Ladies and gentlemen, good day, and welcome to the Q3 FY 2022 financial results conference call of Brigade Enterprises Limited. We have with us today the management of Brigade Enterprises Limited. As a reminder, all participant lines will be in the listen-only mode, and there will be an opportunity for you to ask questions after the presentation concludes. Should you need assistance during the conference call, please signal an operator by pressing star then zero on your touchtone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to Mr. M.R. Jaishankar, Chairman and Managing Director of the company. Thank you, and over to you, sir.
Sir, thank you. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. I hope you and your loved ones are doing well and not that affected by the third wave. I would like to welcome you to the earnings call for the third quarter of financial year 2022. I'm joined by our executive directors, Roshin Mathew, Pavitra Shankar, Nirupa Shankar, Amar Mysore, and our senior management team, Mr. Atul Goyal, CFO, Rajendra Joshi, CEO Residential, Vineet Verma, CEO Hospitality, Subrata Sharma, COO Office Business, P. Om Prakash, Company Secretary, and Pradyumna, Senior Vice President. We're happy to report that Brigade witnessed improved profitability in the last quarter. In the residential segment, buyer sentiment continues to be positive as witnessed by the demand in our ongoing and completed residential projects, with Brigade continuing to be the brand of choice for customers seeking to buy a new home.
We registered net bookings of 3.13 million sq ft with a value of INR 1,957.957 crore for the nine-month period ending December in FY 2022. For the quarter of FY 2022, net bookings of 1.08 million sq ft having a value of INR 680 crore is done. This is a growth of 10% by area and 17% by value versus the nine-month period of FY 2021. We faced some delays in plan approval and therefore launches due to a Karnataka High Court order on the local authorities which affected all developers. Of course, some of the developers were able to launch the projects which were approved earlier than the Karnataka High Court order.
We are hopeful that the recent resolution of the matter will enable us to resume our residential launches soon. On the residential collections front, we registered our second-best quarter so far of INR 842 crores, driven by continued strong sales performance and good construction progress at all project sites. Hyderabad and Chennai continue to be important markets for us, contributing 27% by area and 36% by value in Q3. In Bangalore, our key projects, Brigade Cornerstone Utopia and Brigade El Dorado, are the primary contributors in under-construction projects, and followed by Brigade Exotica and Brigade Orchards in completed projects. The leasing segment of the commercial business remains stable with 99% collections. Transactions in Q3 gain momentum, confirming our earlier positive outlook for the quarter.
We transacted 0.4 million sq ft, that is four hundred thousand sq ft, which is consistent with our expectations. We have a strong pipeline in excess of 800,000 sq ft or 0.8 million sq ft. The trend is consistent with robust hiring across IT and ITeS and financial sectors, and therefore the need for additional space. In fact, the RFPs, that is Request For Proposals, for large requirements have increased besides the requirements for small and medium-sized offices. The retail vertical saw a bounce back to pre-COVID sales consumption numbers in Q3. In fact, we achieved 100% sales consumption recovery over Q3 of FY 2020. That is FY 2020, which is the pre-COVID period, for like-to-like brands. Performing categories were food and beverages, travel gear, anchor stores, and at leisure.
Multiplexes across all our malls achieved higher levels of occupancy and sales for November and December due to relaxation of COVID guidelines. There was good traction with respect to our mall leasing. Almost 23 units measuring about 100,000 sq ft is under fit-out in all our malls. These brands will be operational by end of Q4 FY 2022 or in a few cases, Q1 FY 2023. Our hospitality business saw a significant demand revival across our portfolio in Q3 with a good segmentation mix of travelers. ARRs, average room rates, have grown gradually to touch 70% of the pre-COVID level, and even occupancy had reached 90% of the pre-COVID numbers, showing an encouraging growth trend.
