Fraud-hit IL&FS, which is looking to raise money by hiving off its real estate assets, has put up two towers it owns at Gujarat’s GIFT City for sale. The company on July 15 issued a public notice inviting expressions of interest from investors.
According to the notice, these two commercial towers of 28-storeys each, have been developed by special purpose vehicles Sabarmati Capital One and Sabarmati Capital Two respectively, both of which are subsidiaries of IL&FS Urban Infrastructure.
The parent IL&FS owes close to Rs 1 lakh crore to over 50 banks and financial institutions and have been defaulting on its debt obligations since last September. The company was sent to the bankruptcy tribunal last October after the government superseded its board.
Gift City, a 50:50 joint venture between the IL&FS and state-owned Gujarat Urban Development Company, has executed 99-year lease deed commencing from June 2013 for the land in favour of the two special purpose vehicles and had granted development permission for the built-up area of around 6 lakh sqft each to them.
Last November, the Gujarat government had also announced its plans to buy out the 50 per cent stake in Gift City from IL&FS to ensure there were no delays in executing the ambitious development project. Gift City Company has invested Rs 2,000 crore in developing the necessary infrastructure for at the finance centre where over 150 financial and other companies have already set up operations, directly employing over 6,000 and another 1,500 indirectly.
Besides the two international exchanges being operated by the BSE and NSE in GIFT City, 13 large banks are also operating from the International Financial Services Centre. (with agency inputs)