Blackstone, GIC eye 40% in DLF arm

New Delhi: Blackstone, GIC, Canada Pension Plan and Qatar Investment Authority are among the 25 global investment firms that have shown interest in buying DLF promoters' stake in its rental arm, a deal estimated at about $2 billion.

DLF, the country's largest realty firm, had in October last announced that its promoters will sell their 40% stake in the DLF Cyber City Developers (DCCDL). DLF owns the remaining 60% stake in DCCDL, which holds its bulk of office and retail complexes. The promoters will re-invest a significant part of the amount realized from the sale into DLF.

GIC recently invested nearly Rs 2,000 crore in DLF's two upcoming projects in the national capital. In 2011, DLF had sold its stake in IT SEZ at Pune to Blackstone.

"We expect to sign term sheet by end of March or mid-April," DLF's senior executive director (finance) Saurav Chawla had said last week.

DLF is targeting to complete this deal by July. Market sources had earlier said that the deal size could be about Rs 12,000-14,000 crore.

DLF has a net debt of about Rs 21,400 crore at present. DCCDL's debt is expected to be around Rs 12,000 crore by end of March.

DLF Ltd