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BENGALURU : Embassy Office Parks REIT, India’s first listed real estate investment trust, on Thursday said that its board has approved fund-raising of up to ₹1000 crore, through the issuance of listed, secured, redeemable and rupee-denominated non-convertible debentures (NCDs) in one or more tranches.
The board of Embassy Office Parks Management Services Pvt Ltd, the manager to Embassy REIT met on Thursday morning.
“The funds would be utilized towards growth initiatives including development and acquisitions, investment in the holding company, special purpose vehicles or the investment entity of the Embassy REIT, including through subscription to debt securities and general purposes," the company said in a regulatory filing.
The board authorized the debenture committee to approve and take all decisions and actions in relation to any proposed issuance of debenture.
The company also said it has also appointed deputy chief financial officer Abhishek Agrawal as the interim chief financial officer from 1 June following the resignation of CFO Aravind Maiya.
Earlier this year, Embassy REIT had said it has received the right of first offer notice for the potential acquisition of the 29-acre ‘Embassy Splendid TechZone’, a business park in Chennai from the Embassy Sponsor.
In October 2021, the firm said it has raised ₹4,600 crore debt at a lower interest cost of 6.5%, which will be used to refinance its existing bond outstanding of ₹4,530 crore that will mature in early November.
Embassy REIT owns and operates a 42.6 million sq ft portfolio of eight office parks and four city-centre office buildings in Bengaluru, Mumbai, Pune, and National Capital Region (NCR). It upped its guidance for leasing in the current financial year from 400,000 sq ft to 1 million sq ft, on the back of sustained demand from occupiers across sectors. The company expects to clock around 1.7 million sq ft of gross leasing, which includes lease renewals by existing tenants in 2021-22.
In the December quarter, the company leased 428,000 sq ft of office space, of which 340,000 sq ft was new leasing. In the first nine months of FY22, it has leased about 700,000 sq ft.
