Xander Group, a real estate and infrastructure-focused investment firm, has acquired over 5 per cent stake in Hindustan Constructions Company Ltd, whose flagship projects include the Bandra-Worli Sea Link and Lavasa hill city. According to a recent filing, Xander Investment Management Ltd has built up 5.03 per cent stake in Hindustan Constructions over the last three months. According to VCCircle estimates, the cost of this share purchase will be between Rs 85 crore and Rs 105 crore.
Xander did not have stake of over 1 per cent in Hindustan Constructions as of June 30, 2011, as per the shareholding pattern of the company. With the recent share purchase, it has become the second largest institutional shareholder after HSBC Global Investment Funds that holds 8.27 per cent stake in the company.
The share price of Hindustan Construction Company closed at Rs 29.5 on Tuesday, up 1.37 per cent in a Mumbai market up 2.95 per cent. The share price of the firm has been trading between Rs 26.35 and Rs 34.4 over the last three months.
Interestingly, the purchase comes after Xander picked up 14.5 per cent stake in HCC Concessions Ltd, a subsidiary of construction and civil engineering major HCC Infrastructure Co. Ltd, for Rs 240 crore. HCC Infrastructure is a 100 per cent subsidiary of Hindustan Constructions Company. HCC Concessions portfolio includes six NHAI (National Highway Authority of India) concessions worth Rs 5,500 crore ($1.2 billion) of which one is an annuity project and five are toll roads.
Hindustan Construction Company reported 13 per cent increase in net revenue at Rs 4,090 crore but the PAT declined 12.8 per cent to Rs 71 crore in FY11. For Q1FY12, it reported 6.6 per cent increase in revenues to Rs 1,060 crore (YoY) while the PAT declined 90 per cent to Rs 2.9 crore.
The Xander Group Inc. is focused on infrastructure, hospitality, retail and real estate sectors. Since 2005, the firm has committed over $1.8 billion of equity capital to the Indian market across five dedicated India funds.