-NCR, Bangalore, Lucknow, Mullanpur and other parts of the country.
“Lots of residential and commercial projects including big shopping malls are planned for next fiscal. We are likely to launch 13-15 million square feet in 2013-14,” he said. In this fiscal, the target is to launch 8-10 million square feet.
The company has outsourced the construction works for faster execution of its real estate projects. “We will be delivering about 15,000 flats in the next 12-18 months”.
Besides new real estate projects, DLF expects that higher rental income and reduced finance cost would further improve the company’s internal cash flow.
According to sources, DLF is likely to sell wind energy business soon to Bharat Light & Power for about Rs 850 crore. It has wind power plants with an installed capacity of 228.7 MW. The company has wind farms in Gujarat (150MW), Rajasthan (34.5MW), Tamil Nadu (33MW) and Karnataka (11.2MW).
This will be the third big-ticket sale of non-core assets after Mumbai land and Amanresorts in last six months.
In August last year, DLF had sold 17-acre land in Mumbai to Lodha Developers for Rs 2,727 crore. In December 2012, it announced sale of Amanresorts back to founder Adrian Zecha for about Rs 1,650 crore. (PTI)
Follow our WhatsApp channel