Cognizant puts headquaters in Chennai up for sale rs 800 Crore

Tech major Cognizant has put up its prime property, serving as its India headquarters for more than two decades, in Chennai for sale. The eventual sale of the property, comprising a 15-acre land parcel and four lakh sq ft office space on Chennai's IT Corridor, could fetch the company at least Rs 750 crore to Rs 800 crore, according to real estate industry estimates. The company has mandated international property advisory JLL to sell the prime property located at Okkiyam Thoraipakkam on OMR. The advisory firm has been talking to several prospective buyers including local developers - Baashyaam Group and Casagrand, the two names doing the rounds, but nothing has been finalised yet. Cognizant could not be reached for its comments. JLL declined to comment, saying the process is at a very premature stage. But market sources indicate that Cognizant would like to wind up the process and vacate the campus by December, 2024, after which its new India headquarters may function from the MEPZ campus near Tambaram on GST Road.  The move to sell this property is part of the company's process to consolidate its operations in three of its own buildings at MEPZ, Sholinganallur and Siruseri. It has been giving up leased spaces across Chennai including prominent addresses at Ramanujan IT Park, DLF as well as St Mary's Road offices in R A Puram.
 

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Tamil Nadu CM launches six CMDA projects in North Chennai 

The upcoming ornamental fish trade centre in Kolathur will feature a two-storey building adorned with cylindrical aquariums, vibrant colored fish, and numerous other amenities. Chief minister M K Stalin laid the foundation for the project and five others under the North Chennai Development Scheme of CMDA, valued at 115.58 crore. He also inaugurated completed projects worth 5.22 crore in other departments. At a ceremony held at Siva Sakthi Colony in Villivakkam, Stalin laid the foundation for six new projects, including the fish trade centre, a community hall, a modern laundry hub and development projects for lakes at Puzhal, Retteri and Kolathur. He then inaugurated completed projects, including a civil supplies assistant commissioner’s office and a taluk office at Kolathur, a laundry hub and three fair price shops in Aynavaram. The CMDA will be establishing a community hall in North Chennai spread over 0.67 acres and a modern laundry at Purasaiwalkam spread over 1.04 acres. The Puzhal lake, spread over 8.17 acres, will be taken up for development, including a high-level walkway, natural viewing area, children’s play area, natural pond, drinking water and modern sewage facilities, at an estimated cost of 16.96 crore. On March 14, Stalin launched 219 projects worth 4,378 crore under the North Chennai Development Scheme, aimed at ensuring comprehensive development in the region.
 

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Shriram Properties looks to crave its own identity

Shriram Properties (SPL) is looking to invest about Rs 2,000 crore in the next two to three years. It wants to move from current Rs 2,300 crore sales value to Rs 2,300 crore sales value to Rs 5,000 crore sales value during the same period. It also plans to double the development from 18 million sq ft to 30-35 million sq ft by the financial year 2026-27.  In an exclusive conversation with Ankit Sharma of ETRealty, M Murali, chairman & managing director (MD) and Gopalakrishnan J, executive director (ED) and group chief executive officer (CEO) of the company talked about their plans for the company in the next three year, idea behind the management changes and much more. Edited excerpts: The company has seen some management changes and reshuffling in the past few months. In December 2023, it inducted Vivek Venkateswar as chief sales & marketing officer (CSMO), in place of Jajit Menon, who had resigned from the position of director – sales marketing & CRM. During the same time, the company had also appointed Debasis Panigrahi as chief human resource officer (CHRO). In July 2024, SPL elevated Gopalakrishnan as ED & group CEO. He previously held the position of ED and group chief financial officer (CFO). K R Ramesh was appointed as executive director (strategy & corporate development), from his current position of ED-operations. Mitsubishi Corporation is looking for further investment with the company. SPL used to have a joint venture with Mitusbishi for a project - Shriram Park63, Chennai. They put about Rs 130 crore for 70% equity stake in the project. SPL gave them an exit by acquiring their stake through three tranches.
 

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Group of Minister in Favour of bare minimum GST on Housing: Goa CM 

Cheif Minitster Pramod Sawant on Friday said the recently reconstitu group of ministers on real estate sector were of the opinion that the Good and Services Tax  (GST) on redevelopment projects. The chief minister also said that another issue discussed was whether a minimum GST should be imposed on houses which have undergone redevelopment and that the state govt has been asked to provide data on housing societies and industrial plots. “West Bengal, Punjab and Maharashtra have submitted their proposals. All states have been asked to submit the redevelopment schemes and revenue losses for each state.” The chief minister on Thursday urged Union civil aviation minister Kinjarapu Ram Mohan Naidu to stop domestic airlines from shifting their operations from Dabolim airport to Manohar International Airport at Mopa. He asked the minister to authorise new international flights for Dabolim and to reduce parking fees as well as user development fees. These measures, Sawant told the minister, will help the airport sustain operations. 

