Bafna Motors (Mumbai), one of the key dealers for Tata Motors commercial vehicles, has sold the leasehold rights of a 4-acre prime land parcel in Trans Thane Creek industrial area in Navi Mumbai’s Nerul locality for over Rs 145 crore to Greenscape IT Park LLP.
Bafna Motors was liable to pay Rs 129 crore to United Bank of India and Rs 15 crore to Tata Motors Finance Solutions. It approached Greenscape IT Park LLP to repay these loans on its behalf.
Greenscape IT Park LLP repaid these dues in August and has now acquired the land parcel. The deal attracted stamp duty of Rs 7.27 crore and was registered on August 28, shows the documents accessed through CRE Matrix.
The Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) had leased the land parcel to Spundish Engineers in 1977 for a period of 95 years with effect from February 1975. In 2004, TIL Ltd or erstwhile Spundish Engineers transferred the lease rights in favour of Bafna Motors.
In January 2020, the automobile dealer had raised debt worth over Rs 99 crore from United Bank of India and Rs 20 crores from Tata Motors Finance Solutions through a mortgage against this plot.
As Bafna Motors’ failure to repay the loans, the United Bank of India issued a notice to recover the dues. Following this, the automobile dealer filed an application before the Debt Recovery Tribunal for redemption of the mortgage of the property. This application for the redemption was opposed by the bank.
While the debt recovery tribunal reserved the interim application for orders, Bafna Motors approached the Bombay High Court. The high court called upon the automobile dealer to pay the balance amounts due and payable to United Bank of India on or before August 31, 2023. Greenscape IT Park LLP has settled these dues to acquire the land parcel.
Transactions for land parcels have started to gather pace again with many deals including outright acquisitions and joint ventures in key property markets of Mumbai, Pune, Chennai, Hyderabad and Bengaluru either being closed or expected to close soon.
Deals for land parcels in Navi Mumbai, the satellite city of the country’s commercial capital, have been on the rise attracting higher prices as the property market is witnessing interest from developers on the back of major infrastructure projects.
Among the major projects, the much-awaited Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMIA) and the Mumbai Trans-Harbour Link (MTHL) are expected to bolster the real estate market in Navi Mumbai and developers are keen to tap the rising demand.
The ongoing upcycle in the housing market segment is prompting more real estate developers to opt and propose residential developments on their land parcels that are already part of their land bank or are being acquired now.
Most land parcels acquired by the developers across the country in the last 18 months have been added to their residential development pipeline and is an indication of augmented capex utilisation aimed at clocking higher sales in the upcoming quarters.
