Embassy REIT to acquire business park in Chennai for Rs 1,269 cr; plans to raise Rs 2,500 crore

Embassy Office Parks REIT on Saturday announced the acquisition of a business park for Rs 1,269 crore and the plan to raise Rs 2,500 crore by selling units to investors mainly to fund the acquisition.

In a regulatory filing, Embassy REIT informed that it has agreed to purchase Embassy Splendid TechZone (ESTZ), a Grade-A business park, from sponsor Embassy Group for an enterprise value of Rs 1,269 crore.

The proposed acquisition marks Embassy REIT's entry into Chennai.

"Embassy REIT intends to raise unit capital of Rs 2,500 crore, primarily to finance the acquisition and reduce the current 30 per cent leverage of the portfolio, providing flexibility for future growth," it said.

The business park ESTZ comprises 1.4 million square feet of completed area, which is 95 per cent occupied and leased to large global companies such as Wells Fargo and BNY Mellon, among others.

It also comprises 1.6 million square feet of under-construction area and 2 million square feet of future development potential.

The Board of the Manager to Embassy REIT has approved the acquisition of a business park and an institutional placement via an enabling resolution of up to Rs 3,000 crore, subject to unitholder approval.

"At Embassy Group, our priority is to develop world-class office assets and support the expansion of the REIT's portfolio through a pipeline of opportunities that will help it to grow inorganically over the coming years," Jitendra Virwani, Chairman & Managing Director of Embassy Group, said.

After the successful acquisition of Embassy TechVillage and Embassy Business Hub in Bengaluru by the Embassy REIT, he said the group has provided another premier office park in a prominent market like Chennai.

Aravind Maiya, Chief Executive Officer of Embassy REIT, said, "The proposed accretive acquisition of Embassy Splendid TechZone will mark the addition of another quality asset to our existing office portfolio, which continues to benefit greatly from the demand that Global Capability Centres (GCCs) are demonstrating for Indian office space." The acquisition will take the Embassy REIT portfolio to over 50 million square feet, he added.

"This acquisition further diversifies our India presence, enhances our scale and ability to deliver embedded growth to all our stakeholders," Maiya said.

Embassy REIT is India's first publicly listed Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT).

Listed in April 2019, Embassy REIT owns and operates a 45.4 million square feet portfolio of nine infrastructure-like office parks and four city centre office buildings in Bengaluru, Mumbai, Pune, and the National Capital Region (NCR).