Macrotech Developers Ltd, earlier known as Lodha Developers, is gearing up to launch its Rs2,500 crore initial public offering (IPO) on 7 April, said two people aware of the development.
The company will file its red herring prospectus with the Registrar of Companies today, said one of the people cited above, requesting anonymity. The IPO will close on 9 April, he said, adding that the issue has received final approval from the Securities and Exchange Board of India.
The company hasn’t raised any pre-IPO funding, even though the draft prospectus included a provision to raise upto Rs500 crore through the route, the person added.
This is Lodha’s third attempt to go public.
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. In 2018, the company filed for an IPO again, aiming to raise around Rs5,500 crore.
A spokesperson for Lodha group was not immediately available for a comment.
As per the draft prospectus filed last month, the company proposes to utilise an estimated Rs1,500 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 Rs18,662.19 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.
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 Rs3,160.49 crore for the period ended December compared with Rs9,357.35 crore a year ago. Net loss stood at Rs264.30 crore compared to a profit of Rs503.08 crore.
This article was first published on livemint.com
