Microtech Developers’ IPO to open on 7 April; issue price fixed at ₹483-486

Mumbai: The initial public offering of Macrotech Developers Ltd, formerly known as Lodha Developers, will open on 7 April and close 9 April. The issue price has been fixed at ₹483- ₹486 per share.

The firm will raise ₹2500 crore via the IPO. The company proposes to utilise an estimated ₹1,500 crore from the net proceeds for prepayment, repayment or redemption of all or a portion of borrowings availed by the company and some of its subsidiaries.

As of December, consolidated aggregate outstanding borrowings of the company stood at ₹18,662.19 crore.

“(This) will help reduce our outstanding indebtedness, assist us in maintaining a favourable debt-equity ratio and enable utilisation of some additional amount from our internal accruals for further investment in business growth and expansion. In addition, we believe that since our debt-equity ratio will improve significantly, it will enable us to raise further resources at competitive rates in the future to fund potential business development opportunities and plans to grow and expand our business in the future," the company said in its DRHP.

The company also intends to acquire land or land development rights, primarily in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region and Pune, worth ₹375 crore with part of the proceeds of the issue.

As of December, the company had 91 completed projects comprising approximately 77.22 million square feet of developable area, of which 59.13 million square feet is in affordable and mid-income housing, 12.15 million square feet is in premium and luxury housing, 5.21 million square feet in office space, and 0.74 million square feet in retail space. It has 36 ongoing projects comprising approximately 28.78 million square feet of developable area.

The company reported a total income of ₹3,160.49 crore for the period ended December compared with ₹9,357.35 crore a year ago. Net loss stood at ₹264.30 crore compared to a profit of ₹503.08 crore.

This will be the developer’s third attempt at an IPO. It had filed its first share sale document in September 2009 to raise around ₹2,800 crore but shelved the plan in the aftermath of the 2008 global financial crisis.

Lodha later revived plans of a public listing in 2018 to raise around ₹5,500 crore after receiving the market regulator’s approval but withdrew after a liquidity crisis hit the real estate sector.

Lodha Group, India’s largest real estate developer by residential sales, said it registered over ₹2,500 crore of bookings in the quarter ended 31 December. The firm saw increased demand for luxury and premium homes, clocking around ₹1,000 crore of bookings in this segment, while the mid-income and affordable business fetched ₹1,500 crore worth of bookings during the period.