Singapore fund slashes stake in India’s biggest commercial developer

GIC sold 68 million shares and now owns 0.3% of DLF, down from 4.1%

DLF IT Park in Rajarhat (left); GIC abruptly sold most of its stake in the CRE company (Credit: Biswarup Ganguly/Wikimedia Commons, GIC)
DLF IT Park in Rajarhat (left); GIC abruptly sold most of its stake in the CRE company (Credit: Biswarup Ganguly/Wikimedia Commons, GIC)

The Singapore government sharply reduced its equity stake in DLF Ltd., the largest commercial real estate developer in India.

Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC sold 68 million shares of DLF in open-market transactions, cutting its stake in DLF to 0.3 percent of total shares outstanding from 4.11 percent, according to Bloomberg. The shares traded for 191 rupees each in a bulk sale.

The transaction may stem largely from an effort by GIC to rebalance its investment portfolio, DLF chief financial officer Ashok Tyagi told Bloomberg.

Sign Up for the undefined Newsletter

DLF, which is trying to eliminate its debt by raising capital, got approval from GIC to transfer some rental properties and commercial parcels to DLF Cyber City Developers in an inter-company settlement.

Societe Generale, the French investment firm, reportedly acquired a 1.7% stake in DLF, and other institutional investors, including HSBC, also bought shares of the commercial real estate company.

GIC recently acquired a 25% stake in Dutch hotel chain, CitizenM. [Bloomberg] – Mike Seemuth