Citi arm invests Rs 640 cr in 4 SEZs

Citigroup Property Investors has invested Rs 640 crore (Rs 6.4 billion) in four special economic zones (SEZs) being developed by the Delhi-based property developer BPTP, picking up a 40 per cent stake in the special purpose vehicle.

This is Citigroup's second major investment in BPTP after recently picking up 5.89 per cent for Rs 322.50 crore (Rs 3.22 billion). Citigroup Property has earmarked Rs 2,000 crore (Rs 20 billion) for investing in the Indian property market.

BPTP is developing a 25 acre SEZ in Noida, 100 acre SEZ in Greater Noida, 54 acre SEZ in Faridabad and 27 acre SEZ in Gurgaon, with a total saleable space of 20 million square feet.

The company is developing six million square feet of information technology space in the first phase over two-and-half years, sources said.

BPTP reportedly received the final approvals to set up IT/ITES zones from the commerce ministry's Board of Approvals (BoA) two months ago. The company's managing director Kabul Chawla was not available for comments.

BPTP recently made news when it won the rights to develop 94 acres of commercial land at Noida for an eye-popping Rs 5,006 crore (Rs 50.06 billion), beating property majors such as DLF and Omaxe.

The BPTP-led consortium offered Rs 130,207 per sq metre of land. It is developing a world-class business hub which will include an office complex, five-star hotel and luxury mall. BPTP also bought a 30 acres plot at Knowledge City in Hyderabad for about Rs 666 crore (Rs 6.66 billion).

In March last year, BPTP entered into a 51:49 joint venture agreement with global investor Merril Lynch to develop a state-of-the-art IT park in Gurgaon, which has a saleable area of 6.25 lakh sq ft. Merril Lynch invested Rs 112 crore (Rs 1.12 billion) in the JV.

The company has 10 ongoing projects spread across 34.66 million sq feet and 53 projects with an estimated area of 74.36 million sq ft of saleable area are in the pipeline.