JV Investment Boosts $3.4B India Mixed-Use Portfolio

By Barbra Murray, Contributing Editor

-- In return for $126 million and change, Tel Aviv, Israel-based Elbit Imaging Ltd. has forked over part of its stake in a $3.4 billion mixed-use project portfolio in India via a new joint venture agreement. It's a family arrangement, however. The investment comes from Elbit Imaging subsidiary Plaza Centers N.V., an emerging markets property developer focusing on projects in Central and Eastern Europe and in India.

The deal leaves Plaza with a 47.5 percent ownership of Elbit India Real Estate Holdings Ltd., which owns interests in the aforementioned mixed-use development endeavors. Plaza actually contributed a minuscule amount for ownership of nearly half of the joint venture. The big bucks that were invested, however, account for 50 percent of the loans and financing that Elbit has supplied to Elbit India for the acquisition of land and other real estate activities pertaining to the three-property development portfolio.

Elbit India owns between 50 percent and 80 percent of the projects, counting various local entities as partners. Among the group of three mixed-use developments is a project in Bangalore that is 50 percent owned by the joint venture. In Bangalore, partnership efforts will yield a 22.6 million-square-foot destination comprised of upscale residential units, office space, retail offerings, hotel rooms and a hospital.

Elbit India is also part of a pursuit in Chennai. The 11.8 million-square-foot project, 80 percent owned by the joint venture, entails premier residential units, retail space and an office complex. Cochin Island is the site of the third endeavor, of which the joint venture owns 50 percent. The island development will feature high-end residential apartment buildings, office complexes, hotel accommodations, retail space and a marina.

Additional projects may be in Elbit India's future, as the joint venture will also consider other opportunities for major mixed-use developments in India.

Elbit Imaging is a multi-faceted business concern focusing on the development and operation of shopping centers and mixed-use properties in Central and Eastern Europe and in India; the development and operation of hotels in major European cities; and investments in the research and development of image-guided treatment equipment.

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