Lodha raises ₹3,300 cr equity via QIP; Blackrock, APG, Invesco Oppenheimer among investors

Real estate firm Macrotech Developers, formerly known as Lodha Developers, has raised ₹3,300 crores ($400 million) by issuance of equity shares through qualified institutional placement (QIP). The issue saw participation from marquee global and domestic institutional investors such as Invesco Oppenheimer, Blackrock, Franklin Templeton, HDFC Life, among others.

The issue price for the QIP was ₹1,098 per equity share, a discount of 2.79% (or ₹31.48 per equity share) to the floor price of ₹1,129.48 apiece, Lodha says in a release last evening.

“The book was oversubscribed by nearly 3 times within 5 hours of issue opening and witnessed traction from a diversified set of investors with long-term outlook, including sovereign funds, pension funds, insurers etc,” the release says.

This is the fourth equity raise by Lodha in last 36 months and it has raised over ₹13,000 crore of capital, including a secondary QIP, showing the exceptional support from high quality investors in brand Lodha, its strategy and team, the release notes.

Abhishek Lodha, MD & CEO, Macrotech Developers says, “We are delighted to successfully conclude our institutional placement. The significant demand from marquee investors enabled us to launch and close the QIP within hours of opening the book – a tremendous feat for the Indian housing industry. I am thankful to all our existing and new shareholders for reposing their faith in the brand Lodha once again.

As per the company, existing shareholders of the company such as Capital Group, GQG, Nomura, ADIA, HDFC Life enhanced their investment through this QIP. The Institutional placement also saw new marquee investors like Invesco Oppenheimer, Blackrock, Carmignac, Franklin Templeton, Norges, Lazard, APG, and RWC, it says.

Macrotech Developers CEO says that India’s housing industry is going to play a pivotal role in the country’s transition from a low-income economy to being a mid-income economy by the end of the decade. “During this period, housing is going to be the key beneficiary as well as the driver of the economic growth thereby creating “once in a country’s lifetime opportunity” for the industry. We see all the structural factors are in place for significant growth in volumes and are in only fourth year of a multi-decade long housing cycle.”

“With this capital raise, our balance sheet is exceptionally placed and will give us the opportunity to improve profitability, while we continue to deliver on our growth outlook,” Abhishek Lodha adds.

Ahead of the announcement, shares of Macrotech Developers ended Thursday’s trade at ₹1,171.85, down 2% on the BSE.