Lodha Group pays balance Rs 725 crore to DLF for land parcel in Lower Parel

MUMBAI: Leading realtor Lodha Group on Wednesday paid the balance Rs 725 crore as the final tranche of equity portion to DLF as part of the nearly Rs 2,725-crore transaction to acquire the latter’s 17-acre land parcel in Lower Parel, said persons close to the development.

Lodha had earlier paid Rs 500 crore to DLF as an upfront towards equity component of the total consideration. The Mumbai developer will also have to absorb debt worth Rs 1,500 crore that was raised by DLF for their proposed project on this prime land parcel.

The company has raised debt of around Rs 120 crore through a nonbanking financial company apart from organising the balance Rs 605-odd crore.

Lodha had earlier said the company may raise some part of funds for this deal through a private equity transaction. The company had said that the contribution from private equity partner will be limited to Rs 500 crore.

With this payment, Lodha has completed the payment towards acquisition of equity of Jawala Real Estate, DLF’s subsidiary, that holds ownership of this land parcel.

Both Lodha and DLF declined to comment for the story.

In August, Lodha Group entered into a binding agreement to buy the land parcel for Rs 2,750 crore from DLF, making the largest land transaction so far in the country. DLF itself had acquired this prime central Mumbai for Rs 702 crore in 2005 in an auction conducted by NTC. DLF was trying to sell this NTC land parcel at Lower Parel for almost a year before it concluded the deal with Lodha following over four months of talks with the buyer.

On Tuesday, shares of DLF closed at Rs 202.70 on the BSE, up 1.8% from Tuesday’s close.