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• DLF, the country's biggest real estate firm, will sell a convention centre project in Delhi and its wind power business for about 1,800 crore early next fiscal, a senior company executive said. The developer, which had a debt of over 22,000 crore at the end of September, is hoping to raise 3,000 crore in the current fiscal and about 3,500 crore in 2012-13 by selling its non-core businesses. The executive, who did not want to be named, said DLF is close to finalising a joint venture agreement for the convention centre at Dwarka, in west Delhi, with a Japanese company that executes mega mall projects. The source declined to name the company but said DLF may hold a very small stake in the joint venture as part of a structured deal. The convention centre is expected to fetch DLF about 800 crore.

• DLF had acquired a 35-acre plot from the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) in 2007 for 901 crore to ready a convention centre ahead of the 2010 Commonwealth Games. But the project, which was to include three hotels, commercial complexes and meeting areas, could not take off. Later, when the company wanted to exit the project and sought a refund from the DDA, the development body refused after seeking legal advise. A top DDA official told ET, "DLF has sought permission to change the structure of the company that has got the land for the convention centre. They want to convert it into a consortium with a foreign partner, but DDA has not taken any decision yet." The DLF executive said the developer has started negotiations with investors for its wind power business and expects to raise 1,000 crore through its sale.

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