SRK Owns Land On The Moon

Believe it or not, but a crazy Australian fan gifts Shah Rukh Khan a piece of the moon every year on his birthday. SRK confirms to a daily, "Yes, an Australian lady buys a little land on the moon for me every year on my birthday. She has been buying it for a while now and I get these certificates from the Lunar Republic Society."

SRK adds that he has met his fan and she keeps in touch with him all year through mails, "She writes me colourful emails (in the sense one line is red, one is blue and so on). I feel blessed to have the love of so many people worldwide."

According to one online lunar real estate agency, www(dot)lunarregistry (dot) com , the Sea of Tranquility is the most sought-after address on the moon.

1 acre (approximately 43,560 sq ft, or 4,047 sq mtrs) costs US $37.50 (Rs 1758.75) and the actor owns several acres there. An ownership package includes a beautifully engraved parchment deed, a satellite photograph of the property and an information sheet detailing the geography of your region. An interactive Full Moon Atlas on CD-ROM is available at an additional cost.

You are allowed to purchase up to 40 acres per transaction. The proceeds from the purchase of the plot on the moon, go toward the Lunar Republic Society's programme for privatised human-based exploration, settlement and development of the Moon.

Now while there are many websites on the internet (based in the US, UK and Russia) that allows you to buy land on the moon, it doesn't mean you can charge NASA or other space agencies for trespassing when they land on your property.

Property ownership is permanently registered by the International Lunar Lands Registry in its annual publication, which is copyrighted and deposited in the United States Library of Congress and with international patent and trademark offices, including the United Kingdom (UK Patent Office), Japan (Japan Copyright Office), Russia (Rospatent) and with the United Nations (UN Depository Library), in compliance with the Berne Convention.

MPC Synergy in India

MPC Synergy Real Estate AG plans to invest about $1 billion (Rs4,000 crore) in the Indian real estate market over the next 18 months, reflecting the continued interest of overseas investors in India.

The company, a joint venture between Germany’s MPC Capital AG and Switzerland-based Synergy Asset Management SA (both companies are in the asset management business), expects a return of around 15% from its India investments, compared with the 5-6% return it typically earns in mature markets.

“We are investing in the Indian real estate market because we see incredible demand here,” said Alex Schroeder, chief executive officer, MPC Capital. “There might be a lull now. But the market is huge, considering that the housing shortfall is 28 million units,” he added.

MPC Synergy will raise money from retail investors in Europe and launch closed-ended funds for its projects. It recently launched its first real estate fund, with a corpus of $200 million, to invest in three residential projects being developed by Delhi-based Akme Projects Ltd.

Akme is promoted by Anil Nanda, the former vice-chairman of Escorts Ltd. Nanda said MPC Synergy’s investment would cover the capital costs of the three projects.

MPC Synergy is also looking at investing in malls, hotels, hospitals and schools. It plans to invest $400 million in malls, and is in discussions with two developers to invest in their mall projects, according to Jay Oberai, managing director, Synergy Asset Management. He declined to name the developers. “We are also looking at buying one or two malls, which are generating good revenues,” Oberai added. MPC Synergy has a similar $400 million investment planned for hotels in new projects across categories (three-, four- and five-star) in Mumbai, Goa, Bangalore, Agra, Udaipur and Jaipur. “We are in talks with two hotel players, out of which one is an international hotel chain,” said Oberai.

Source: Livemint.com