DLF to invest about Rs 3,000 cr to build new projects

Realty major DLF Ltd will invest about Rs 3,000 crore this fiscal on construction of various projects and is targeting sales booking of more than Rs 6,000 crore.

"We will invest about Rs 3,000 crore on construction of various projects this year. We are looking at sales booking of 8-10 million sq ft (msf) worth Rs 6,000 crore in 2013-14," DLF Group Chief Financial Officer Ashok Tyagi told PTI.

Last year, the company did sales booking of 7.23 msf worth Rs 3,900 crore, he said.

Also read: DLF's Rs 4.19cr loss mirrors slump in realty sector

Tyagi said that higher sales realisation will come from existing projects like Crest in Gurgoan phase-5 and new projects in Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh), Panchkula (Haryana) in north India and Chennai in south India among others.

DLF Ltd, the country's largest listed developer, said it aims to bring down net debt to Rs 19,000 crore by June, and reduce it further to Rs 17,000 crore by end of this fiscal.

"We are aiming to reduce our debt to Rs 19,000 crore by June with help of funds raised from the recently concluded Institutional Placement Programme (IPP)," Tyagi said.

DLF has raised Rs 1,863 crore through the issue of over 8.1 crore fresh shares to institutional investors, enabling it to dilute promoters stake to 75 per cent in line with market regulator Sebi's minimum public shareholding norms.

The company said it will focus on bringing down the debt level by 50 per cent in the next three years and see free-cash flow remains positive by 2014-15 fiscal.

Its net debt as on March 31, 2013 was Rs 21,731 crore and average cost of debt has reached 12.8 per cent, it said.

On the progress made in sale of its hospitality venture Amanresorts to reduce its debt level, Tyagi said: "We hope that the deal will be concluded by June."

In December 2012, DLF had signed an agreement for effecting sale of Amanresorts to the hospitality property's founder and Chairman Adrian Zecha for over Rs 1,600 crore. The deadline for the closure of the deal was February but it has been extended to June this year.

"We will speak to them (Adrian Zecha) and find out if they have arranged funds. If they are in the process, we could think of giving more time. If they are not, then we will take decision at that point of time," Tyagi said.

On the Punjab and Haryana high court last week stayed the construction, sale and marketing of DLF's Crest project in Gurgaon, the company said: "We are trying to present the facts and hope to resolve this issue at the earliest."

DLF said its new residential project 'Camellia' in Gurgoan will be formally launched in the next two months.

During the 2012-13 fiscal, the company's net profit declined by 41 per cent to Rs 711.92 crore as against Rs 1,200.82 crore in the earlier fiscal.