BENGALURU : Embassy Office Parks REIT has 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.
Embassy REIT said it has received the right of first offer (ROFO) notice for the potential acquisition of the 29-acre ‘Embassy Splendid TechZone’, a business park in Chennai from the Embassy Sponsor. The property has about 5 million sq ft of development potential, of which 1.4 million sq ft has been built and leased.
In a similar transaction, Embassy REIT in 2020 had acquired Embassy Tech Village in Bengaluru from the Embassy Sponsor, members of the Blackstone Group and other selling shareholders for an enterprise value of $1.3 billion.
Embassy REIT is India’s first public listed real estate investment trust.
“We feel we are past the bottom of covid impact. We have a strong leasing pipeline of 300,000-400,000 sq ft. The positive leasing momentum gives us the confidence to increase our guidance for the full year FY2022 as we look beyond the external challenges of the past two years. There may be some delay in signing leases but we don’t think the fundamentals of India’s office market are damaged," Michael Holland, CEO, Embassy REIT said in an interview.
The firm said it has delivered 1.1 million sq ft JP Morgan campus at Embassy Tech Village and kick-started the next growth cycle with 1.9 million sq ft of new development.
Embassy REIT on Friday reported a 30% jump in net operating income to ₹621.3 crore for the December quarter and announced distribution of ₹493 crore to its unit holders.
