Business

Ircon to rope in private players to develop Mumbai property

Rumana UK

MUMBAI: Ircon International Ltd, a public sector undertaking under the Ministry of Railways, plans to develop the railway land it had taken on a 99-year old lease at Bandra in Mumbai either as a full-fledged commercial property or commercial-cum-high-end residential units, a senior company official told reporters on Friday.

This kind of a property development will be a first-of-its-kind for Ircon, which is primarily involved in executing railway projects that account for 86.7 per cent of its order book.

Ircon acquired the 12-acre prime railway land at Bandra from the Ministry of Railways on a 99-year-old lease early this year in a tripartite agreement — Ircon, Indian Railways and railway financing arm IRFC.

Ircon paid an upfront lease charge of Rs 3,200 crore to Indian Railways, borrowing an equal amount of money to finance it, from IRFC.

“The model of development will be known once we finalise a bid document, and we plan to issue tenders by the end of the year,” said Mukesh Kumar Singh, director (finance), Ircon.

Ircon International’s initial public offering, as part of government’s disinvestment programme, would open on September 17 and is expected to raise Rs 470 crore — with shares priced in the band of Rs 470 to Rs 475 per equity share.

The Government of India would be divesting around 10.53 per cent of its stake through the offer. The government has targeted to raise Rs 80,000 crore through disinvestment of shares in public sector companies this fiscal year.

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