Century Textiles to focus on realty sector

Century Textiles and Industries Ltd (CTIL) is focusing on growing its real estate business post its proposed divestment of cement division to Aditya Birla Group firm UltraTech. The company is envisaging capital requirement of Rs 2,000 crore to grow real estate venture and expecting the offloading of cement division to help cut debt and provide firepower to invest into real estate and paper business. While the cement business demanded intense capital investment to maintain market position, the company said its next phase of growth will come mainly from real estate, pulp and paper, and textiles. It has a portfolio of land parcels of 30.8 acres at Worli and 132.4 acres at Kalyan in Mumbai and 45 acres at Talegaon in pune, totalling 208.2 acres. Given the large potential in real estate and its relatively marginal position in the cement business, it has been decided to demerge the cement business along with debt of Rs 3,000 crore.