Lavasa files prospectus for Rs 2,000-cr public offer

Lavasa Corporation, the real estate arm of Hindustan Construction Company (HCC), today filed a draft prospectus with the Securities and Exchange Board of India for an initial public offer (IPO), even after several developers have been keeping similar plans, after filing these, on hold for several months.

Lavasa is building a 12,500-acre township near Pune and plans to raise Rs 2,000 crore through the proposed issue, planned around November.

Among the large real estate companies which had filed for an IPO and then stopped themselves from going ahead, due to the state of the market, are Sahara Prime City (Rs 3,000-crore IPO planned), Embassy Property (Rs 3,000-crore planned ), Lodha Developers (Rs 2,800 crore) and Emaar MGF (Rs 2,000 crore). Sahara and Lodha filed last September and the other two this year. The shares of Nitesh Estates, the last such real estate firm to list, are trading at Rs 42, compared to the issue price of Rs 54 in May, a decline of 22 per cent.