Provisional CRISIL AAA/Stable rating for Embassy NCDs

India’s first listed REIT, Embassy Office Parks REIT, has said that it has successfully priced and allotted by way of a private placement, Rs 2,600 crore of rupee-denominated, listed, rated, secured, redeemable, transferable non-convertible debentures at a 6.40 percen

BY Realty Plus
Published - Monday, 18 Jan, 2021

Provisional CRISIL AAA/Stable rating for Embassy NCDs

India’s first listed REIT, Embassy Office Parks REIT, has said that it has successfully priced and allotted by way of a private placement, Rs 2,600 crore of rupee-denominated, listed, rated, secured, redeemable, transferable non-convertible debentures at a 6.40 percent quarterly coupon. The NCDs will be listed on the wholesale debt market of BSE Limited. Provisional CRISIL AAA/Stable rating has been assigned by rating agency CRISIL to the NCDs. Proceeds to be used to refinance existing Embassy TechVillage debt and for general corporate purposes, the company said. Given the attractive 6.4% quarterly coupon, the proposed refinancing of Rs 2,641 crores of existing debt at Embassy TechVillage would result in a 328 bps positive refinancing spread, it said. On December 24, 2020, Embassy REIT announced the successful completion of the Embassy TechVillage acquisition for Rs 97.8 billion ($1.3 billion) with a Rs 36.8 billion ($501 million) equity raise through an institutional placement. The current debt raise is part of the financing strategy for the above acquisition. “The strength of our balance sheet and the underlying covenants of our 200+ occupiers are key advantages for Embassy REIT. The attractive rate at which we have raised this bond and our execution timelines have, once again, demonstrated market confidence in high-quality borrowers like Embassy REIT. 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.