Hiranandanis rope in Firdose Vandrevala to head realty co

MUMBAI: Hirco, the newly-floated real estate firm by Mumbai-based developer Niranjan Hiranandani, has appointed Firdose Vandrevala as the chairman and managing director of the company. This makes Hirco the first unlisted real estate firm to appoint a professional from outside the promoter family. Mr Vandrevala resigned from Motorola India on Monday. Confirming the development, Mr Hiranandani said, “Mr Vandrevala is joining as CMD of Hirco Development and will look after the Indian operations. I will continue as the chairman of Hirco, our London-listed entity.” The move could indicate the shift in the management of family-run enterprises, mainly in real estate. Most realty companies in India are closely-held with the equity stakes controlled by family members. Mr Vandrevala is joining the Hiranandani group a year after the Mumbai-based family restructured with the Hiranandani brothers — Niranjan and Surendra — chalking out individual business plans. The two brothers are diversifying and consolidating their business operations in areas such as healthcare, retail, hotels and education. Mr Vandrevala, who earlier headed Tata Power before moving to Motorola, was responsible for developing the US-based telecommunication company’s brand in India. Mr Vandrevala was with the Tata group for over 33 years, with his last position in the Tata group being chairman of Tata Teleservices. He also held positions at Tata Power as its managing director and at Tata Steel as its deputy managing director. Hirco recently raised $750 million in the Alternate Investment Market of London and is developing properties in Navi Mumbai, Jaipur and Chennai. The group has ongoing development activities at Powai and Thane where nearly 400 acres are under development for the past decade. The group turnover is over Rs 1,000 crore. The under-construction 90-storey Marina tower project in Dubai, touted as the world’s tallest residential building, is being handled by Niranjan’s son, Darshan. The Hiranandani group began operations in the early 1980s. The first project was in Versova and later the group developed Powai, then a quarry. It is now considered one of the most upmarket suburbs of Mumbai “Our business is growing so rapidly that to keep pace, it makes sense for different people in the family to look after different projects. We want each of our businesses to grow over 300% in the next few years. The family business restructuring will help us achieve the target,” Niranjan Hiranandani told ET.
The introduction of foreign direct investment in the industry has led major developers to expand operations and pursue larger land parcels including in Tier II cities. The need to acquire large parcels in multiple locations prompted the need for the group to pursue parallel acquisitions with different finance partners. As a result, around a year back the brothers divided their responsibilities to give an individual focus to existing as well as new businesses. However, both brothers look after other businesses activities together, taking individual responsibilities in each business. While Niranjan is in charge of healthcare and education sectors, Surendra focuses on the operations of retail and hotel businesses of the family, which is spread in three firms — Haiko Supermarket, Loft, Culture Shop and Rodas Hotel. Niranjan said Hiranandani Hospitals is in the process of developing five large-scale hospital projects in various parts of India and has tied up with Fortis Healthcare, the hospital business of the Ranbaxy group, to manage the hospitals. Surendra’s Hiranandani Upscale has just launched a 110-acre integrated township in Chennai for Rs 2,000 crores. His group has also identified large-scale projects in southern India in places like Bangalore and Hyderabad. He is also negotiating for strategic tie-ups with financial partners where synergy matches. On the retail front, Surendra said the group’s footwear firm, Loft, is looking for strategic tie-ups to expand its business while Haiko and Culture Shop are scouting for acquisitions.
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