While corporates continue to operate in a work from home mode, our hotels did witness an uptick in demand from corporate travel, domestic corporate travel, with almost 25% of the room night sales falling under this category. Another positive was the banquet hall or banquet sales across hotels. Despite the restriction on number of guests, we could host over 200+ social and corporate events in our hotels. We consistently remained GOP positive throughout quarter three. That brings me to the end of our business highlights. With 2.4 million sq ft in real estate and 1.8 million sq ft in lease rentals planned in this and the next quarter, we have a lot to look forward to. Of course, more projects will be planned and launched in the subsequent quarters of FY 2023.
Thank you for listening. I now request our CFO, Atul Goyal, to take you through the financial highlights. Take care and stay safe. Thank you.
Thank you, sir, and good afternoon, everybody. On behalf of the company, we welcome you to the earnings call of Q3 FY 2022. To start with the company update for Q3, we recorded real estate sales of 1.1 million sq ft during this quarter [Foreign language] 1.3 million sq ft during last quarter. We also saw a significant jump in collections in Q3 FY 2022, which totaled up to INR 1,095 crores in Q3 FY 2022. In fact, we have crossed our collection in nine months what we had collected in last year. That has been a very good collection by the company. Our lease rental vertical also witnessed traction, where 4.4 million sq ft was leased during Q3 FY 2022. We have active pipeline of 0.8 million.
On retail side, we achieved 100% sales consumption, as MD said. On like-for-like brands, multiplexes have performed well due to new releases during the quarter. Our hospitality portfolio showed strong signs of recovery, with the occupancies reaching pre-COVID levels of 62% in December 2021. Hotel portfolio achieved a GOP of INR 167 million during Q3 FY 2022, an increase of 99% from Q2 FY 2022 in absolute terms. Restriction in January 2022 is likely to have a short-term impact. However, we continue to be optimistic, with increased vaccination coverage and uptick in air travel. On consolidated level, there was an increase in cash flow from operating activities by 60% from last quarter. We continue to have adequate liquidity and undrawn credit lines from banks.
Our average cost of debt has been coming down consistently over the last few quarters and was at 7.81% as on December 21 versus 9% as on December 20, a reduction of 119 basis points. Coming to consolidated financial performance for Q3 FY 2022, the consolidated revenue for Q3 FY 2022 stood at INR 933 crores versus INR 776 crores in the previous quarter, up by 20%. The real estate segment clocked a turnover of INR 703 crores and EBITDA of 22% in Q3 FY 2022. The leasing segment clocked a turnover of INR 167 crores and EBITDA of 58%, which is mainly because of some one-time expenses which has come this quarter. The hospitality segment clocked a turnover of INR 62 crores and EBITDA of 29% in Q3 FY 2022.
The consolidated EBITDA for Q3 FY 2022 stood at INR 270 crores. EBITDA margin stood at 29%. Consolidated profit before tax for Q3 FY 2022 is INR 75 crores. Coming to debt position and its breakup, there was a reduction of around INR 52 crores in real estate debt, which has been driven by high sales and collection during Q3 FY 2022. The cash and cash equivalents stood at INR 1,312 crores as on 31st December 2021. Consequently, the company's net debt outstanding as on 31st December 2021 is INR 2,790 crores, out of which BL's share is INR 1,856 crores. Almost 78% of the debt pertains to the commercial portion, of which 74% is backed by lease rentals. We have a credit rating of A+ with a stable outlook, which has been assigned by both CRISIL and ICRA.
I now hand over back the mic to moderator for questions.
Thank you very much. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on their touchtone telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two. Participants are requested to use handsets while asking your question. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. The first question is from the line of Siddharth Dang from CRISIL. Please go ahead.
Yeah, hi. I just wanted to get an understanding of our commercial assets. What is their average lease duration, mark-to-market, that we have, you know, of the current rentals that we are getting and the kind of expiry we'll see in the next one, two years? Hello, can you hear me?
This is Subrata. In terms of the lease tenure, it's normally five years. In many of the cases it is 5 + 5. So far as the renewals are concerned, this year we have already achieved 98.5% renewal. There were almost like 4.68 lakh sq ft renewals that have come up, so we have renewed almost everything. With regards to mark-to-market, all these renewals have happened in terms of like the normal lease tenure that was like agreed upon, so there was no discounted rentals that were offered.
