Good evening, everyone, and thanks for joining us for this call to discuss acquisition of the assets in prime CBD markets of Worli and BKC Annexe , Mumbai and Pune. You may wish to refer to the presentation and press release that has been uploaded in the investor relations section of our website. We would like to highlight that the market may make certain statements that may be forward-looking in nature. Please be advised that our actual results may differ materially from these statements. We do not guarantee these statements or results and are not obliged to update them at any point of time. Joining the call today are Ramesh Nair, our CEO and MD; Preeti Chheda, our CFO; and Govardhan Gedela, our Head of Corporate Finance. Ramesh will run you through the details of the acquisition, after which we will open the floor to the questions. Over to you, Ramesh.
Thank you, Shweta. Good evening, everyone, and thank you for joining us on this call. Mindspace REIT is pleased to announce the addition of three CBD assets to its portfolio. This is in line with our strategy to grow our portfolio both organically and inorganically. The proposed acquisition includes Ascent Worli, the Square Avenue 98 in BKC Annexe, and an office building in Kalyaninagar, Pune CBD, all from K Raheja Corp for a value of INR 29.2 billion. The purchase price reflects a 6.1% discount to the average of both the independent valuers' estimate. The board of the manager to Mindspace REIT has approved the acquisition and preferential issue of units. This aggregates to INR 18.2 billion, subject to unit holders and other regulatory approvals. The acquisitions are accretive, increasing NOI by 9% and DPU by 1.7% on a pro forma basis. Now, an overview about the assets.
The first one is Ascent Worli, a 4.5 lakh sq ft prime CBD trophy asset in Worli. It is a newly completed premium office lot located in the heart of Mumbai's Central Office District, Worli. The in-place rent in this property is INR 302 per sq ft per month. With latest leases signed between 300 sq ft-350 per sq ft per month, this reflects its premium positioning and upside potential. It also shares layout with the iconic luxury residence, Arti Sia, enhancing its exclusivity and appeal. The property elevates the workplace experience with grand hotel-like lobbies, upscale dining options, and thoughtfully designed common areas. Presently, Ascent's committed occupancy stands at 86%. It is home to marquee global and Indian tenants such as Goldman Sachs, Dream11, Executive Center, and Sterlite, among others.
Ascent is one of the key contributors to the re-rating of rentals in Worli, which is now seeing 400+ sq ft rentals. Let's talk a little more about the location of this asset. As you all know, Worli has seen remarkable resurgence due to major infra upgrades. It is very well connected to the Coastal Road, the Sea Link, Metro Aqua Line, via Atal Setu to the upcoming airport. The Worli-Sewri connector connecting Worli to Atal Setu is expected to be completed by the second half of 2026. It is also centrally located between Nariman Point and BKC, the other two front office clusters of Mumbai. Further, the asset will have direct metro access through a 150 m path being opened from the building. Worli is one of the most desirable PIN codes for ultra-luxury residences where a lot of senior leadership and decision-makers live in proximity.
It is also a premium hospitality district with hotels such as Ritz-Carlton, Four Seasons, St. Regis, and a proposed Oberoi Realty Hotel, all located close by. Over the years, Worli has developed into a dynamic commercial and lifestyle hub. The second asset is a 2.2 lakh sq ft of premium office space, the Square Avenue 98 and BKC Annexe. This is strategically located in BKC Annexe in very close proximity to BKC. The asset is currently 100% occupied and leads to JP Morgan. The tenant has been occupying this building for over 15 years now. This asset represents a core opportunity with a good value-add potential. This has the potential to add 62,000 sq ft through vertical and horizontal expansion and also efficiency adjustment in line with prevailing market standards. This is a near-term opportunity as the lease expires in 2027.
As market trends have grown faster than contracted rent, the asset also offers a 40% mark-to-market opportunity on releasing. Market rent today is around INR 250-INR 275 per sq ft per month in this BKC sub-market. The combined impact of area addition and rent revision will result in substantial uplift in NOI. Again, talking about the location, BKC and BKC Annexe area continues to command premium rentals driven by limited supply and robust demand. It is a strong adjacency to BKC, and the opening up of the Kalina BKC connector and SELR has effectively integrated it with core BKC. It is easily accessible from both Western and Central suburbs through SELR, proximity to airport, ease of entry and exit, all have elevated this micro-market positioning with rentals in the range of INR 250-INR 275, as mentioned earlier. Further, the bullet train terminal shall come up right next to this asset.
This will make the location even more attractive to occupiers. As per the Cushman study, BKC and BKC Annexe recorded the lowest vacancy of 4.8%. This is the lowest in any micro market in the city. This is down from 20% of 2021. As you remember, there is no new supply in BKC in the last eight years except for one strata sold asset. Now, let's come to the Pune office building. This is located in Kalyaninagar micro market. This is one of the affluent locations of Pune. It is located just 10 minutes from the airport and also exactly in between two metro stations. This is located in Koregaon Park, very close to Viman Nagar and airport. The location, as I mentioned, is upscale residential, close proximity to the hospitality district, and very close to hotels like Conrad, Westin, Sheraton, and Hyatt.
It has 1 lakh sq ft of fully leased space. The asset is 100% occupied with WeWork as the anchor tenant. With a veil of 6.8 years, this asset provides stable long-term cash flows for an attractive yield profile. Why do these assets matter to the REIT? With these acquisitions, Mindspace REIT expands further into Mumbai's prime front office CBD markets. This takes our front office portfolio to 8% by value. It strengthens our presence in markets where demand from global occupiers remains robust. They are built to high quality, supported by strong tenancy and positioned for sustained performance. Historical research has shown that tenant quality is better in CBD. Tenant renewal behavior is stronger in CBD. CBD also sees faster rental growth and is always easier to exit while selling a CBD asset. This is also irreplaceable locations, and one needs to give a scarcity premium for these assets.
