Unitech signs Rs 1,100-crore leasing deal with Aricent, Fidelity: report

Realty major Unitech has leased office space in its under-construction special economic zone (SEZ) at Gurgaon in a deal that would give rental income of about Rs 1,100 crore over 15 years, according to sources.

Aricent, an engineering service and software company, and Fidelity, a financial services firm, have signed cumulatively 15-year lease agreements for about 1 million square feet of area in the SEZ located at Tikri, Gurgaon.

The SEZ is being developed by the Unitech and its London-listed group firm Unitech Corporate Parks (UCP).

Sources said Unitech and UCP would earn a rental income of about Rs 1,000-1,100 crore over the next 15 years taking into account the current leasing rate of Rs 60-65 per square feet.

With this leasing deal, about 3 million sq ft has been occupied out of total leasable area of 3.3 million sq ft.

Last year, UCP had leased Aon Hewitt 8 lakh sq feet in this SEZ in a deal that would give about Rs 800 crore over the next 15 years.

Apart from the Aon Hewitt deal, other big players which have leased space in Tikri SEZ are Genpact and Cognizant.

Unitech and UCP are developing another SEZ at Dundahera in Gurgaon. Both companies are in talks with private equity firm Blackstone and Singapore's sovereign wealth fund GIC for selling their stake in the IT SEZ for Rs 2,800-3,000 crore.

Potential development area of this SEZ is 3.6 million sq ft. In this SEZ also, Unitech and UCP had leased 8 lakh sq ft with Accenture where the potential revenue over 15 years was Rs 1,000 crore.

Other lessors in this SEZ are RBS, Sapient, Bank of America, E&Y and Amadeus.

UCP holds a 60 per cent stake in these two SEZ projects, while Unitech has the remaining 40 per cent. Unitech also holds about 12 per cent directly in the UCP.

UCP raised about 360 million pounds by issuing and placing its Ordinary Shares on the AIM of the London Stock Exchange in December, 2006.

It had invested in six commercial projects in India in partnership with Unitech, of which five are in the national capital region and one in Kolkata.