Realty bigwig Lodha Developers Ltd. has received the nod from Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to launch Rs 5,500-crore initial public offering. The developer reportedly had filed preliminary papers seeking approval in April this year.
Lodha Developers Ltd. got the final nod on July 6, Bloomberg Quint reported. The approval comes as the second biggest IPO in the real estate sector after DLF, which had raised close to Rs 9,200 crore in 2007 through its initial share sale offer.
It is noteworthy here that observations from the Sebi are necessary for any company to launch public issues like the rights issue, initial public offer (IPO) and follow-on public offer (FPO).
As per the draft papers, Lodha Developers plans to issue fresh shares worth Rs. 3,750 crores besides an offer for sale of 1.8 crores shares by the promoters. It reportedly also aims to raise about Rs. 750 crores out of the proposed issue through a pre-IPO placement of 95 lakh fresh shares.
According to market sources, the offer is expected to value Lodha Developers at around Rs 38,000 crore. The Mumbai-based developer is also looking at trebling its commercial portfolio in the next few years.
Lodha Developers Ltd. was founded in 1981 by Mangal Prabhat Lodha. Over the past years, the company has grown into one of India’s leading real estate companies. In fact, as on December 31, 2017, the company reportedly had completed 3.83 million square feet of leasable area and has approximately 11.60 million square feet of ongoing and planned commercial developments.
Lodha is now coming up with office spaces for IT and IT-enabled services, premium office buildings, affordable commercial areas, a 120 acre industrial and warehousing park at different locations of MMR, the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust, and the proposed Navi Mumbai International Airport, DNA India reported. The company also holds a chunk of land at Bhiwandi and Dombivali near Mumbai outskirts.