Jammu & Kashmir Bank invests Rs100 crore in HCC's Lavasa Corporation

The Jammu & Kashmir Bank Ltd has invested Rs100 crore in Lavasa Corporation Ltd, a subsidiary of Hindustan Construction Company Ltd (HCC), the company informed the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) today.

The investment was made in the form of convertible debentures at an equity valuation of Rs12,000 crore, HCC said in its filing.

Lavasa had earlier received funding from Axis Bank Ltd (Rs225 crore), Bank of India (Rs150 crore), Allahabad Bank (Rs100 crore), Induslnd Bank (Rs50 crore), Andhra Bank (Rs25 crore), United Bank of India (Rs50 crore) and ICICI Bank Ltd (Rs250 crore), respectively, in the similar instrument at a total equity valuation of Rs10,000 crore, HCC said.

The previous fund raising was for the hill city project and translates into unrealised gains of around 20 per cent for other banks who have put money in the company.

Lavasa is developing the project near Pune that is expected to be operational by end of this year.

Lavasa has been planning a public offer in the near future and the banks could look at converting their debentures into equity ahead of the issue. Besides Hindustan Construction, other stakeholders in Lavasa include Gautam Thapar's Avantha Group and Venkateshwara Hatcheries.

The project is being developed over an area of 12,500 acres. Besides residential areas, the town is expected to have business, educational and recreational facilities.

 It has in the past tied up with Accor, ITC and Apollo Hospitals to develop their facilities at Lavasa. It has also tied up with Oxford University and would be developing SpaceWorld, a 65-acre edutainment park powered by US-based National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).