The Hindu Business Line : DLF Assets to raise PE funds by Feb-end

NEW DELHI: The K P Singh-promoted DLF Assets Ltd, which plans to rise over Rs 2,000 crore from private equity investors, is likely to finalise the deal in the next one month. According to sources, the talks with few private equity players are in advanc e stage and the company expects to close the transaction within a month.

Earlier, it had said that funds would be raised by December last. DLF Assets has been set up to acquire commercial projects of DLF. It would utilise the funds to make part-payment to DLF. At present, it owes about Rs 4,800 crore to DLF.

DLF Vice-Chairman Mr Rajiv Singh had said on October 31 that “If all goes well, we can expect to receive in excess of Rs 5,000 crore by the end of this financial year for assets from DLF Assets in some mixture of debt and equity”.

DLF Assets' current rented portfolio is 4.7 million sq feet, which is expected to grow to 10 million sq feet by March 2009, yielding rentals of Rs 600 crore per annum. The company had raised over $1 billion so far from private equity to purchase properti es from DLF.

In 2007, DLF Assets raised $400 million from global investing firm D E Shaw. Another $200 million was raised from a fund sponsored by investment banking firm Lehman Brothers, which later sold the stake to SC Asia.

Last year, it raised $450 million from Symphony Capital. The company had deferred its plan to raise about $2 billion from an IPO in Singapore. “While steps to monetise DLF Assets through the next round of equity funding have overshot the originally set t imeline, teams continue to work on it,” Mr Singh had said. - PTI

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