Raymond sells 20-acre plot in Thane to Singapore retailer for ₹710 crore.

The Gautam Singhania-owned Raymond Ltd. has sold a 20-acre land parcel to Singapore-based Virtuous Retail South Asia, the retail arm of private equity firm Xander, for ₹710 crore.

Virtuous Retail recently announced an investment of $340 million (₹2,400 crore) in a retail-anchored project in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region and said it has “acquired a prime 20-acre land parcel from Raymond Ltd. for $100 million and will invest an additional $240 million to develop the site”. The Singapore-based firm plans to build a 3.7-million sq ft mixed-use city centre anchored by a 2.4-million sq ft VR Retail Mall at the site.

The transaction took place through Raymond’s subsidiary JK lnvesto Trade (India) Ltd.

Raymond told the stock exchanges that it “has entered into an agreement for the sale of its property measuring 78,310 square meters (around 20 acres) located at Thane (West) with an affiliate of Virtuous Retail for ₹700 crore subject to payment of taxes, cost of approval as applicable.”

In an interview with BusinessLine in May, Singhania said the company will focus on selling value homes and had no plans to enter commercial real estate.

Raymond is already developing a 20-acre township in Thane, a land parcel which the company had considered selling in the past.

The land parcel bought by Virtuous Retail from Raymond had been on the block since October last year.

It is part of a larger 125-acre land parcel that the company owns in Thane.

HBL