Elbit, India real estate firm to form joint venture

Jerusalem, June 7: Israel's Elbit Medical Imaging Ltd. today said it had agreed to form a joint venture with a leading Indian real estate developer and would invest about $180 million in the concern.

Elbit made an advance payment of $50 million after a framework agreement was signed, it said in a statement to the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange.

The joint venture will be 50 per cent owned by Elbit and 50 per cent by its local partner, which Elbit did not name. The companies plan to buy 190 acres of land in an upscale section of the southern Indian city of Bangalore.

Elbit also said it would offer its subsidiary Plaza Centers NV 50 per cent participation in its share of the joint venture.

The residential project will include villas, apartments, a hotel with up to 400 rooms and a shopping centre.

Revenues from the project are expected to exceed $3 billion.

Construction is expected to begin within a year and will take about three to five years.

''We see our activities in India as forming a very important part of our business,'' Elbit board chairman Mordechai Zisser said.

Elbit's shares were up 1.4 per cent in morning trade in Tel Aviv, compared with slight gains in the broader bourse.

Reuters