plans by the promoters of top real estate company dlf to buy out hedge fund de shaws investment in familyowned dlf assets dal could hit a roadblock because of a little known rule in the countrys foreign exchange laws people familiar with the matter saidunder a put option signed between de shaw and three companies controlled by dlfpromoter kp singhs family in may 2007 the usbased fund which invested 400 million in convertible preference shares of dal could exit its investment and get a fixed return of at least 27as per the put option with dlf investments kohinoor real estates and buland consultants de shaw is supposed to get back around rs 2500 crore after forex adjustments a person with knowledge of the matter saidbut the rule in the countrys foreign exchange management act fema classifies all equity investments that carry a fixed return as debt which could bring de shaw investment under the purview of external commercial borrowing ecb guidelineswith ecbs not allowed in the real estate sector investors holding convertible stock with fixed returns could find their exit option blocked it will be very difficult for any investor in real estate to exercise the put option with a fixed exit price for the equity because of fema guideline a top corporate lawyer told et now on conditions of anonymityanalysts feel this rule which was recently clarified by the reserve bank of india rbi after it was approached in the past two months by several investors in a similar situation could affect several similar transactions that were done in 2007 estimated to total around 7 billion when contacted dlf declined to comment while an email to de shaw went unanswered however one person familiar with the matter said a team from the indian operation of de shaw was due to meet the hedge funds global investment committee at end of this week to finalise a way forwarddlfs promoter family sold 99 in the company for around rs 3800 crore on may 14 the singh family had decided to spend a large chunk of this money to buy out de shaw which had originally wanted to exit its investment from dal but has since decided to partially stay invested in the company dal which buys out completed it sez assets from dlf was set up as a real estate investment trust reit by dlf promoters dlf vicechairman rajiv singh wanted to list dal in singapore but following the crash in the global equity markets the company decided not to go for a reit listing