After being on the block for almost two years, Milestone Capital finally wants to liquidate its investments, starting with the Hindustan Construction (HCC) headquarters in Mumbai.
Following the death of founder Ved Prakash Arya, there have been rumors about a potential sell-out by the fund. CNBC-TV18's Priyanka Ghosh reports, quoting sources, that Milestone is looking to rake in more than Rs 1,000 crore from its sale of stake in the HCC project.
Milestone is planning to sell its 74-percent stake in 247 Park, a 1.8-msqft project in Mumbai from which Milestone and HCC together planned to rake-in about Rs 1,400 crore.
Milestone had invested Rs 775 crore in 2010 in the particular project. Since then Milestone it has been on the block and was valued by several firms including Dewan Housing, Religare, Edelweiss and Ashmore. However, the fund could not be sold due to the inability of arriving at a suitable valuation.
A lot has changed for HCC as well. The company holds a 26-percent stake in the particular project and continues to be a leading tenant but the levels of confidence have ebbed on concerns regarding Lavasa.
In May 2012, CNBC-TV18 had reported that HCC is planning to offload its stake in this project. Market experts explain that an outright sale is more likely than the scouting for a new partnership.
At Rs 1,400 crore, the project will be one of the largest commercial transactions in Mumbai and will fit the strategy of foreign funds looking to invest in low-risk, income-generating assets. So, it is not surprising at all that Blackstone, GIC and Morgan Stanley are among those who will evaluate this particular transaction.
HCC and Milestone have refrained from offering comment on what they term as "market speculation".
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