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Anjana Chandramouly

Bangalore, Oct. 22 The built-up area in Chennai and Hyderabad under construction is much larger than Bangalore. And this is only set to grow in the coming years, said Mr Sushil Mantri, Chairman and Managing Director, Mantri Developers. “Next year, Chennai and Hyderabad will be the booming cities for real estate.”

The reasons for this are that costs are lower in these two cities, and the fact that not many new projects are available in Bangalore.

The Bangalore-based real estate company plans to launch about four “large-format projects which will be a composite development,” Mr Mantri said. “The township concept — that works on the ‘walk to work’ principle — will be the future,” he said, adding that such projects are being planned at Hyderabad, Chennai (one each) and Bangalore.

The investment would be about Rs 5,000 crore in these projects spread over five years, from the company’s internal accruals, bank debts, and customer bookings.

“On a project basis, we will take participation of private equity at an SPV level,” Mr Mantri said. He ruled out opting for an IPO in the immediate future, because “we want to build value within the organisation and then unlock it at an appropriate time”, which would be 2-3 years, he said.

Moreover, “all our projects are FDI compliant, so we don’t feel the need to tap the IPO resources for funds,” he added.

The company, he said, was looking at Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad and Pune for growth, and that cities such as Mumbai and Delhi were not on its radar for now.

The company has firmed up plans for three of its six hotel projects and has tied up with top multinational chains which already have their presence in this country, Mr Mantri said, without divulging further details.

Talks were on to finalise details about the other three projects, he added. While the company would develop these projects and retain ownership, the management would be handled by the multi-national chains. Each hotel will have about 250 rooms.

More Stories on : Outlook | Real Estate & Construction | Karnataka

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