Okay. What can we hit like 90%-95% occupancy rates in the upcoming future, like in a couple of years or do you think there'll be-
What you are asking, like in terms of renewals?
No, no, in terms of occupancy of the asset.
Occupancy, we are quite hopeful. See, basically, currently we have approximately INR 4 million approximately to be leased.
Right.
The way the market is shaping up, last quarter has been very good and the outlook is also very good. We hope to actually cross 90%-95% within the next three quarters at a max.
Okay. What will be the per square feet rentals that you are expecting in these properties?
Again, it depends upon the micro market. Essentially like if it is like east of Bangalore, we are achieving 60%+. If it is north of Bangalore, we are achieving 75%+. Chennai, we are achieving 85%+. Again, it depends upon like which property, which micro market.
Okay.
In most of the markets we are achieving a premium, okay? Like in East Bangalore, we are achieving almost like 3%-4% premium over the weighted average rental of the micro market.
Okay. You know, you had mentioned that, you got some unsolicited, you keep getting unsolicited offers, you know, for these assets time and again. Around what yield would the market, you know, be willing to buy these assets at?
Again, it depends like what kind of tenancy, what kind of property. Normally anywhere between 7%-8% cap rate.
Okay. Perfect. Thanks a lot.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Adhidev Chattopadhyay from ICICI Securities. Please go ahead.
Good afternoon, everyone. Thanks for the opportunity. Sir, first question, you alluded to some Karnataka High Court order for which there has been a delay in the launches. Could you help us understand the reason and, has this been resolved, or what will it take for the matter to be resolved? Just wanted some clarity on that.
Sorry. The issue is resolved. See, due to some application repetition of some applicant, the High Court said the local authority should not collect almost 80% of the plan approval charges they were collecting. Oh, you know? The local authority stopped approving the new plans because 80% of the plan approval charges means it ran into hundreds or a few thousand crores to the local authority. The matter got, I would say, sort of resolved by a fresh government order by the Karnataka government overruling the Karnataka High Court order. It is back to normal. We're there, by and large. The recognized developers did not challenge it.
It is only, you know, a stray case, somebody challenged and a stray order which, you know, resulted in this confusion. The issue is resolved.
If I heard correctly during your opening remarks, this 2.4 million sq ft of launches may either happen in this quarter or the next quarter. Is that correct?
Yes, correct. Bulk of it we'll try to do this quarter, but sometimes some RERA approval and things like that, if it takes time, it may get pushed into the first quarter. Otherwise, these are all plans where we have approvals. In some cases out of maybe 50% of 2.4 million sq ft, we have RERA approval also. The balance is under RERA, we are seeking RERA approval.
Okay. You already have the approvals in place.
Yes.
For 1.2 million sq ft.
Yeah.
Second question is on our rental assets as Mr. Subrata Sharma, I think, alluded that this balance 2.4 million sq ft, we are hoping to lease everything, if I heard correctly, by September. Are you gonna just help us understand which properties you are expected to see more traction and what is giving us this confidence on the same? Yeah.
Basically, what I meant was 95%+ occupancy over the next three quarters. The way we are seeing the pipeline develop, the maximum pipeline is at Brigade Tech Gardens, where we have the maximum vacancy as on date. At the same time, the pipeline and the kind of average size of the transactions that we are getting and we are actually closing, that's significantly large. That is on the top of the list. Chennai market has also started shaping up.
In Chennai, the large size pipelines are still like, not as significantly large as in Bangalore, but lot of mid-sized companies are actually now, gotten quite vibrant. Essentially, it's like, DTG on the top of the list, followed by Chennai, and then we have, like, BIFC. In any case, Gujarat is doing fantastic. Over the last two quarters, we have done quite a good number of transactions.
Just, sorry for a follow-up. This 95%, obviously you'd get the leasing done once, and it will take 4-6 months for the fit-outs, right? I think earliest the rentals may start by when? By January of 2023 or. If you could just help us understand how the occupancy and rental commencing.
