Publisher Bennett Coleman investing in realty groups HCC and MVL Ltd

Media mughal Bennett, Coleman and Co, publishers of the Times of India, is investing in two construction firms - Lavasa Corp Ltd, a unit of Hindustan Construction Co Ltd and MVL Ltd, the realty unit sinned off by consumer electronics major Media Video Ltd.

In a press release issued today, HCC said Bennett Coleman & Co Ltd has invested Rs81.25 crore in Lavasa Corp Ltd, in convertible warrants.

Bennett, Coleman is also reported to be investing in a preferential issue of fully convertible unsecured debentures of MVL Limited, the demerged  unit of Media Video Limited (MVL).

The board of directors of the company will meet on 11 April to consider the proposal to issue optional zero coupon convertible warrants/zero coupon fully convertible unsecured debentures on preferential basis to Bennett, Coleman & Co Ltd f India Group) and to DB Corp Ltd or Writer & Publishers Ltd (Dainik Bhaskar Group Companies).

Lavasa, is constructing a hill city in Pune in accordance with the controversial hill station policy passed by the Maharashtra government.

The project is being developed by HCC India near Pune and Mumbai. Spread over 12,500 acres (51 km2) of controversially procured land. In the view of court rulings, its exact legal status is still not known and the land itself remains disputed.
 
MVL Limited, the demerged unit of consumer electronics firm Media Video Ltd, is a leading real estate development company in Northern India, with a portfolio of projects comprising residential complexes, townships. IT parks, Malls etc.

The company is executing projects worth $1 billion and aims to undertake projects worth $2 billion by the year 2014.