Page 78 - September 2015 Digital Construction Opportunities

NEWBREAKERS REALTY RAJAH Billionaire Ajay Piramal should be on a high with leading private equity bellwethers showing faith in his real estate enterprise. If Warburg Pincus announced a `1800 crore stake purchase in Piramal Realty last month, Goldman Sachs has now invested `960 crore to pick up a minority stake in the Indian company. What the two deals will certainly do is to boost global faith in India’s realty markets. Ajay Piramal heads one of India's largest business groups, with activities in healthcare, real estate, fnancial services, information services, and glass packaging. Piramal Realty has about 10 million sq f of commercial and residential projects under development in Mumbai, across Bandra Kurla Complex, Mulund, Worli and Tane. Te company which is focused on large residential and mixed-use developments in Mumbai will deploy the funds to expand its real estate portfolio and acquire prime properties in and around Mumbai. Piramal Fund Management, a Piramal Group company, lends to real estate developers through debt and equity. Last year, the group’s fagship company, Piramal Enterprises, had entered into an alliance with Canada Pension Plan Investment Board to set up a $500-million real estate fnance company in the country. Ajay is the recent vote of confdence from Wall Street investment majors. Piramal recently received the Business Leader (Indian company in Tat should make the Harvard alumni happy. His company which the U.S.) of the Year, 2015 award by the Indo-American Chamber aspires to be the most respected real estate developer in India seems of Commerce. To add to that accolade, which is one among many to be heading in the right direction. TURNAROUND SPECIALIST Tis could well be the last hope of revival yet for national carrier, Air India, as a railways man is being brought into the hot seat to bring the airline back on track. Ashwani Lohani, an Indian Railways Service of Mechanical Engineers ofcer of the 1980 batch, has been directed by the appointments committee of the Union cabinet to take over as the next Chairman and Managing Director of the beleaguered airline. Te 57 year old engineer-turned-bureaucrat – his name fgures in the Limca Book of Records' 2007 edition for earning four engineering degrees at a young age of 21 in 1979 – has been credited with the dramatic turnaround of various public sector units like the Indian Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC), where he was credited with turning around New Delhi's Ashoka Hotel by making it proftable following years of losses, and reviving the Madhya Pradesh State Tourism Development Corporation as its Managing Director. Lohani has also earned mention in the Guiness Book Of Records for restoring the world's oldest working steam locomotive, the Fairy Queen Express between Delhi and Alwar. Reviving the state-run carrier sitting on a debt pile of `50,000 crore and whose combined losses currently stand at a whopping `30,000 crore, is going to be a staggering job though. For man who considers the motorcycle advertisement where the rider blends with his bike as his greatest inspiration – as an extension of that thought he believes a CEO must blend with his organisation like sugar in water – it remains to be seen how he will deal with the bumpy road in the skies. 78 construction opportunities|sEPTEMBER 2015