Godrej properties looking at JVs with landowners

BANGALORE: Godrej properties, a part of the Godrej Group, is looking at joint ventures with landowners as the firm does not have any landbanks, a top official of the Group said.

The focus of Godrej Properties is "affordable housing" with a price range from as low as Rs 5 lakh to Rs 20 lakh and "we see a lot of potential in this", Chairman of the Godrej Group Adi Godrej told reporters here today.

The firm is developing a 40 million sqft township in Ahmedabad municipal limits which will be mainly residential with a mix of commercial, Adi said.

Talking about projects in Bangalore, he said the first one is Woodsman Estate Project, a two million sft project near Hebbal on way to Bengaluru International Airport; Gold County Project, a JV inked with late actor Feroz Khan and his son Fardeen Khan for gated villas.

The third is a JV with "SkyStar" owned by actor-director Sanjay Khan, owner of Golden Palm Resort, for a residential project.

The biggest project in Bangalore, Adi said, would be "Godrej Agrovet", a poultry breeding farm on 100 acres of land. However, for biosafety reasons, this project has been shifted to 90 km from the city and the land earmarked for this would be utilised for housing spread over 10 million sft.

In all Godrej Properties is looking at developing five properties spread over 30 million sqft in Bangalore in the next five years, Adi said. "We are also looking at Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad, Kochi, Kolkata, Mangalore and Chandigarh", Adi said, adding, together with FMCGs, property development will be major focus area for the Group.

In the FMCG sector, he said the Godrej Group had recently entered into an MoU with insecticide major, Sara Lee Corporation to form Godrej Sara Lee Limited (GSLL) in which it had a 51 per cent share with the remaining 49 per cent being held by the Group.

"The Group however is open to buying out of 51 per cent of Sara Lee as it (Sara Lee) has exited from most of its businesses", Adi said. The Board recently approved Rs 3,000 crore investment (both debt and equity) for acquisitions for the FMCG segment.

"I am not sure whether we are going to raise all of it as all the opportunities are not seen coming. If we are looking at debt, we are looking at QIP (Qualified Institutional Placements) or Non Convertible Debentures (NCBs)", he said, adding the Group was not looking at an FPO (Follow on Public Offer).

As far as domestic market is concerned the Group is looking at acquisitions in personal care and household segment and internationally, acquisitions will be in hair care and insecticides, Adi said.

In FMCG, the group is expanding its rural distribution considerably, targetting increased sales in the rural segment as it envisages 3-5 per cent higher growth in rural as opposed to the urban segment, he said.