Deutsche, funds invest $425 mn in Lodha Group

Deutsche Bank, Germany's biggest bank, led a group of private equity firms in investing $425 million in Indian real estate developer Lodha Group to tap a market where property prices have doubled in two years.

The funds would be used for three real estate projects in Mumbai, Lodha Group said in an e- mailed statement. JPMorgan Chase & Co and ICICI Bank's venture capital unit have already invested in the group, it said.

Deutsche joins Emaar Properties PJSC in investing in India, where the fastest wage growth in the Asia-Pacific region is helping more of the nation's 300 million-strong middle class buy homes.

JP Morgan expects developers may sell as much as $10 billion of shares in the next 18 months as the world's second-fastest pace of economic growth boosts demand for offices and homes.

Lodha has more than 25 million sq ft of land in 27 projects in Mumbai, the statement said. The developer has a land bank of more than 4,000 acres, it said.

More than half a dozen real estate companies have raised about $3.5 billion this year, including DLF Ltd, which sold $2.24 billion of shares in the country's biggest initial public offering.

Emaar MGF Land Ltd, the Indian unit of the Middle East's biggest real estate developer by market value, this week applied to sell shares for the first time.

The average price of a residential apartment in south Mumbai more than doubled in the past two years to Rs 22,000 ($554) a sq ft, according to Cushman & Wakefield. Office prices in the southern business district also doubled to a 10-year high.