Lodha group's UK arm raises over USD 200mn via bond-issue

Realty firm Lodha group's UK subsidiary has raised over USD 200 million by issuing bonds in Singapore market to refinance part of its outstanding debt, sources said.

The issue opened on February 27. The bonds will be listed on the Singapore exchange.

Lodha Developers International, a subsidiary of Mumbai-based Lodha Developers (which has been renamed as Macrotech Developers), had proposed to offer USD 225 million (around Rs 1,611 crore) aggregate principal of senior secured notes maturing in 2023.

According to the sources, Lodha group raised a little over USD 200 million in the bond-issue. Many global investors - including Allianz, Citi, UBS, and Fidelity invested in this issue.

Lodha International will use the proceeds of the issue to refinance a part of its outstanding USD 324 million (around Rs 2,320 crore) senior notes maturing this month.

"Earlier this week, we raised 86 million pound (Rs 800 crore) in the UK. With these proceeds and additional cash flows from our UK and India businesses, we look forward to fully repaying our USD bonds in March 2020," Macrotech Developers MD & CEO Abhishek Lodha had said on February 27.

On Wednesday, Moody's Investors Service said that refinancing risk for Macrotech Developers continues to remain high, even as it might be able to meet its near-term debt maturity.

Lodha group had made a foray into the London market in 2013 with the acquisition of the landmark MacDonald House at 1 Grosvenor Square in prime Central London for over GBP 300 million (Rs 3,100 crore).

Macrotech Developers is India's largest residential real estate developer by sales and construction area.

The company has clocked net new sales of over Rs 7,000 crore in 2018-19 with collections of over Rs 9,000 crore. It delivered over 10,000 offices and homes in FY 18-19.

In the first nine months of 2019-20 fiscal year, sales have reached around Rs 5,000 crore, up 15 per cent from the corresponding period of the previous year.

The debt of India business is around Rs 15,000 crore.