BSE-listed Patel En­g­ineering, a leading engineering and construction company, plans to acquire up to

RELATED ARTICLES Scania to invest Rs 150 cr for assembly unit in Bangalore Scania to invest Rs 150 cr for assembly unit in Bangalore Prestige Group launches Bella Vista in Chennai

100 acres in and around large cities to encash the opp­ortunity of lower prices for the next five to ten years.

Pravin Malkani, president of Patel Realty, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Patel Engi­neer­ing, said the firm plans to use the strong land bank to help the company follow the middle path by pricing its projects comparatively cheaper to its competitors.

Also, the company does not want to lose on its existing land bank of ar­ound 1,100 acres, hence it plans to compensate for any new project by buying land somewhere else

“Besides that, our focus is on lands that are atleast 65 per cent from the stage of development around the bigger cities. The lower price would allow us to follow the middle path compared with our competitors and pass on the higher profit margins on our upcom­ing pro­jects to the customers, without compromising on qua­lity, say five years from now,” he said.

The company is planning to acquire land in Panvel near Mumbai and other areas aro­und Hy­dera­bad, Chennai, Bangalore, and even in tier-II and tier-III cities. It has an urban land bank of around 800 acres in and around Hydera­bad, ar­ound 200 acres in Chennai, another 120 acres in Bangalore and ar­ound 27 acres in Mumbai. Overall, its land bank of 1,100 acres is valued at around Rs 2,100 crore, which it has already started to monetise in phases.

The firm has also received a government approval to start construction on a 3 million sq ft SEZ project in Bangalore, which would cater to the IT and ITES sector. “We have received expressions of interest from certain domestic and foreign companies like Infosys, Cranes Software and CJI Solutions who wish to set up their data and research centres in the SEZ,” Malkani said.

“However, these talks are still at preliminary stage,” the official said.

The size of the SEZ is expected to be around 3 million sq ft, which means the units cannot be lower than the 7,000 sq ft mark. In effect, the company can lease out the area to maximum 428 customers.

At present, the company is developing around 10.80 lakh sq ft in Jogeshwari, Mumbai for two corporate projects. One of them has been already completed, while the other is under construction. But, its biggest project, Neotown in Bangalore, is around 1.20 crore sq ft, which includes residential, and commercial projects such as strip malls and an sez project.

“We will unlock the value in our remaining land as and when we see development opportunities,” Malkani said. he company plans to generate around Rs 850 crore through sale of properties and rentals from these projects in the next four-five years.