Tata Realty to float domestic, foreign funds to create mall chain

Tata Realty and Infrastructure Ltd (TRIL) will float domestic and overseas funds to acquire and build malls to create a mall chain.

It is keen on expanding its Trilium mall brand as a chain of a dozen malls in large and small cities over the next three years.

Fdi-compliant assets

Cyrus Engineer, Head – Sales & Marketing, TRIL, said the company is planning a domestic fund of about Rs 300 crore to invest in malls and an overseas fund of about $500 million for creating ‘FDI-compliant retail assets’, essentially large malls of more than 5 lakh sq ft.

The foreign fund will be a follow-up of its first $750-million fund which has now closed and is deployed in a number of projects, including the Rs 3,500-crore Ramanujan IT SEZ and convention centre in Chennai, a Trilium mall in Amritsar, a mall and residential project in Nagpur, a residential project in Kochi and an IT office in Mumbai.

In an interaction with Business Line , he said all these projects are under implementation.

Focus on Small cities

TRIL hopes to acquire half-a-dozen properties to expand its mall chain to over 10 locations by 2015.

Smaller cities are emerging destinations for organised retail and the company is looking at Coimbatore, Mysore and Ahmedabad, apart from large metros.

The first of its malls, the Trilium Amritsar, spread over 7 lakh sq ft, will open in February 2013 and will be the largest in Punjab. Trilium, as a brand, will focus on establishing itself in prime locations in the heart of any city.

The brand will come in two variants – one catering to the high-end segment and another targeting the mass market, he said.

> balaji.ar@thehindu.co.in

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