Calcutta, Aug. 29: Eveready Industries India has entered into a memorandum of understanding to sell its 15-acre property at Navi Mumbai to Housing Development and Infrastructure Ltd (HDIL) for Rs 115 crore.

“Eveready Industries India has entered into an MoU with HDIL for the transfer of its rights, title and interest under a lease for land at Navi Mumbai,” the company told the BSE. HDIL said the transaction would be subject to necessary approvals and would be effected in stages over a period of time.

“The site is closed for the past 18 months. The land is on a 99-year lease — with another renewal clause of 99 years — with the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation. It is a selloff and not a joint development,” said Deepak Khaitan, vice-chairman and managing director of Eveready.

The proceeds from the selloff will be used to retire debts. The company brought down its borrowings to Rs 378 crore as on March 31 compared with Rs 509 crore for the corresponding period of the previous year. Eveready has received an upfront payment of Rs 11.50 crore as earnest money after signing the MoU.

Only last week, the board of Kilburn Engineering, another BM Khaitan Group company, had approved the sale of its 8.23-acre property at Bhandup, suburban Mumbai, to HDIL at Rs 15 crore per acre. The deal amounted to Rs 124.7 crore.

Unlike the Eveready property, the Kilburn plot had a fully functional factory. It will be shifted in stages to another site accompanied by the setting up of a new plant.

Eveready plans to hike its capacity to 2.1 billion batteries by March 2008. The company will invest Rs 40 crore in expanding its Calcutta unit.

On further unlocking value from land, Khaitan said such an option could be considered subsequently in Chennai, Hyderabad, Noida and Lucknow.

Eveready grew at a rate of 7 per cent last year, while the battery industry grew at 3 per cent. The industry expects an 8 per cent growth rate this year and Eveready is projected to grow at 10 per cent.

The company expects to double its net profit from operations this fiscal. Shares of Eveready Industries closed at Rs 54.65, down 0.46 per cent. HDIL shares settled at Rs 540.70, down 0.23 per cent.