A joint venture of Electra Real Estate Ltd. (TASE:ELCRE) and Property and Building Ltd. (TASE: PTBL) is in negotiations to buy a 37.5-acre lot in Chennai, India, zoned for a 426,000-square meter residential and commercial project, for $58 million. The companies expect development costs of the project, including land, to total $400 million.
In December 2006, the two companies founded a Mauritius-registered company to develop income-producing projects in India. The two companies own 90% of the joint venture in equal shares. Electra Real Estate is a subsidiary of Electra Ltd. (TASE: ELTR), controlled by chairman Gershon Salkind, and Property and Building is a subsidiary of IDB Holding Corp. Ltd. (TASE:IDBH), controlled by chairman and CEO Nochi Dankner.
Chennai (formerly known as Madras) is the capital of Tamil Nadu State in southern India, and has a population of 7 million. It is a high-tech center with a number of large high-tech parks. The proposed project is located four kilometers from a high-tech park now under construction by the Tata Group, India's largest conglomerate.
Electra and Property and Building are developing two projects in Hyderabad on land bought in early 2007. One project is a 260,000-square meter residential and commercial project, and the other is a 300,000- square meter 2,300-unit residential project.
Property and Building chairman Rafi Bisker said, "We consider India to be a strategic target and growth engine over the coming years."
Electra Real Estate CEO Shlomo Schraff said, "The current deal doubles our joint activity in India with Property and Building. We're also constantly examining investment opportunities in North America and Western Europe in order to diversify our portfolio."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on November 29, 2007
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