CPPIB, Xander, Phoenix Mills, others eye Raymond's land parcel in Thane
Raymond’s 20-acre land parcel in Thane, the satellite township of Mumbai, has drawn buying interest from Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB), Xander Group, Phoenix Mills, Prestige Estates, the Ashwin Sheth Group, and Puravankara Projects, two persons with direct knowledge of the development told media. Global institutional investors and property developers are keen on the tract of land that is part of the bigger, 125-acre parcel at Thane’s Cadbury Junction. Among the prospective purchasers, CPPIB has shown interest in buying the land parcel along with its partner Phoenix Mills. “The deal is expected to fetch around Rs 650-700 crore based on the last few concluded transactions for land parcels in Thane,” said one of the persons mentioned above. Over the past eight years, Raymond has been looking to either jointly develop a realty project on the 125-acre land parcel, or sell it in parts. This 20-acre plot will be the first to be sold on an outright basis since then. The free-hold industrial land parcel can potentially be utilized for residential, retail or commercial development, offer documents accessed by media showed. Interested entities will now initiate due diligence and make financial bids soon after that. Raymond and CPPIB declined to comment. Queries to Xander Group, Phoenix Mills, Prestige Estates and Puravankara Projects remained unanswered, whilethe Ashwin Sheth Group could not be reached until the publication of this report. In April, Raymond had announced the board approval for developing 20 acres of land for residential purposes. The project was expected to be developed over 5-6 years, with estimated expenditure in 2018-19 to be in the range of Rs 300 crore. The company had announced that it had secured major regulatory approvals: Other construction related approvals were in process. The piece of land owned by JK Investo Trade India, an arm of Raymond, will be sold on an as-is-where-is basis and asis-what-is-basis, meaning the new owner is responsible for any permissions. The land parcel is estimated to have development potential of about 3.2 million sq ft. According to property consultants, current prices are between Rs 10,000 and 12,500 per sq ft. In October 2010, Raymond reached an out-of-court settlement with its labour union representing nearly 2,000 employees at the Thane unit. The labour union received compensation of Rs 313 crore in lieu of giving its consent for real estate development on the land that used to house Raymond’s textile unit until then.The settlement provided clearances from the government bodies to Raymond for a real estate project on the land that housed its flagship textile factory since 1925.
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