ICICI Bank-led consortium inks deal with Wadhwa Group

MUMBAI: A consortium led by ICICI Bank entered into a milestone debt funding agreement with realty developer Wadhwa Group and its joint venture partner for around Rs 450 crore.

The construction finance, carrying nearly 14% borrowing cost, is for a 12-acre residential project in Mulund, a suburb of Mumbai, said two people familiar with the development. The consortium has already disbursed Rs 150 crore to the developer under the agreement, which was signed last week.

The project is being developed as a joint venture between Wadhwa Group and another realty developer that owned the land parcel on LBS Marg between Nahur and Mulund.

The project has an estimated saleable space of 1.5 million sq ft. Construction is scheduled to start in January. The consortium led by ICICI Bank also includes ICICI Home Finance Company. An email query to ICICI Bank did not elicit any response.

A spokesperson of Wadhwa Group also declined to comment. Recently, US private equity major KKR entered into an agreement to invest in Wadhwa Group’s 18-acre high-end residential project, The Address, at Ghatkopar suburb of Mumbai. The developer is close to completing construction of phase I of the project and is in advanced stage of construction of phase II.“The loan disbursement will be made in tranches linked to the progress of construction, while repayment is expected to be completed in 30 monthly installments starting from March 2017,” said one of the people quoted earlier.