CHANGING SHAREHOLDING PATTERN OF AAMBY VALLEY

Web of companies Aamby Valley had 10 subsidiaries at the end of 2014-15, including Aamby Valley (Mauritius). The Mauritius arm, through which the group purchased its interests in Grosvenor House in London and Plaza and Dream Downtown in New York, had floated subsidiaries abroad to own, manage and leverage these assets.

According to the auditors, DS Shukla & Co, Aamby Valley (Mauritius) and its 20 step-down subsidiaries had total assets of ~12,615.94 crore as on March 31, 2015 and total revenues of ~1,438.20 crore.

Helped by this, Aamby Valley reported consolidated revenues of ~1,408 crore in 2014-15. However, it reported a net loss of ~362.73 crore at the consolidated level, dragged down by finance costs, including interest on bank loan, of ~595 crore, administrative expenses of ~582 crore, and operating expenses of ~362 crore.

In response to an email seeking comments on the financial performance, the Sahara spokesperson said: “On account of the restrictions imposed by the Supreme Court vide its order dated November 21, 2013 Aamby Valley has not been able to sell the real estate products. As a result there was fall in revenue during 2014-15.”

Confirming the net worth number of ~53,000 crore, the spokesperson added: “Land is of outright ownership, and according to the government rate, its value is ~46,922 crore. Potential enterprise market value is more than ~1 lakh crore.”

Spread over 10,600 acres, off Lonavla on the Pune-Mumbai highway, the township first shot into fame 12 years ago when celebrities like Amitabh Bachchan, Anna Kournikova and Aishwarya Rai endorsed it as “the world’s best city”.

In those halcyon days, Sahara India Commercial Corp, which was promoting the project, was selling English-style 22,000 square feet villas for ~10 crore. It also had plans to sell chalets at ~80 lakh to ~1.3 crore. At that time, the group had plans to sell some 7,000 such plots by 2012.

Then the problem with Sebi happened.