From the closure date, you can take on an average six months because the ask for the rent-free period has increased. Because of COVID scenario, the fit-outs are normally slow. We can expect around six months of rent-free period from the lease commencement date.
Okay. But definitely by March of next year, I'm thinking 2023, we should be more or less done with the leasing. In fact, is that your internal target.
Yes. That's what we are also like targeting, and we expect, okay, the way pipelines are actually trending. In fact, it was going on quite well. Because of the Omicron, the physical site inspections are subdued a bit, but the requirements are there in the market.
Okay. Sir, just last question is for Atul. Sir, if you could just share the numbers for Tech Gardens and WTC Chennai. For the nine months, what has been the rental income from these two properties? The gross.
Yeah.
Gross, not
Yeah.
Yeah.
Gross rental income in Tech Garden has been INR 76 crore.
Yeah.
In PRIPL, it is INR 84 crore.
Okay. Sir, any increase expected in run rate from the fourth quarter? In the quarterly run rate, like Tech Gardens INR 25 crore.
Run rate will continue because it's a straight lining method how we are recognizing the revenues. We don't anticipate any increase right now. If there is an increase in leasing, definitely it's the run rate will go up.
Okay, fine. Fine. I'll come back in the queue if I have got more questions. Yeah. Thank you, and all the best.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Karan Khanna from Ambit Capital. Please go ahead.
Hello?
Yeah. Please go ahead.
Please go ahead.
Yeah, this is Karan from Ambit. My first question is, you know, we know that you've expanded land bank across Chennai and Bangalore during the quarter. Any thoughts on when do you plan to launch here? Also, can you give us some sense on the development that will be happening in Hyderabad?
In Hyderabad we'll be adding a residential space of maybe 1 million sq ft plus, 1 million sq ft -1.5 million sq ft. Some of the in Chennai, it'll be a combination of residential and commercial, altogether maybe in the range of 4 million sq ft -6 million sq ft. They're in design stage, and some of the projects are in design stage and a bit in due diligence, final due diligence stage also. Bangalore also our the major project to be launched, the Cornerstone Utopia phase two, which is actually almost 7 million sq ft. There are some approach road issues, CDP road, what we call here as CDP road, the development plan road issues near the entry. That is almost resolved.
That may also take about 9-10 months or so for launch. Overall, I feel we are in the process of tying up or tied up about 15 million sq ft of new projects across these three cities.
Sure. You know, continuing on your real estate business, so far for nine months, FY 2022, you've seen 6% price hike. How much more price hike do you think will be required to factor in the entire inflation and raw material prices seen over the last 12 months? Secondly, when do you see the organic ASP hikes happening for the industry and yourself? You know, at what point in the cycle do you see that happening?
Probably you have to assume a somewhat similar price hike in the next few months. Post-budget again things have started going up, the price of cement and steel have further gone up in the last two days. That way, you know, I do expect, as inflation maybe pressures are also there, and it is the bankers expect the interest rates to go up marginally, and all those factors to be seen. Any such price increase, we expect that we will be able to pass it on to the consumer.
Sure. Then secondly, on your retail portfolio, you mentioned that the consumption is now back to 100% of pre-COVID. Consequently, can you help us with what is happening on rental normalization across your tenant categories? Also, how do you see the impact due to Omicron?
Yeah. This is Nirupa here. Q3 was very good for pretty much all of the retailers. By and large, what we're seeing is our collections have been very good. If you look at it, by and large, we're expecting the rental collection to be maybe 70% of what it was pre-COVID, between 70%-75% of what it was pre-COVID. We had given a lot of rental relief to many retailers.
I would say 85% of them no longer have any COVID relief. Most of it came to an end December 31st. From January 7th March, 85% of the retailers are back to paying what they were paying in the lease deed. Of course, because of Omicron in the month of January, there was a lot of disruption because we had weekend curfews, we had restrictions on night curfew. Business did take a beating then. Many retailers have understood it's you know, part and parcel of doing business. There are few requests, but by and large, you know, we're going to stick by the lease deed and as per the terms agreed, because now most of the restrictions have been lifted.
