India’s Knowledge Realty Trust to raise $1.4bn debt in next three months, sources say

MUMBAI: India’s newly launched real estate investment trust is set to raise as much as 120 billion rupees ($1.37 billion) through a combination of bonds and loans, two sources said on Tuesday.

Knowledge Realty Trust, the fifth REIT to be listed on stock exchanges, aims to raise these funds through a combination of bonds and bank loans.

“After the listing is done around mid-August, the company will look to raise this amount over the next two-three months, to replace existing expensive debt,” one of the sources said.

The sources requested anonymity as they were not authorized to speak to the media.

The trust, the country’s largest REIT, is likely to raise around 25 billion rupees to 35 billion rupees through bonds, and the remaining amount through bank loans.

Currently backed by Blackstone and Sattva Developers currently, it has a gross asset value (GAV) or assets under management worth around 620 billion rupees.

This is nearly 40% of the industry size, which stands at 1.63 trillion rupees, as per data from the Indian REITs Association.

Our priority would be to refinance our existing debt, which would lower our costs and would be of benefit for our unit holders, CEO Shirish Godbole said.

The office REIT is looking to raise 48 billion rupees through an initial public offering that will open and close for subscription next week.

The development comes at a time when REITs are increasingly turning towards the corporate bond market for fundraising, as rate cut transmission has not yet effectively taken place in the loan market.