Realty major Macrotech Developers is in an advanced stage of discussion with two global investors to set up a platform that will invest more than USD 1 billion to develop warehousing and industrial parks across India, a top company official said.
In an interview with PTI, Macrotech Developers Managing Director (MD) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Abhishek Lodha said: “The talks are in advance stage for setting up a platform for warehousing and industrial parks. We will be hopefully announcing the deal in the next 3-4 weeks”.
“The platform will be investing over USD 1 billion. There will be three partners in the platform, including us and two other global investors,” he said but did not disclose the name of the potential partners.
Lodha said the company would largely provide assets, including land and ready warehousing space, in the platform while the two partners will bring in equity investments to develop warehousing and light industrial parks. The three partners are likely to have an equal shareholding in the proposed platform, he added.
Lodha said the company remained bullish on residential real estate as well as warehousing and industrial segments in view of the rising demand and would continue to expand and grow.
Macrotech Developers, one of the leading real estate developers in the country, got listed last year by raising Rs 2,500 crore through its Initial Public Offer (IPO). It also raised Rs 4,000 crore in November through the Qualified Institutional Placement (QIP) route by selling equity shares to institutional investors.
On the operational front, Lodha said the company is targeting 27 per cent growth in its sales bookings during the current fiscal at Rs 11,500 crore on better demand prospects and a strong pipeline of new launches.
“We had given the pre-sales guidance of Rs 9,000 crore for the last fiscal and we achieved sales bookings of Rs 9,024 crore despite disruption due to COVID second wave in April-May last year, as well as the impact of Omicron in January 2022,” Lodha said.
The company’s sales bookings rose 57 per cent to Rs 9,024 crore during the last fiscal from Rs 5,968 crore in 2020-21.
The collections from customers increased 70 per cent to Rs 8,597 crore in the 2021-22 from Rs 5,052 crore in the previous fiscal. The delivery of projects almost doubled to 5.3 million square feet from 2.7 million square feet.
Out of the total target of Rs 11,500 crore in sales bookings in FY23, the company expects sales bookings of Rs 10,500 crore from the residential segment and the rest from sales of commercial assets. The JDA (joint development agreement) strategy will enable the company to achieve the targeted growth in a very capital-light manner.
The company signed 11 JDAs for nearly Rs 15,000 crore GDV (gross development value) during FY22, he said, adding that the company would actively pursue this route to deepen its presence in Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) and Pune.
“We are exploring entering the Bengaluru market. But no final decision has been taken so far,” he said.
Lodha said the housing demand is expected to remain strong, driven by low-interest rates on home loans and the rising concept of having homeownership.
“With each passing quarter, demand only strengthens on the back of rising consumer confidence on the strong real estate brands on the back of growing economy and per capita income,” he said.
The growth journey of the Indian housing market on the back of rising incomes and favourable demography has just begun, he noted. Lodha mentioned that the industry after several years has entered into a positive price-demand cycle, enabling the conversion of latent demand into actual sales in a shorter time frame.
The market share of branded developers having a good execution track record would further improve, he noted.
Last week, Macrotech Developers reported a multi-fold jump in consolidated net profit at Rs 1,202.37 crore for the last fiscal on higher revenue and pre-sales. Its net profit stood at Rs 40.16 crore in 2020-21. Total income rose to Rs 9,579.17 crore in the 2021-22 financial year from Rs 5,771.65 crore in the previous fiscal.
Macrotech Developers is one of the largest real estate developers in the country and the company markets its properties under the Lodha brand. The company’s core business is residential real estate development with a focus on affordable and mid-income housing. It also has a growing industrial and logistics park business.
Macrotech Developers, erstwhile Lodha Developers, has delivered more than 85 million square feet of real estate and is currently developing around 95 million square feet under its ongoing and planned portfolio. The group has about 4,400 acres of land bank for future development.
