Agre Developers Ltd, promoted by Kishore Biyani-led Future Group and backed by ICICI Ventures and Kotak Private Equity, has sold its 20 per cent stake in Gupta Infrastructure (India) Pvt Ltd, a private joint venture with Nagpur-based Gupta Group, for Rs 29.87 crore ($6 million), the company has disclosed in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange.
Agre Properties & Services Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Agre Developers, held the stake. The deal amount would be paid in tranches between March 3 and May 31, 2012.
Gupta Group was founded by late Mahadev Prasadjee Gupta and has interests in coal, infrastructure, power, mining and logistics business. The JV had also developed a shopping mall-cum-multiplex in Raipur, Chhattisgarh.
In mid-day trading on the BSE, shares of Agre Developers Ltd were quoting at Rs 36.25 a unit, up 0.7 per cent.
Agre Developers was demerged from Pantaloon Retail (India) Ltd two years ago and currently focuses on retail real estate, infra-logistics parks and development of wholesale markets. Kishore Biyani’s Future Group holds 44 per cent stake in the firm through various entities.
Last July, it formed an equal equity joint venture with infrastructure financing major Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services Ltd for a Rs 1,200 crore infra-logistics park.
Agre Developers is also setting up six infra-logistics parks (each spanning 100 acres of land) across the country in collaboration with Future Supply Chain Solutions Ltd, the group’s logistics arm backed by Hong Kong-based private equity firm Fung Capital. Agre aims to support these parks with low-cost residential and retail developments in surrounding areas.