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.

Air India

Air India is surviving on a bailout package approved by the government in 2012. As part of its turnaround plans to reduce a debt burden of 40,000 crore, the grieving PSU plans to sell real estate assets worth Rs 5,000 crore to generate funds. Executing on the plans, AI has decided to sell four residential apartments in Mumbai to State Bank of India (SBI) for Rs. 90 crore.

The flats, each having a carpet area of 2033 sq ft situated at Sterling Apartments on Peddar Road in South Mumbai that hitherto housed top executives of the national carrier, will now be official residences of SBI top executives.

An AI official confirmed that the airline in August 2013 had invited bids for these flats through e-auctions and the Bank emerged as the highest bidder. “We have received a nod from the Cabinet as well as all requisite approvals to sell & transfer the rights on these flats to SBI,” said the senior Air India official.