NEW DELHI, Nov 6: Realty firm Macrotech Developers plans to sell a shopping mall near Mumbai and 1.5-2 lakh square feet office space by March as part of the company’s strategy to monetise non-core assets, its MD and CEO Abhishek Lodha said.
He did not disclose the deal value of these 6.5-7 lakh square feet of commercial space. But, market sources said the value of these assets could be around Rs 800 crore.
Mumbai-based Macrotech Developers, which sells its properties under the Lodha brand, is one of the leading real estate firms in the country. It has a major presence in Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) and Pune property markets, while recently making entry into Bengaluru market with one housing project.
In an interview with PTI, Lodha sounded bullish on growth potential of India’s primary residential market and highlighted that demand has been strong despite rise in interest rates on home loans following the RBI’s move to hike repo rate by 190 basis points since May this year.
During April-September period, the company has clocked record sales bookings of Rs 6,004 crore, up 97 per cent from Rs 2,960 crore in the corresponding period of the previous year. It has already met more than half of its Rs 11,500 crore sales guidance for the full 2022-23 financial year.
Lodha noted that sales have remained strong during October, the festive month, and he strongly believed that the momentum would continue going forward driven by the India’s economic growth, job security and wage growth.
“As we have been saying, this is the start of a long term upcycle in housing in India, which in turn will create significant value for consumers because anybody who buys now will benefit from the value growth which will happen. So, I think the cycle is in a good place and that we have seen in our numbers,” he said.
“The festive season has ended in October and the demand continues to remain quite strong. Broadly, we remain quite positive about the underlying strength of the demand,” Lodha added.
Marcotech Developers’ MD & CEO said that sales in festive season were good.
Lodha noted that housing demand, of late, has been shifting towards large credible players who have good track record of executing projects on time. “The industry is witnessing consolidation in demand-supply”.
Asked about revising upwards annual guidance on sales bookings, he said the company would not change guidance at this stage and it will review the performance towards the end of this quarter and could make changes in guidance if required.
On fund raising plans, Lodha said there were no such plans as the the “company is very well capitalised.”
However, the company is in discussion with potential buyers for some of its non-core commercial assets.
“We are looking to monetise some of our non-core assets, including our mall in Palava near Mumbai and that will likely happen in the second half of the fiscal,” he said, The size of the mall, which is completed and fully-leased, is around 5 lakh square feet.
That apart, the company plans to sell 1.5-2 lakh square feet of office space at multiple locations.
Macrotech Developers has delivered more than 89 million square feet of real estate and is developing around 100 million square feet under its ongoing and planned portfolio.
The Lodha Group has about 4,400 acres of land beyond its ongoing and planned portfolio, which will be utilised in developing further residential, commercial and industrial and logistics spaces. (PTI)
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