India's Lodha to buy DLF's Mumbai plot for $488mn

MUMBAI: India's Lodha Developers said it has agreed to buy DLF's 17-acre plot of land in Mumbai for 27 billion rupees ($488 million).

The Mumbai-based developer is planning to build about 5 million square feet of homes and offices on the site in central Mumbai for which it has secured planning approval, it said on Monday.

DLF, India's biggest property developer, bought the plot for about 7 billion rupees in 2005 from state-run National Textile Corporation. It plans to use part of the sale proceeds to pare its debt of about 227 billion rupees.

Shares in DLF, valued by the market at about $6.5 billion, ended up 3.5 percent at 217.70 rupees in a stable Mumbai market ahead of the news. ($1 = 55.3250 Indian rupees)