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EFC acquries 49 556 sqft in Pune for rs 80 crore

EFC, a wholly-owned unlisted subsidiary of EFC (I), has acquired 49,556 sq ft office space in Pune worth over Rs 80 crore. The center has a seating capacity over 1,500. It recently acquired another property in the city. In its earning conference call 80,000 sq ft of property in Pune. This is an freehold property that we have acquired under ownership, which will be developing and leasing under our managed office businees model . This acquistion has the potential to generate an annual revenue of about rs 14.41 crore. The company recently acquired 51% stake in Bigbox Venture which has a portfolio of over 3,000 seats in Pune and is aggressively expanding into the National Capital Region (NCR), Ahmedabad and Kolkata.  EFC (I) was also awarded design and build contract with Tata Consultancy Services (TCS). The company is currently managing about 2.25 million sq ft of assets, with 57 sites under management across seven cities. It has sitting capacity of about 47,000 seats and all as on June 30, 2024. The rental segment generated approximately Rs 66.79 crore, accounting for about 63.44% of company's total revenue, the design and build turnkey contracting business contributed Rs 35.03 crore, representing approximately 36.56% of the total revenue. It increased the area under leasehold rights by about three lakh sq ft, adding over 7,000 seats across seven centers and four existing cities during Q1 FY25.
 

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Thirteen booked for irregularities worth rs 200 crore in MHADA building redevelopment plan

Thirteen persons have been booked for alleged involvement in irregularities concerning redevelopment of buildings on MHADA land, with Thane police on Friday claiming the amount involved may be upwards of Rs 200 crore. As per the FIR filed by Chitalsar police, a firm was given the contract to redevelop 18 buildings on land leased to these societies by the state run Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority, the official said. "The firm allegedly used a fake mortgage deed to obtain a loan of Rs 200 crore from another firm. However, this amount was not used for the redevelopment of the buildings. The firm obtained the loan by mortgaging the land on which the buildings stand to the lending firm. The NOC for this mortgage was allegedly given by the chairperson of one of the housing societies without taking the consent of residents or MHADA. Probe is underway to unravel the full details of the irregularities. No one has been arrested. 
 

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Developers Struggle to find Quality Contractors amid housing boom 

Real estate developers are finding it tough to get the right contractor for construction to ensure quality and timely delivery as the number of launches has doubled to approximately 1.25 lakh housing units across top seven cities every quarter from 60,000 before the Covid-19 pandemic. Many developers are boosting in-house capabilities while some are getting global contractors to ensure there is no delay in project delivery, industry insiders told ET. Some are also engaging construction tech companies. TARC Ltd recently appointed Abu Dhabi- headquartered Arabian Construction Company as the principal contractor for its luxury residential project TARC Kailasa in Central West Delhi and the upcoming TARC 63A in Gurgaon, while Trehan Iris said it is boosting in-house construction capabilities and partnering with global contractors. According to Anarock data, 2.36 lakh housing units were launched in the top seven cities in 2019, which dipped to 1.27 lakh in 2020 largely due to Covid and increased again to 2.36 lakh in 2021. The number rose to 3.57 lakh in 2022 and reached a record high of 4.45 lakh units in 2023. This year, it is expected to breach the 5-lakh mark.  Industry body Confederation of Real Estate Developers Associations of India (Credai) said appropriately skilling workers and developing a regulatory framework for them is the key to improve quality and speed of construction. 

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Hiranandani Greenbase to develop industrial, logistics parks on 391 acres in Chennai

Greenbase Industrial and Logistics Parks, realty major Hiranandani Group and US based private equity firm Blackstone Group’s joint venture, is set to acquire three land parcels spread over 211 acres across Southwest Chennai’s Oragadam area and in North Chennai, said a top official of the company. This land acquisition is expected to take the company’s total land holding to 391 acres in Chennai and Greenbase is planning to invest over Rs 700 crore to develop these land parcels into industrial parks in the current financial year itself. These new parks with total space of 7.5 million sq ft will take the company’s portfolio in Chennai alone to 11 million sq ft. The company remains bullish on India's logistics infrastructure sector, driven by existing shortages and emerging new demand catalyzed by geo-political realignment, the China-plus-one policy, the production linked incentive (PLI) scheme, and the Make in India programme. The region is witnessing robust demand due to favorable macroeconomic conditions, strategic policy reforms, government initiatives, high-quality infrastructure, and the availability of Grade A assets.
 

