Arihant raises Rs 20 cr through private equity
The Economic Times - November 16, 2005

ARIHANT Foundations & Housing, a leading commercial and residential property developer in Chennai, has raised a little over Rs 20 crore through private equity placement. The funds will be used to create a land bank, promoting townships and IT Parks.

Meanwhile, HCL Technologies has signed up with Arihant taking on lease a 2.4 lakh sq.ft IT Park being developed by Arihant on the Old Mahabalipuram Road (OMR), Chennai's IT corridor.

While the new property is expected to be ready by January 2006 and help the IT major increase its Chennai headcount by over 2000 people, HCL had earlier taken 70,000 sq.ft space from another Arihant property in the city.

Elaborating on the private placement, Kamal Lunawath, who recently took over as Arihant's managing director said that 10 lakh shares were placed at a premium of Rs 191 per share with a group of investors, who have also been issued five lakh warrants at the same premium.

In addition, five lakh warrants have been issued to promoters at the same price and the warrants are convertible into shares after 18 months. "Besides the IT project on the OMR, we are developing about 3.5 lakh sq.ft of IT space at Ambattur Industrial Estate, an upcoming IT destination in the city. Of this, 1.8 lakh sq.ft of space, has been acquired by a high networth individual," Lunawath told ET.

The project will be completed over the next 9-12 months. He said the company has projects on hand for building about 1.8 million sq.ft in both residential and commercial segments. To be built at a cost of Rs 300 crore, they are expected to be completed in 2-3 years.

Arihant reported a topline of Rs 128 crore and a net profit of Rs 7.5 crore during the year ending September 30, 2005. Major companies which have taken space in the properties developed by Arihant include Verizon, EI Dupont, NSE, Syntel and Hutch.