Sale of HUL’s heritage property in Mumbai for Rs.170 crore

Hindustan Unilever

Hindustan Unilever (HUL) has sold its landmark guest house Alhambra in south Mumbai for around Rs.170 crore to an unnamed buyer. The iconic building, built by the Sultan of Darbhanga on a 15,000 sq.ft plot in 1950s, is a three-storey building spread over 18,800 sq ft on Carmichael Road, Mumbai. The heritage property was the residence of three former chief executives of HUL- Manvinder Singh Banga, Doug Baillie and Nitin Paranjpe.

Since the plot falls under the category II of Coastal Regulation Zone, there is a restriction on any further development to the property. The sale of the property is HUL’s strategy to monetize its non-core assets such as its real estate holdings that includes land parcels and residential apartments.

As part of the lease-and-sell agreement entered into by HUL in 2012, the company sold its former headquarters, Lever House at Churchgate around a year ago to HDFC for approximately Rs.300 crore.

Another important property sale in 2012 of HUL, was the sale of Gulita, its guest house-cum training centre that oversaw the Worli seaface with over about an acre to Piramal Realty for Rs.452 crore. Further, the company also made the sale of a 9.5 acre land parcel in Bengaluru for Rs.125 crore to Singapore sovereign weath fund GIC and private developers Brigade Enterprises.