Runwal Group pays Rs 471 crore for a 20-acre land parcel in Thane.

According to people with direct knowledge of the transaction, real estate developer Runwal Group has paid around Rs 471 crore for a 20-acre land parcel in Thane, near Mumbai, from chemical company PB Global.

Runwal Group and PB Global have already signed a definitive agreement for the land transaction, and the entire transaction is expected to be registered in tranches.

The first phase of the transaction, for a 9-acre freehold land parcel worth more than Rs 204 crore, has already been completed. Other tranches will be finished awaiting approval from government officials.

“A few days ago, one of Runwal Group’s affiliate companies and PB Global signed a land transfer agreement.” “The first part of the deal has already been registered, and the rest will be done in the coming weeks,” one of above individuals stated.

The contiguous land parcel is near the developer’s existing retail property R Mall in Thane’s Ghodbunder district. The plot once housed a factory that had long since closed its doors.

In 1960, Pesticides Ltd, a leading pesticide and agrochemical manufacturer, established the PB Group. Since that time, the company has grown into a conglomerate with diverse interests ranging from chemical distribution to consumer electronics.

Runwal Group is charging for the land through sales and accruals. The group, which is one of the country’s largest real estate developers, has recorded sales of more than Rs 6,050 crore for fiscal year 2021-22. Over the last three years, the developer has experienced year-on-year growth of more than 30% and revenue growth of more than 100%. Runwal has the city’s second largest land bank inventory.

Many transactions, including outright acquisitions and joint ventures, have been completed or are expected to be completed in key real estate markets such as Mumbai, Pune, Chennai, Hyderabad, and Bangalore this year. The ongoing housing market recovery, as well as the thriving warehousing and data space sectors, are increasing demand for land parcels.

Given the growing preference for alliances and collaborative land development, this will be one of the few outright purchases in recent years. Several real estate developers have reworked their business strategies in recent years to focus on asset-light models, such as joint development, to reduce upfront capital costs and deal with liquidity pressure.

Mumbai’s core suburbs and Thane’s micro-markets have become new hotspots for residential development in recent years. Several real estate developers have purchased property parcels in this neighbourhood outright or inked agreements to jointly develop areas.

Last year, billionaire investor and DMart founder Radhakishan Damani paid Mondelez India, formerly Cadbury India, almost Rs 250 crore for an 8-acre plot of property in Thane.

Virtuous Retail South Asia (VRSA), the retail arm of Singapore-based global investment corporation Xander Group, paid about Rs 710 crore to textile firm Raymond in Thane in 2019. Godrej Properties had earlier bought a 4-acre block of land for a residential project on Ghodbunder Road.