NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India’s largest real estate investment trust, Embassy Office Parks, 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, Cisco and IBM, 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)
