Chennai :

As the property earns a rental of 65 per sq ft per month, the annual returns on investment for Tata Coffee will be 10.8%, higher than the industry average of 10% returns for Grade A commercial space.

Sivasankaran is now under bankruptcy protection by an order of the Seychelles Supreme Court. Andhra Bank took possession of property after Siva Industries defaulted payment of Rs 42.7 crore loans.

“The company has invested in a commercial property consisting of four floors of office space in MRC Nagar in Chennai for a consideration of approximately Rs 65 crore through public auction,” Tata Coffee said. Sivasankaran could not be reached for comments.

Sivasankaran’s financial problems began when he was supposedly coerced into selling Aircel to Maxis by former Union telecom minister Dayanidhi Maran. His re-entry into the telecom sector through S Tel, and his investments in renewable energy and shipping backfired.

The serial entrepreneur applied for bankruptcy protection in a Seychelles court to ward off a claim by his Bahrain-based telecom partner Batelco, which won a court decree for its $212million claim on its investment in S Tel, for which Sivasankaran had stood personal guarantee. S Tel’s telecom licences in India were cancelled along with 121 other licences by the Supreme Court in the 2G case.

Since then, entities that were part of Siva Group have started selling or monetizing the group’s assets. His group headquarters–Sterling Towers on Anna Salai-has been sold.

Last month, Sivasankaran, agreed to sell Firhaven Estate, his 1.9 lakh sqft residence in MRC Nagar, to unknown buyers for nearly Rs 400 crore.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> Business> India Business / TNN / February 27th, 2015