Tata Housing's Maldives crossover

Tata Housing, the property development arm of the Tatas, has gone international with its maiden property project in Maldives.

The company will develop one million sq ft of property in Male in a joint venture with Maldives government.

The project cost is expected to be around Rs  900 crore (Rs 9 billion).

Tata Housing has formed a special purpose vehicle -- Apex Realty -- with a local company, SG18 Developers, where the Tatas holds 65 per cent and the remaining is with SG18.

The Maldives government has allocated four plots to the SPV on a 50-year lease.

The SPV will have to hand over 80 per cent of the apartments (around 280) to the Maldives government, while it will be allowed to sell the rest (about 70) in the open market.

It will also get 150,000 sq ft area which the company can develop as a retail space and another 45-acre island where it can develop luxury villas of around 20,000

sq ft each.

Tata Housing plans to fund the project with internal accruals and debt.

"Maldives has a huge shortage of houses. Besides, Tatas run two hotels in Male and other businesses there. Tatas carry a lot of interest there," said Brotin Banerjee, managing director and CEO, Tata Housing.

The company is also looking at countries in South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation to launch its projects. It is already evaluating a couple of projects in Sri Lanka and plans to launch the same in the current financial year.

"We will foray into new markets as long as projects can be made profitable there," said Banerjee.

Tata housing has around 42 million sq ft under development, of which over 80 per cent residential projects.