TechVillage deal done, Embassy to sell more assets to its listed REIT

The TechVillage sale for $1.3 bn was the country's single largest commercial property deal, and made Embassy REIT the largest in Asia by office space

Bengaluru-based Embassy group will sell more properties to Embassy Office Parks, the real estate investment trust or REIT floated by it with its partner Blacktone , its chairman Jitu Virvani said in a webinar today.

In the single largest commercial property deal in the country, Embassy and Blackstone sold Embassy TechVillage’s (ETV’s) assets in Bengaluru for $1.3 billion (Rs 9,782.4 crore) to Embassy REIT.

This deal made Embassy REIT the largest in Asia by office space. Blackstone and Embassy floated the country's first REIT and listed it last year.

"I believe developers should merge their assets into these REITs instead of floating their own REITs. Finally the country should have for to five big REITs," Virvani said at a webinar hosted by National Real Estate Development Council and Asia Pacific Real Estate Association today.

 

He said Embassy will sell more assets to the listed REIT.

"We own 15 per cent in the REIT. We do not need to own everything . As long as we control what is going into REIT and get the right value, we are okay with it," Virvani said.

On Indiabulls Real Estate merger with Embassy he said, "The merger was properly timed. They wanted to divest, Blackstone was keen to join and it was a listed entity," he said.

"Whatever we do, we will do with this new platform," he said.

Indiabulls exited real estate business this year after merging its assets with Embassy group.

Virvani said Embassy shield away from residential properties as it needed lot of equity sahi adde that they would Embassy's residential business with that of Indiabulls.