Mumbai-based Avighna Group plans to invest Rs 1,000 crore and launch two luxury residential projects in Worli having a saleable area of 2 lakh square feet. The construction for both these projects has started, and the group is actively exploring opportunities to enter the United Kingdom market and open to residential, commercial and hospitality segments for it.
The company is also open to the redevelopment of old buildings in Mumbai and is exploring opportunities in the construction of warehouses and data centres, Nishant Agarwal, Managing Director of Avighna India Group told Moneycontrol.
What will be launched?
"We will be launching two luxury residential projects in the form of a 2 lakh sqft saleable area. This will include 3 BHK apartments of 2,300 sqft carpet followed by 4 BHK of 3,300 sqft and 5 BHK of 5,100 sqft. We are already getting a lot of enquiries for the same as construction has already started. We will launch the two projects in the next three to six months, and the majority of the saleable area will be luxury residential and a negligible amount will be available for retail,” said Agarwal.
According to market sources, the current per sq foot rate for residential property in the Worli micro-market varies between Rs 1 lakh sqft to Rs 1.5 lakh sqft depending on several factors like the age of the property, locality, etc.
Focus on luxury residential
According to the company, its focus will be to come up with luxury residential projects in prime locations of Mumbai and along with two luxury projects in Worli has a third project in the pipeline. In the past, the company had constructed One Avighna Park in Currey Road, which is one of the marquee projects of the company.
"Mumbai and prime areas of Mumbai will be our focus. Worli and Andheri currently interest us considering the factor of they being centrally located. However, we are open to other locations in Mumbai also. Until now, we have constructed around 5 million sqft in Mumbai that includes both residential and commercial. We are a completely debt-free company and are investing from internal accruals," added Agarwal.
Plans for the UK
The company believes there are business opportunities internationally and is currently exploring real estate investment in London. The reason for selecting the UK is owing to the ease and the suitable business environment.
"We are currently actively looking for opportunities in the UK and London. The opportunity can be anything, say residential, commercial, or even hospitality. Our investment will also depend on the type of opportunity we get. We are also participating in several biddings, and are expecting to close a deal soon, Agarwal said.
In the past, Lodha Group, also known as Macrotech Developers, had launched two projects in London. However, Lodha has announced not getting into London or international markets henceforth.
"We are very clear, all our growth will come from India, and all our receivables from the two London projects will be in by the end of the ongoing fiscal," Abhishek Lodha, Managing Director of Macrotech Developers, told Moneycontrol on April 26.
Commercial leasing plans
According to Avighna, its exposure to the residential segment is 70 percent currently and the balance 30 percent is from commercial.
"Going further, we want to increase our footprint in the commercial segment, and this will be by asset creation for commercial leasing. We want to build commercial spaces and lease them out rather than sell them. For this, we are ready to enter warehousing and data centres even if it involves entering deep micro markets of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region," said Agarwal.
Redevelopment of old buildings
The company said it is open to the redevelopment of old buildings in Mumbai and taking up acquiring Slum Rehabilitation Authority projects that involve the rehabilitation of slum dwellers.
"We are open for redevelopment and SRA projects but very selectively. It depends on several factors. It should meet our criteria, and all the stakeholders involved should be wanting to do it. Several other factors will be required to be taken into consideration in case we want to foray into the redevelopment of old buildings and slum rehabilitation projects," said Agarwal.
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IPO on cards?
According to the company, they have no plans for launching an initial public offering (IPO). "We do not have any plans for raising money by getting the company listed or launching an IPO. As I said, we are a debt-free company and are managing investments from internal accruals."
Also read: Mumbai's April property registrations down 16% on year, 25% on month: Govt data
