According to India’s largest real estate developer, DLF's group executive director Rajeev Talwar, DLF plans to cut its debt by Rs 2,500-3,000 crore by the end of this 2011-12 financial year.The company aims to reduce debt through the divestment of noncore assets, including hotels and plots of land that cannot be developed in the 5 five years .
DLF, which has been trying to bring down its debt for some time, reported an increase of Rs 100 crore in net debt in the first quarter of financial year 2012. Net debt touched Rs 21,524 crore in the first quarter of FY 2011-12, from Rs 21,424 crore as on March 31, 2011.
While the group has a divestment target of Rs 6,000-7,000 crore over 2 to 3 years from sale of non-core assets, it had raised only Rs 165 crore by June 30.
DLF would offload its stake in the hotel chain Aman Resorts, while keeping the Aman Hotel in Delhi with itself. Apart from Aman Hotel, earlier Lodhi Hotel, the chain has two other hospitality properties in India Aman-i-Khas and Amanbagh both in Rajasthan. Aman Resorts, founded in 1988 by Adrian Zecha, owns and operates a number of hotels across the world.
DLF’s joint venture with the Hilton group was also being considered for sale earlier as part of its non-core assets, Rajeev Talwar said, “We cannot offload it as it is on top of our mall (in Delhi)”. Other non-core assets to be sold include pockets of land in Gurgaon and some SEZ (special economic zone) areas across the country.
As for the interest burden, Rajeev Talwar said it had risen Rs 200-300 crore in 18 to 24 months. Hit by high input cost and rising interest rate, the company's net profit was down 12.81 per cent to Rs 358.36 crore for the quarter ended June 30 as against Rs 411.03 crore for the corresponding period last year.
The Competition Commission of India had recently imposed a penalty of Rs 630 crore on the company over charges of “abuse of market dominance and unfair trade practices”.
Source: Business Standard
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