Bangalore developer Prestige Group has bought back a 66.66% stake in group company Prestige Projects Pvt. Ltd from real estate-focussed private equity firm Red Fort Capital and landowners for Rs 324 crore, the company said in a statement.
Prestige Group now fully owns Prestige Projects. The developer bought back the stake through a wholly owned special purpose vehicle. Prestige Projects has a land parcel measuring over 180 acres in Bangalore.
Red Fort Capital, whose assets and most of the members moved to Rising Straits Capital in 2015 following a separation between founders Subhash Bedi and Parry Singh, had invested in the project in 2010-11. Red Fort had also backed other commercial and residential projects of the developer and had later exited.
The statement said that the developer intends to develop a large-scale affordable and mid-income housing project comprising apartments, villas and plots. The total developable area of the project is estimated to be around 7.5 million sq ft. Prestige estimates it has revenue potential of over Rs 3,500 crore.
Irfan Razack, chairman and managing director, Prestige Group, said “Our long-term strategy to create value is to diversify our revenue base, expand earnings and strengthen our development pipeline. This transaction will help us enter into the affordable housing segment in a big way.”
Venkat K Narayana, chief executive officer, Prestige Group said the transaction fits well with the company’s strategy of entering the affordable housing segment, which has huge demand and potential for growth.
Prestige is entering the affordable segment at a time when a lot of developers have shown interest to capture the market. Developers from across the markets have lined up projects given the incentives provided by the central government to home buyers. In the last few quarters, sales of mid-income and affordable housing projects have shown better performance.
Prestige Group has presence in residential, office, retail and hospitality segments. It operates across South India, Pune, Goa and Ahmedabad. It claims to have completed 210 projects with developable area of 80 mn square feet and has 53 ongoing projects across segments. The company’s consolidated revenue for financial year 2016-17 was Rs 4,862 crore.