HDIL to sell land parcels near Mumbai to cut debt

New Delhi, June 14: Realty firm Housing Development and Infrastructure (HDIL) is in talks to sell 3-4 land parcels near Mumbai as it looks to bring down its net debt to about R2,000 crore by the end of this fiscal.

The company's net debt stood at R2,730 crore at the close of 2015-16, according to an analyst presentation.

The Mumbai-based developer is in advanced stage of discussions to close first large FSI (floor space index) sale transaction in its project 'HDIL Planet'.

It is in advanced stage to sell incremental FSI of 6 million sq ft in 'Paradise city' Palghar and exploring options to sell land in Berkeley square projects in Ghatkopar as well.

“With this 3 or 4 FSI sale transactions which are at various stages of discussions and negotiations, I think we are very wellplaced in terms of our debt and we would look at a number of close to R2,000 crore by the end of March 2017,” HDIL senior vice-president Finance Hari Prakash Pandey said in a conference call. HDIL promoters are also infusing R150 crore in the company through issue of warrants and the fund would be used to cut debt.

“... there is an interest for all of our land parcels, especially for industrial park. With so much of infrastructure activity happening with Delhi-Mumbai freight corridor, elevated corridor and bullet train from Virar to Ahmedabad, there is a lot of interest in those land parcels and there is a discussion, I would say. But we have not reached any conclusion as of now,” Pandey told analysts.

Planet HDIL is a 550-acre township project proposed on Vasai-Virar belt (part of Thane district). According to the presentation, the company achieved sales booking of R1,448 crore during the last fiscal.

HDIL's net profit rose 22% to R266.1 crore last fiscal, from R218.7 crore in 2014-15. Income from operations increased 14% to R1,169.5 crore in 2015-16, from R1,022.47 crore in the previous year. PTI