In short, I would say we can expect for FY 2022 about 70%-75% of lease rentals compared to what we received in FY 2020, which was pre-COVID.
Great. Thank you. My last question on your hospitality portfolio. You mentioned that corporate bookings now are at around 25% in the last quarter. Your ARRs are closer to 70% odd of your pre-COVID levels. At what level of the corporate bookings do you think that the ARR recovery should be closer to 100% of pre-COVID? That's my last question. Thank you.
This is Vineet here. As far as corporate bookings are concerned, they continue to be under stress, you know, because of the international travel not starting. As you would have read the news today, that would expected to start only after this Omicron wave subsides. Having said that, we have been getting about 25% of our hotel bookings are coming from corporates, mostly domestic. In terms of ARR, unfortunately, we expect that to go back to pre-COVID levels only in the next 11-12 months, not before that. Because it is a highly competitive market, and all hotels are striving for the same piece of the pie. I guess we'll have to be a little patient when it comes to reaching the ARRs of pre-COVID levels.
Sure. Great. Thank you and all the best.
Thanks.
Thank you. The next question. Before we take the next question, a reminder to the participants to please limit your questions to two per participant only. You may rejoin the question queue if you have a follow-up. The next question is from the line of Yash Gupta from Angel One. Please go ahead.
Good afternoon, everyone. First question is on the announcement regarding the Gift City in the budget. How you are seeing the things to be pan out in next, one or two years from now? Is there any change in our strategy?
See, the announcements are all positive, but overnight we cannot expect any, you know, big change to happen in a quarter or two. I expect it may all start happening in two quarters or more. Particularly if someone has to establish a foreign university. It is a very big decision. Any such university will also require lot of approvals, even if it is Gift City. The arbitration center also should happen. That may happen faster than, you know, the university. Overall, it is moving from strength to strength, I would say. The pace of progress is still not that great. See, as Subrata said, lot of new transactions have happened in Gift City.
Generally the average ticket size or average area size is much less compared to an IT sector requirement. In the financial sector, these are all in the financial sector. That way compared to IT, the space requirements are low.
Okay. Second question on the residential market. So can you give some ballpark number regarding the launch pipeline for FY 2023? The second question on the residential market is that we have taken a price hike as our raw material prices have went up, and you are saying that in next two to three months another rate hikes will be there. So what I just want to understand when are we going to see a re-price hike regarding the rental, lease, and land parcels that we are having?
The first question of yours was on the launch pipeline for FY 2023. Okay? We normally don't give any guidance, but as chairman had alluded in the previous comments, currently we have about 2.4 million sq ft between this quarter and next quarter. We do expect that we should be able to launch another 6 million sq ft-7 million sq ft if all goes through in the subsequent quarters. That is what we currently are expecting. But all of it depends on deal closures, approvals happening, etc. On price hikes, currently because of the cost pressures, we did take price hikes in the Q3. We will continue to take it. The quantums, what we typically do is we don't take huge price hikes. We take small incremental price hikes every 2-3 months.
That's typically our style of operations. Because of the current cost pressures, we do believe that we will have to take price hikes as we go along. Also, as we've been seeing, market consolidation and robust performance for all branded players, we feel that we will have a higher pricing ability compared to the smaller levels.
Okay, sure. Thank you.
Thank you. Next question is from the line of Venkat Chomal from Tata AMC. Please go ahead.
Hi. Thanks. Thanks a lot for the opportunity. Sir, my question is just kind of a follow-up, and I think partly you answered this.
If I just look at the total inventory which is available, which is unsold, at around 5.8 million sq ft, that is kind of lowest in the last maybe 5-6 years. I understand the fact that, you know, maybe because of a delay in launches, so the number of sales are higher, and then it could not be replenished by launches, therefore, this is looking lower. I'm just trying to understand that, you know, moving forward, how are you thinking about launches? I think you partly spoke about it, that, you know, you're looking for 2.4 million sq ft in the next two quarters, and thereafter 6 million sq ft-7 million sq ft.
