Unitech to Sell Properties to Meet Payments
Indian property developer Unitech Ltd. is set to sell properties to meet loan repayments and land payments over the next few months, the company’s head of corporate planning and strategy said in a telephone interview.
“We are trying to sell some of our nonresidential properties in the coming months to be able to meet our repayment obligations,” R. Nagaraju said.
As growth in India slows and the credit crunch bites, a cold wind is blowing through this nation’s property sector: Consumers are becoming more cautious, banks have tightened lending and property prices are falling.
But despite the tough times faced by the property sector, Unitech is confident it will meet its obligations. “We have already made some ground in selling those properties, so we are very confident of doing that,” said Mr. Nagaraju.
Fitch Ratings calculates that Unitech has $574 million in debt repayment and land payments due in the period from October to March.
The company is selling assets into a less-than-favorable market. “If we had sold those properties six months back, we would have got higher prices,” Mr. Nagaraju said.
Unitech is still expecting to make healthy margins — one sale made in the region of 50% to 60% profit, he said. “It’s not a distressed sale.”
Given the more risk-averse lending climate, the company’s new projects that haven’t yet secured finance will be affected, Mr. Nagaraju said. “To undertake new projects we need credit from banks for construction, so at the moment, since banks are very tight in giving credit, we are not able to achieve financial closure for these projects,” he said. Until banks resume normal lending, “financial closure for new projects will get delayed,” he added
But for projects with financial closure, “there’s no problem, we are going ahead with the development of these projects,” Mr. Nagaraju said. The company’s normal operations are also running well and aren’t facing problems, he said.
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