Mumbai:
DLF, India's largest real estate developer, has entered
into an agreement with Al Nakheel group of the United
Arab Emirates to develop two integrated townships in
the suburbs of Mumbai and New Delhi, involving investments
of $20 billion.
The
companies will initially invest $5 billion each over
the next three years to build complete townships at
unspecified locations in India, company sources said.
The
50:50 joint venture would capitalise on India's real
estate boom to build the townships across 40,000 acres
of land.
Reports
said, New Delhi-based DLF and UAE's leading real estate
developer Nakheel have already acquired about 70 per
cent of the land needed to set up the townships, which
will include commercial and residential centers.
In
January, DLF said it had filed a new and downsized initial
share sale offer with the market regulator almost six
months after investors balked at its plan to raise $3
billion for its ambitious expansion plans.
DLF
said it planned to raise $2.2 billion via an IPO in
2007, down from the $2.98 billion of shares it proposed
to sell in August 2006. This was withdrawn after major
investment banks said the company's plans were unrealistic.
The
Hindujas are also investing millions of dollars in the
UAE for property development business there. "The
company has already bought land in the Waterfront Project
of Al Nakheel," Hinduja group chairman Ashok P.
Hinduja said.
The
Hinduja group has also announced plans to enter into
a healthcare joint venture with Limitless, a subsidiary
of Dubai World. Both companies will invest $1 billion
over the next three years for medical facilities in
key cities like Delhi and Mumbai.
In
the past few months, DLF has signed agreements with
several companies for joint ventures to tap India's
growing market. The company's joint venture partners
include Prudential Financial, Hilton Hotels and UK-based
infrastructure major Laing O'Rourke.
The
DLF-Al Nakheel deal is part of a series of agreements
inked between the governments of India and the UAE during
a visit by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashed al-Maktoum, vice
president and prime minister of UAE and ruler of Dubai.
UAE
is home to an estimated 1.4 million Indians.
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