At 6 million sq ft -7 million sq ft , does it include new land bank that you would be acquiring or is it from the current development potential itself?
The 6 million sq ft -7 million sq ft that we are talking of will be a mix of what we already have and what we will be in the process of acquiring or will get done in the next few months. That's what we are talking about, the 6 million sq ft -7 million sq ft in the next FY. The question that you are alluding in the first part as to the-
Right.
-current
Yes, sir. It's just that, you know, we were speaking about maybe 15%-20% kind of annualized growth, right? And this year we are most likely to miss it. Therefore, you know, how are we kind of setting ourselves up for that kind of a growth moving forward for next year and the year thereafter? That is my only concern.
Yeah. What I'm saying is that we continuously are working towards new land acquisitions in parcels, et cetera. The pipeline is quite robust at this point in time. A lot of them are deals in progress. What we clearly see is that with our ability to acquire land and launch in a quick time, I think we are fairly well geared up to handle the demand that's coming in. As we have made clear that the demand is very strong and robust, and we expect that that will continue. With the area of about 29 million sq ft that we already have, and the others that would come in, I think we are very well geared up to take up the growth, which will be much better than what we've probably seen this current financial year.
Understood. I think last quarter you did mention about, you know, being on track to sort of utilize the QIP capital by Q1 of FY 2023. Any change to that?
See, I think we should be able to. As I said, the money we need is much more than the QIP what we have raised in QIP.
Yes, yes.
Which will be met by there are internal resources also.
Right.
Internal resources also. That way we are confident of meeting. As I said earlier, we have sort of tied up or in the process of due diligence for almost 15 million sq ft. That may require a funding of much more than INR 500 crores raised. I think by and large we don't see any challenges in that.
Right. Right. Just as a follow-up, sir, so then you are kind of comfortable to kind of increase your net debt on your residential piece, right? Because if you just look at maybe last four, five quarters, you've been throwing very good cash, right?
Correct. We are throwing good cash and we are garnering good cash. We also have, you know, completed and unsold stock that also will release. More than that itself is INR 500+ crores. That also should get released in a couple of quarters.
Right.
While the intention is not to unnecessarily raise the debt, but I don't think we should be shy of raising debt for residential, which is currently at INR 0.14 to INR 1 debt equity. Which is probably one of the lowest in the listed companies.
Right. That is what I was asking. I mean, with the kind of cash flow that we are generating in the residential business, we should be a little comfortable now to kind of lever up a little more than where we are, right? If we are seeing the right opportunity.
Right. Agreed.
Okay, sir. Thank you. Thanks a lot. Wish you all the best.
Thank you.
Thank you.
The next question is from the line of Parvez Akhtar from Edelweiss. Please go ahead.
Yeah, hi. Good afternoon, and thanks for taking my question. Two questions from my side. The first one, if it will be possible to get a segment-wise split on the collections during the quarter?
Can you please repeat the question?
If it will be possible to get a segment-wise breakup of the collections during the quarter?
Got it.
Yeah.
Sure. The collections for Q3 for real estate was INR 840 crores. Around commercial lease was INR 96 crores. Retail was INR 38 crores. Hospitality was INR 78 crores. Maintenance PMS was around INR 46 crores. Total collection was INR 1,095 crores.
The second question is, when we look at a Q-O-Q basis, then the area which needs to be transacted in WTC Chennai has gone up. Have there been any cancellations during the quarter there?
The area went up only because of the release of hard options which were actually earlier tied up with one of the major tenants. They released them because they also have uncertainty with regards to when employees will be back to office. Having said that, we have like major clientele over there, and we are actually hopeful that one of those clients will come back for a certain amount of space. That's what we are hopeful of.
Got it. That's it from my side.
It was not due to any withdrawal. It was mainly due to the hard option withdrawal.
Hard option. Yeah. Got it. All the best.
Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Samar Sarda from Axis Capital. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Thank you. Congratulations for third quarter. M.R. Jaishankar, you mentioned around about 15 million sq ft is probably the pipeline or visibility on the projects you're adding up or discussing. Could you just give us a little more color about if at all there are projects which are outright purchased in this or most of them are JDAs, and what is the breakup like? How much from Bangalore, Chennai, and Hyderabad?
See, at this stage, we may not want to give the breakup fully, but I can say it is a good mix of purchase and JDA. In one case, I did sort of gave the answer also about 1.5 million sq ft of area in Hyderabad and about 4 million sq ft -6 million sq ft in Chennai, and the balance will be in Bangalore. These are all where we have entered into term sheets and due diligence is in progress. In a couple of cases, we have entered into you know, the joint development or agreement to purchase also.
Okay. The land parcel or the JDA you've added in Chennai in the last quarter, like, would you be launching that in the next fiscal or like it is still some time away?
Next fiscal should in all 90%, 95% plus probability it should happen in the next fiscal.
A small book cooking question for Atul. Atul, could you just help us with the projects which are completed in this quarter, the third quarter?
Yeah. It's around 4 lakhs, around 8 lakhs sq ft which has got completed. We have also sold around 1 lakh sq ft from our finished stock.
Okay. Sorry, which was this project which got completed?
This is seven Gardens and Plumeria landscaped.
All right. Thanks a lot and all the best for the rest of the year.
Thank you. A reminder to the participants, if you wish to ask a question, please press star then one on your touchtone telephone. I would like to remind all participants present in this conference, if you wish to ask a question, please press star then one on your touchtone telephone. The next question is from the line of Adhidev Chattopadhyay from ICICI Securities. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Sir, my question, thanks for the opportunity once again. My question is that we are going to build a mall with Prestige in Chennai, where we had a minority stake. Any update on the progress of that project, when that construction is supposed to be started?
After the approvals are received. I suggest kindly ask this question in the analyst call of Prestige Group, I think, so that they are the senior partners in that. It may be they will be in a better position to answer. If you ask me in the next financial year, it should happen.
Okay. Sir, next question is on Twin Towers. Have you started looking to pre-lease that tower over there? Any movement on the leasing or it is still some time away?
I would say it is still some time away. We are responding to RFPs. You know, the general sentiment currently, you know, particularly for under construction projects is lower than completed projects. That way I expect to see if there is no fourth wave, the things should come back sooner than later.
What would be the market rate of rental in that locality right now, around the market rate for office rentals?
In that localities, it is anywhere between INR 70-INR 80 in that range.
INR 70-INR 80, the base rental. Okay. Fine. Fine. That's it from my side. Yeah. All the best. Thank you.
Thanks.
Thank you. Before we take the next question, a reminder to the participants, if you have a question, please press star then one. The next question is from the line of Parikshit from HDFC Securities. Please go ahead.
Hi, sir. Parikshit here from HDFC. I have just one question on the 15 million sq ft pipeline. By which quarter or by which half of next year we expect to close this? And how much of cash outflow will happen on closing this?
I would say we expect to close the transactions maybe in two quarters or so, before September quarter. Gradually see if there are a dozen transactions. Each one will take the different timelines. Everything hopefully should happen before the September quarter. Overall requirement I did mention it is INR 500 crores plus, which we are able to fund from the internal resources and QIP.
INR 500 crores will be the cash outflow. How much will be the gross value which you'll be able to add here?
I will tell you subsequently.
Okay.
Yeah. I will tell you subsequently because it is the nature of product. Everything needs to be decided. It is in the design stage. It is based on that, we will have to arrive at.
Okay. Sure, sir. Thank you, sir. That was my question.
Thanks.
Thank you. A reminder to the participants, if you wish to ask a question, please press star then one on your touchtone telephone. The next question is from the line of Kushagra from Old Bridge Capital. Please go ahead.
