Lehman, IL&FS look to buy 10pc in Ramky arm

Deutsche Bank, IL&FS, Lehman Brothers and Sabre Abraaj are looking to pick up an equity stake of around 10% in Ramky Estates and Farms, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Rs 1,600-crore Ramky Group.
"We are in talks with these private equity funds to raise around $100 million (Rs 407 crore). The plan is to raise money in 2008,” said a company official. The Ramky group has raised around $128 million (Rs 532 crore) for two of its subsidiaries — Ramky Infrastructure and Ramky Enviro Engineers.
IL&FS and Sabre Abraaj have picked up a 13.5% stake in Ramky Infrastructure for $28 million (Rs 125 crore), while Deutsche Bank, Lehman Brothers and IL&FS have picked up a 10% stake in Ramky Enviro Engineers for around $ 100 million (Rs 407 crore). “We are looking at a similar pattern for Ramky Estates and Farms as well,” the official said. Crisil is in the process of evaluating the real estate company.
While officials of Deutsche Bank, IL&FS and Lehman Brothers declined to comment. Sabre Abraaj was unavailable for comment.
Ramky Estate and Farms manages projects valued at over Rs 4,000 crore. The company identifies land and conceptualises projects. The company is also engaged in design, construction, marketing and estate management.
The group has projects in several cities, including Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam and Warangal. Some of the big projects being executed by the company are Ramky Towers (Hyderabad), in collaboration with the Andhra Pradesh Housing Board, and the Centre Point IT Park in Chennai.
Several PE funds have zoomed in on Andhra Pradesh — mainly Hyderabad — to infuse funds. The boom in the realty sector is a major draw for these companies.
The Hyderabad-based Indu Projects has already raised around Rs 150 crore from Citigroup Venture Capital. Similarly KVK Energy & Infrastructure recently received $26 million from Old Lane Fund.

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