India's Embassy REIT to raise $300 mln to fund acquisition, lower debt
06/04/2024 13:42
NEW DELHI, April 6 (Reuters) - India's largest real
estate investment trust, Embassy Office Parks EMBA.NS , said on
Saturday it will raise 25 billion Indian rupees ($300 million)
to fund its acquisition of an integrated office park and repay
debt.
Embassy, which manages over 45 million square feet (4.18
million square metres) of office parks, has clients including
Google GOOGL.O , Cisco CSCO.O and IBM IBM.N , which are
bolstering their presence in India.
Embassy, Asia's biggest office REIT, said the funds raised
from investors would be used to finance the acquisition of an
integrated office park in the southern state of Chennai for
12.69 billion rupees and reduce existing portfolio leverage to
27% from 30%.
The announcement confirms a Reuters story that said the
company plans to raise up to $400 million from investors.
Commercial real estate is booming in India, with large local
and global companies hiring in record numbers after the COVID-19
pandemic. In 2023, companies in India leased 61.6 million square
feet of office space, and the year's last quarter saw record
quarterly leasing, consultancy firm CBRE said.
That's in contrast with markets such as the U.S., UK and
Australia, where office occupancies have slumped with people
working from home. Although companies in India too have "hybrid"
working models, many still need more office space to fit new
hires and for back offices, which employ thousands.
($1 = 83.2930 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Aftab Ahmed and M. Sriram; editing by David
Evans)
((Aftab.Ahmed@thomsonreuters.com; +91 99109 33884;))