Yeah, thanks for the opportunity. This is Kushagra. Few questions. Most of the questions got answered. First, when you're talking about, you know, building up the pipeline, how much cash you are probably thinking of spending towards, you know, project acquisitions, land acquisitions over the medium term? Second, a related question to it. Since you're talking about raising debt, in the residential part of it, what are the comfortable levels in terms of debt to equity in the residential segment?
As I said earlier, it is the requirement is upwards of INR 500 crores, more than what is raised in the QIP. I did say we are able to, you know, we are able to meet the requirements in internal resources, from internal resources. If required, we will be able to raise some debt also. Currently it is 0.14:1 the residential debt. If you ask me, even if it is 0.5:1 or 0.6:1, it is considered very, very acceptable. You know, many developers who are only in residential, they have a much higher debt equity ratio of even probably 1:1 and more. That way we are okay.
Sure. Okay. Got it. Second question on any update on your hospitality selling of the hospitality segment? Like you-
You see, as soon as the interest levels go up by interested, you know, funds, there is another wave of COVID, so then everything comes to standstill. We are waiting for the right opportune time to dilute the equity. Whenever it is. Thankfully, all the hotels were performing fairly well in Q3. Of course, January it has taken a bit of a hit. But I think within a week it has started showing a marginal improvement, and this can only go up. Generally, if there is international travel, you know, like January, February to June is one of the best periods for hospitality business.
Okay. Sure. Thanks.
Thank you. A reminder to the participants, if you wish to ask a question, please press star then one on your touchtone telephone. Ladies and gentlemen, that was the last question for today. I would now like to hand the conference over to Ms. Pavitra Shankar, Executive Director, for closing comments.
Thank you. Thanks all for listening in. Here's a few other highlights from our end. The Brigade Group celebrated its 35th anniversary in October 2021. Brigade Towers, a 15-story commercial building on Brigade Road in Bangalore, was the first project started in 1986 as a partnership company. Since then, we've come a long way from a single project firm to a multi-product, multi-city developer with many landmark projects and recognitions, incorporating as a private limited company in 1995 and going public in 2007. We would like to use this opportunity to thank all our customers, investors, associates and all other well-wishers for the trust they have placed in us over the years. We stand committed to our mission, vision and values that have brought us to where we are today. We will continue to live by these standards.
We also think it's fitting to touch upon the recently announced budget. We believe it's unique in the sense that this is the first time a government has laid out a vision for 25 years. It lays a lot of emphasis on infrastructure and is forward-thinking with respect to climate change and the Digital Rupee. Although not much for our real estate sector and the middle class, the Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme, or ECLGS, is a welcome relief to much affected MSMEs and the hospitality sector. Coming to an interesting initiative from our end, I'm sure you're all aware of Brigade's flagship CSR initiative in arts and culture, the Indian Music Experience Museum, or IME, in Bangalore. The IME is coming up with its latest offering, an exhibition called Birdsong, which for the first time brings together music and ecology via the world of birds.
The exhibition opens in April and comprises both a physical and online component. Do visit if you can. The latest exhibit is also in line with Brigade's core values of being socially responsible and in line with our commitment as an organization to sustainability by creating environmental awareness and action. Our real estate accelerator program, Brigade REAP, set up India's first PropTech syndicate fund on the LetsVenture platform. Strawcture, which is a REAP startup working in creating sustainable construction materials using agri-waste, raised 30% of its total fundraise via this platform, and it was successfully closed in just 30 minutes. Despite the sudden surge of the third wave over the last few weeks, it's good to see the Omicron variant is already waning.
We hope the worst is behind us with respect to COVID, what with booster shots getting rolled out, the variants decreasing in their severity, and many countries removing their COVID restrictions entirely. I can speak for everyone here when I say let's look forward to a year filled with hope. We will work toward realizing our goals, and we look forward to healthier and happier times. With that, we now wrap up our Q3 FY 2022 analyst call. Thank you all for taking the time to hear from us today. Stay healthy and stay safe.
Thank you. On behalf of Brigade Enterprises Limited, we conclude today's conference call. Thank you all for joining. You may now disconnect your lines.