Sriram Mahadevan, managing director of SPRE’s middle-income housing platform Joyville, will serve as CEO in addition to his current position. SPRE’s earlier business leader Sumit Sapru will also serve as CEO.
Prior to the rescheduling, Venkatesh Gopalakrishnan, MD and CEO, will now serve as a director of SPRE’s managing director, director and group starter office. Both CEOs will report to him.
The restructuring is ahead of the IPO, and the 160-year-old infrastructure to energy group Shapoorji Pallonji Group is planning for its real estate holding company.
“The project is already overseen between two CEOs, who manage the operating profit and loss statement. They also share a shared responsibility for the entire portfolio. This is part of the company’s talent development program, aiming to create stronger leadership bandwidth to manage the growing business scale,” the two mentioned above said on anonymous condition.
Gopalakrishnan will focus on the planned IPO, to the future of the organization, and retain overall responsibility for the real estate business to shareholders and other stakeholders, the pair said.
“This will ensure operational efficiency and focus on IPOs and other strategic plans,” the above-mentioned person said.
A SPRE spokesperson did not respond to an email seeking comments.
After reorganization practice
Leadership Rejig ended on July 30 last year after Shapoorji Pallonji’s real estate business, when SPRE was formed as a new real estate holding company.
Prior to this, Shapoorji Pallonji Group developed residential projects under the Shapoorji Pallonji real estate brand; middle-income housing projects under Joyville; and office parks under the SP Infacity label. SPRE, as a holding company, brings all of the group’s real estate assets under an umbrella.
As a result, the new holding entity owns about 45 land parcels and projects, MINT reported on November 3.
Gopalakrishnan told MINT in an interview last year that promoters were eager to make real estate one of the largest businesses in the Shapoorji Pallonji group.
Among the five major property markets, there are nearly 2,000 acres of land – Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore, Gurugram and Kolkata, as well as large plots of Mysoru and Nagpur, the land of SPRE and the ongoing projects are worth about ~ ₹50,000 million. Land Bank will help create a large-scale portfolio with an overall development potential of approximately 140 million square feet.
SPRE plans to list over the next two years or so, initially raising $80 billion to $900 million with a 10-12% stake. Later, further dilution dilution will increase public spaces to 25%, resulting in about $2 billion in fundraising, the Mint report said.
The company plans to expand its operations in the residential market currently dominated by four publicly listed developers DLF Ltd, Godrej Properties Ltd, Macrotech Developers Ltd and Prestige Group.
The first person said: “SPRE’s goal is to reach $1 billion in turnover in 2025-26 and launch more than a dozen new projects.”
The second person added that to scale up SPRE, it would need to raise funds. “Even if the IPO happens later, they can raise funds through non-core land sales or time-level funds,” the person said.
Leadership role in real estate companies
As real estate companies expand faster than ever and focus on multi-city growth, developers have been building leadership positions and responsibilities.
Bengaluru-based Prestige Group has appointed business leaders and CEOs for every vertical and geographical location in which it operates. Similarly, Godrej Properties designates the regional CEO. Each project is like an operational department with a project manager and leadership team to monitor profitability, customer satisfaction, and other quality metrics throughout the project lifecycle.
As part of its business process redesign, many real estate developers are hiring professionals to lead business verticals, positioning regionally or product category-based, said Gulam Zia, executive director of Frank India, a real estate consulting cavalier.
“Beyond the office, residential and retail asset classes, further segregation based on product categories are also shaping up. For instance, luxury housing needs an independent P&L, CEO or business head to succeed, and mixing it with affordable housing can be a recipe for disaster. The CEOs for such portfolios are then fully accountable for that vertical, and can grow it with better efficiency,” Zia said.