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JSM Cement files draft papers with Sebi to raise rs 4000 crore via IPO

JSW Cement, part of Sajjan Jindal promoted diversified JSW Group, on Friday filed a draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) with the capital markets regulator Sebi to raise Rs 4,000 crore through an initial public offer. The initial share sale comprises a fresh issue of equity shares worth Rs 2,000 crore and an offer for sale (OFS) of Rs 2,000 crore by investor shareholders, according to DRHP. As a part of the OFS, AP Asia Opportunistic Holdings Pte Ltd and Synergy Metals Investments Holding Ltd will offload shares worth Rs 937.5 crore each, and State Bank of India (SBI) will divest shares valued at Rs 125 crore. Its financial liabilities include a borrowing of Rs 1,678.90 crore, Rs 1,184.40 crore dues of creditors (other than micro and small enterprises) and other financial liabilities of Rs 842.02 crore. Its revenue from operations for FY24 stood at Rs 6,028.10 crore. This was Rs 5,836.72 crore in FY 23 and Rs 4,668.57 crore in FY22. JSW Cement is the sixth largest player in the segment led by Aditya Birla Group flagship firm UltraTech Cements.  Gautam Adani-led group owns ACC Ltd and acquired Sanghi Industries and ACCPL and is currently the second largest cement maker. It announced the acquisition of Hyderabad-based Penna Cement in June at an enterprise value of Rs 10,422 crore, taking its capacity to 93 MTPA. JM Financial Ltd, Axis Capital Ltd, Citigroup Global Markets India Private Ltd, DAM Capital Advisors Ltd, Goldman Sachs (India) Securities Private Ltd, Jefferies India Private Ltd, Kotak Mahindra Capital Company Ltd and SBI Capital Markets Ltd are responsible for managing the company's IPO process.
 

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Tamil Nadu Government appoints Shiv Das Meena as RERA Chairman

Tamil Nadu govt on Sunday appointed chief secretary Shiv Das Meena as chairman of Tamil Nadu Real Estate Regulatory Authority (TN RERA). Chief minister's secretary 1 N Muruganandam would replace Meena as chief secretary. The official order on Muruganandam replacing Meena is expected on Monday, sources said. The position of RERA chairperson had been vacant for six months, after K Gnanadesikan completed his tenure on Feb 10. The housing and urban development department, in an order issued Sunday, said the selection committee recommended eligible candidates for appointment to the post of chairperson. DMK govt had retained Murugananadam to lead the industries department initially assigned to him by the previous Edappadi K Palaniswami regime. He served as finance secretary as well in the DMK regime. In the Union Ministry of Ports, Shipping, and Waterways, he had served as director general of the lighthouses and lightships. "Muruganandam is the only officer from Tamil Nadu in the senior rank as others moved to Central deputation. He is a fine officer to steer the administration," said an official source, privy to the developments. One of the frontrunners for the next chief minister's secretary I post is K Phanindra Reddy, who is currently transport secretary.
 

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Puducherry CM hikes subsidy given to Kamaraj Housing Scheme beneficiaries 

Chief Minister N Rangasamy announced in the assembly on Tuesday that the subsidy given to beneficiaries of the Kamaraj Housing scheme has been hiked to Rs 5 lakh. While wrapping up the debate on the demands for grants to departments looked after by him, he said that the beneficiaries would also get 5 lakh additiobnally under a central government housing scheme. In all, each beneficiary would get Rs 10 lakh. The purpose of granting the subsidy is to replace huts with concrete structures. The scheme is named after former chief minister of Tamil Nadu K Kamaraj. The chief minister also announced that the monthly assistance given to retired reporters would be increased from the present Rs 10,000 to Rs 15,000, and that presspersons currently working would be issued free laptops. House sites would also be distributed to journalists who are have not been covered under the scheme so far. He said a few more reporters have applied for monthly pension and this would be sanctioned soon.
 

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Axis AMC and Tishman Speyer acquries 1.5 acres plot in Fintech City, Chennai 

Axis Asset Management Company (Axis AMC) and Tishman Speyer said that Axis Commercial Real Estate Fund, a category II AIF, has acquired 1.5 acre plot in Fintech City, Nadambakkam, Chennai. The acquisition was made through a bid cum e-auction process conducted by the Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation (TIDCO).  The plot will be transformed into a four lakh sq ft Grade A office building within the next three years. In June 2024, the fund concluded its fundraising with a corpus of around Rs 550 crore. Over the last seven years Axis AMC has raised Rs 6,000 crore across its PMS and AIF businesses while Tishman Speyer has acquired, developed, and operated 557 properties, totaling 226 million sq ft, with a combined value of over $128 billion. 

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