EMBASSY REIT RAISES ₹2,600 CR VIA DEBENTURES

NEW DELHI: Embassy Office Parks REIT on Friday said it has raised ₹2,600 crore through issue of non-convertible debentures to refinance an existing debt of its IT park ‘Embassy TechVillage’ in Bengaluru.

In a regulatory filing at BSE, the company said it has “successfully priced and allotted by way of a private placement, ₹2,600 crore or $351 million of rupee-denominated, listed, rated, secured, redeemable, transferable non-convertible debentures (NCDs) at a 6.40% quarterly coupon.”

The NCDs will be listed on the wholesale debt market of BSE.

“We will use the funds raised to refinance a portion of the in-place Embassy TechVillage debt. Post this bond raise, we continue to maintain conservative leverage ratios and retain our flexibility to finance future growth,” said Mike Holland, chief executive officer of Embassy Reit.

On January 12, the debenture committee of the board of directors of the manager to Embassy Reit approved the issue of NCDs.

Embassy Reit had on December 24, 2020, completed the acquisition of Embassy TechVillage for ₹9,780 crore. It recently raised ₹3,680 crore as equity through an institutional placement to fund this acquisition.

Embassy Reit is India’s first publicly listed Real Estate Investment Trust (Reit), sponsored by global investment firm Blackstone and realty firm Embassy group.

It owns and operates a 42.4 million sq. ft portfolio of eight infrastructure-like office parks and four city-centre office buildings in Bengaluru, Mumbai, Pune, and the National Capital Region.