Prestige Estates to enter NCR with two projects
BENGALURU: South India-focused developer Prestige Estates Projects Ltd is set to enter the national capital region with two projects this financial year, said Venkat K. Narayana, the chief executive of the real estate firm.
Prestige is planning to launch a middle-income housing project in Noida spread across 22-acres and a commercial office project in Gurugram by the end of March, said Narayana, adding that the NCR projects will be through development agreements.
“There can’t be a better time for us to diversify our portfolio and enter new markets such as the NCR. Our strategy is long term,” he said. “We are also actively looking at growth through acquisitions, both in the office and residential space.” Prestige Estates is also actively exploring the Mumbai realty market.
Prestige will be among a host of large developers to have entered NCR. These include Godrej Properties Ltd, Tata Housing Development Co., Mahindra Lifespace Developers Ltd and Shapoorji Pallonji Real Estate.
“There are many big developers from the South who are lookjoint ing to enter NCR because land owners and developers here are sitting on large land parcels, but are unable to develop them. This has thrown up many opportunities,” said Santhosh Kumar, vicechairman, Anarock Property Consultants.
“Despite the pain NCR has gone through, the office market is still doing well and there is high demand for housing, which is what financially sound developers like Prestige would cash in on,” he added.
The company is, however, yet to complete the ₹2,000 crore office property deal with Singapore’s sovereign fund GIC Pte Ltd, even after seven months of signing a term sheet to sell a 40% stake of its office projects portfolio.
The transaction was expected to close within 60-90 days, the company had said then. Narayana said the talks are still on with GIC, but did not divulge any further detail.
Prestige is prepared to explore fund-raising options in case of a delay in the GIC deal, analysts cited Prestige’s management as saying in the June quarter earnings call.