Lodha Developers may hit capital market on April 7 with Rs 2,500 crore IPO

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New Delhi: Realty major Lodha Developers is likely to hit the capital market on April 7 with a Rs 2,500 crore initial public offer (IPO), as it seeks to raise funds to reduce debt and future growth.

Mumbai-based Lodha Developers Ltd, which has been renamed Macrotech Developers, filed the draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) with the Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI) last month.

According to banking officials, the company has got the SEBI approval to launch its IPO. The public issue is likely to hit the capital market on April 7, they added. A company spokesperson declined to comment. This would be the third attempt by Lodha Developers to launch a public issue and list its shares on the stock exchanges.

The company had filed its DRHP for the first time in September 2009, to raise about Rs 2,800 crore. It had received SEBI’s nod in January 2010 but later shelved the plan due to unfavourable market conditions post the global financial crisis.

In April 2018, Lodha Developers again filed the DRHP and got SEBI”s approval in July 2018 to launch its IPO to raise up to Rs 5,500 crore. However, the plan was shelved amid market turmoil.

Earlier, people familiar with the matter had said that Lodha Developers aims to raise around Rs 2,500 crore through its IPO with a dilution of 10% stake. The proceeds will be used to repay debt and the development of projects.

The privately-held Lodha Group, which was founded in 1995 by Mangal Prabhat Lodha, is a leading player in the Indian real estate market. It has a presence in Mumbai, Pune, and London. Lodha Group is the country’s largest residential real estate developer by sales bookings.

The group had forayed into the London realty market in 2013 and acquired two prime sites in central London for an investment of about 400 million pounds.