THE MAKING OF A GLOBAL REAL ESTATE GIANT

摘要

EVER WONDER WHERE the Indians who answer your help desk calls actually sit? Chances are they're in an office complex built by India's most powerful real estate tycoon, Kushal Pal Singh. Among the 74-year-old former army officer's most successful holdings are scores of modern office buildings in Gurgaon, a suburb of New Delhi. His top tenants: back-office tech operations and call centers run by the likes of British Airways, Electronic Data Systems, General Electric, Honeywell, and Nestle. Singh has been tireless in his efforts to lure the globe s biggest corporate players to his buildings. That has helped the developer, whom former General Electric CEO Jack Welch describes as "a true ambassador for India," parlay 1.8 billion dollars in real estate investments into holdings worth about 24 billion dollars. Now, Singh has even bigger ideas for his company, DLF Ltd. He's planning a July initial public offering of 10 percent of DLF, a deal that could fetch around 2 billion dollars, making it India's largest initial stock offering. The booming Indian economy, says Singh, is creating "a massive opportunity for companies like DLF."