NOV 17: Housing Development and Finance Corporation (HDFC) will fund mergers and acquisitions (M&As) in the real estate industry only and has not taken a policy decision to fund takeovers in all sectors, its chairman, Deepak Parekh said here today. Welcoming the recent surge in hostile takeovers, he said M&As will unlock the value of the company in favour of the shareholders who were suffering for a long time due to low valuations.Parekh said the consolidation in the real estate companies is necessary so that the industry can take up big construction projects. Citing an example, he said the Prime Minister's golden quadrangle road project is not taking off as there are not many construction companies in the country which can take up road projects of 1,000 km. ``The small contractors are bidding for only 20 to 30 kilometers. This country requires big constructions companies. Hence, HDFC had brought the promoters of Gesco Corp and Mahindra Realty together,'' he added.``Depending on the transparency and financial strength of the company, HDFC would be funding M&As. Technically, we could finance both the firms for bidding for same projects," he said.Parekh said many a times financial institutions have offered finances to several parties for bidding for the same kind of business licenses or acquisition. ``There were cases when two potential bidders have approached us during the telecom sector licensing bids,'' he said.HDFC Securities launches retail broking servicesMUMBAI: HDFC Securities Ltd, (hdfcsec.com) today launched its broking services for retail investors on internet at a brokerage at 50 basis points of the transaction."HDFC Securities aims to provide a single-point source for retail investors in their requirements for trading and investment products. Apart from offering equity trading facilities for retail investors this also makes available all the financial products of the group companies," HDFC Group Chairman Deepak Parekh said.The use of the phone-based model as a means of transaction marks a first among internet-enabled broking ventures in India, Parekh said.
