Mumbai: Realty major DLF plans to reduce its debt to Rs 12,000-14,000 crore by FY17 through asset monetisation and increasing cash-flows from sales. "We plan to bring down our debt to Rs 12,000-14,000 crore by FY17," DLF vice-president for finance and investor relations, Rajiv Goel said.
As of FY'14, the largest realty player had a debt of Rs 19,000 crore. He said DLF will look at selling some of its non-core assets, but it won't be so aggressive as it did earlier. "Besides, we will also use the cash flows from sales to pare debt. As the market sentiment has improved, we expect it to translate into sales in the next two-three months," he said, adding, "we will also make some strategic divestments." Goel further said that for the current fiscal, debt would remain at FY14 levels at about Rs 19,000 crore.
The country's largest realty company, which has been on a drive to sell its non-core assets, achieved non-core sales of Rs 5,930 crore by selling its wind energy business, insurance business and hospitality venture Aman Resorts, besides getting a refund from the government for its Dwarka project and the institutional placement programmes.
In 2012, it sold a 17-acre land parcel in Mumbai's Lower Parel area to the Lodha Group for Rs 2,727 crore. The Delhi-based company is also keen on raising funds via the newly-launched real estate investment trusts, but is awaiting clarity on tax structure from the government. "There is a good opportunity for developers like us with the introduction of Reits. We are very aggressive on Reits. We have already started work on it," Goel said.
The developer recently raised Rs 900 crore by completing the country's first commercial mortgage-backed security or CMBS issue, privately placing its luxury mall DLF Emporio for Rs 525 crore and subsequently raising another Rs 375 crore by issuing CMBS against another mall in Delhi. DLF has projects in 24 cities spanning 15 states and is present in both residential as well as commercial segments. It has 308 million sq ft of planned projects out of which 55 million sq ft are under construction.
