Real estate firm Unitech said it will raise over Rs 2,789 crore through private placement of shares to institutional investors at Rs 81 a piece.

The board has approved the issuance of over 34.43 crore shares to qualified institutional buyers (QIB) at a price of Rs 81 a piece, aggregating to Rs 2,789.32 crore, Unitech said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange.

The company, which had raised Rs 1,621 crore in the second half of April at Rs 38.50 per share through the qualified institutional placement (QIP) route, launched the second round on Friday at Rs 81 per share.

Following the first round of QIP, promoter's stake had come down to 51 per cent from about 64 per cent.

The country's second largest realty firm has been raising funds from the beginning of this year to improve the cash flow of the company and reduce its huge debt, which surged to nearly Rs 11,000 crore by the end of 2008.

Unitech, having a land bank of about 8,000 acres covering 500 million sq ft, had also raised Rs 1,000 crore by outright sale of two hotels in Gurgaon and an office building in Saket.

Shares of Unitech were trading at Rs 81.40 on BSE, up 2.26 per cent over the previous close.