For us, it's quite straightforward: invest in great locations, work with great tenants, and create durable value for our unit holders. These assets embody exactly that philosophy. These are backed by some of the biggest names on Wall Street as anchor tenants. They also enhance the quality of our portfolio with potential for upside in rentals. Now, let's look at the financial and portfolio impact. As mentioned, the acquisition is being completed at INR 2,916 crore. This is a 6.1% discount to the average of two independent valuations. On a proforma basis for FY 2026, the transaction delivers 9% NOI growth and 1.7% DPU accretion. These assets also bring significant mark-to-market potential and value-add opportunity. Post-acquisition, the Mindspace REIT portfolio expands to 39 million sq ft. Our LTV post these acquisitions remains conservative at 24.7%, maintaining substantial debt headroom for future opportunities.
This is our second sponsor acquisition following the successful acquisition earlier this year of Commerzone Raidurg in Hyderabad, a 1.82 million sq ft asset in Hyderabad, which is 100% leased to Colcom. Over the years, we have strengthened our portfolio through disciplined value-accretive growth. Now, we have full ownership of Commerzone Powai Root, where we did an inorganic acquisition. We also have done incremental ownership at Mindspace Madhapur, where we have picked up assets from other HNIs who had spaces nearby. Also, we have done strategic expansions at Commerzone Yerwada to increase our control of the park. More recently, you have seen us acquire the Square 110 Financial District in Hyderabad. We have completed acquisitions of 3.2 million sq ft in the recent past, apart from the acquisitions we are discussing today. This is another step in Mindspace REIT's disciplined growth journey.
In conclusion, these acquisitions reinforce our conviction in India's prime commercial business districts, especially in Mumbai's evolving CBD landscape. They enhance our income quality, deepen our front office footprint, and position us for the next phase of sustainable long-term growth. With rising global demand for high-quality office space, Mindspace REIT is uniquely placed for the future. We thank you for your continued trust and confidence in us. We look forward to delivering many more milestones together with our mantra of building loved workspaces while maximizing value.
Thank you so much. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin with the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may click on the raise hand icon from the participant tab on your screen. We request participants to restrict to two questions each and then return to the queue for more questions. To rejoin the queue, you may click raise hand icon again. We will wait for a few minutes until the question queue assembles. We have our first question coming in from the line of Karan Kannan from Ambit Capital. Please go ahead with your question.
Hi, am I audible?
Yes, we can hear you.
Yeah, thanks for the opportunity. Just a couple of questions from my side. Ramesh, if you can talk about the timelines by when you expect this transaction to conclude, and can you also share the kind of mark-to-market opportunities that you see for these three assets? If there are any other benefits that will accrue to the REIT as a result of this acquisition?
Yeah, timelines. We expect to close this by the first or second week of January. In terms of mark-to-market opportunity, I was looking at the various projects which are coming up within BKC. Sumitomo is today the next project which is going to come here. There is hardly any space available in the current BKC micro market if you look at the other projects. Maker Maxity. Today, there's only 2,000 sq ft left in Maker Maxity. One BKC has just 18,000 sq ft vacant. Godrej BKC has only 45,000 sq ft vacant. FIFC is like nil vacancy. Crescent is nil vacancy. Raheja Towers is nil vacancy. Sumitomo, which is expected to come late next year or early part of 2027, is also seeing some good amount of traction. The interesting part, which one needs to note, is Sumitomo is quoting over INR 500 rental.
Prestige, which is expected to come around 2028, is quoting INR 450 rental. Ritz-Carlton, which is close to our Worli property, is quoting INR 450 rental. Four Seasons GIC is coming out of the project, which is again going to be towards late 2027, early 2028. They're quoting INR 450 rental. All these are good mark-to-market potential opportunities given that BKC rentals have gone through the roof because of no vacancy available. Even in Kalina, even nearby assets are beginning to do deals at INR 270 in BKC Annexe. We are very confident that whenever there is a mark-to-market opportunity, we will be able to capture full benefit from that.
My second question, Ramesh, is specifically to your Square Avenue 98 BKC Annexe asset where the veil stands at two years. What kind of discussions are you having with JP Morgan in terms of perhaps them renewing the lease here? If I look at the income support, that's been taken at considering INR 250 per sq ft kind of market rent. If I look at slide number 21, that talks about INR 275 per sq ft market rent. How do we reconcile this? More importantly, what kind of discussions are you having with JP Morgan as far as renewals are concerned?
JP Morgan has their lease expiring towards August 2027. JP Morgan, which has been widely reported in the market, is taking space in Sumitomo. This gives us a huge 40%+ market opportunity, MTM opportunity, given that current rental of JP Morgan is only INR 197. That is an opportunity. We have JP Morgan before expiry. We are sure we will serve notice. There are already decent inquiries over the last one week as people started hearing that we may be buying this asset, at least two inquiries of full building from large Indian occupiers who want to own an independent building, which has started coming up. With regards to income support, I will add a few points, and then Preeti can add some more. JP Morgan has been occupying this since 2009-2010, so that is over 15 years. There has always been the escalation back then.
This was done just after Lehman GFC. The escalation back then, which was signed, was 11% every three years, which is obviously today not in line with the market. The market trends have grown much faster than that. In place rent, like I said, is only INR 197, while the market today is between INR 250-INR 275. The cash flow is again based on the contracted rent. That is the reason why we decided to do income support.
Yeah, and just to add to your question in terms of INR 250 and INR 275, the income support has been determined basis the difference in the market value and the increased rent. INR 250 is what the valuers have taken as a current rent. INR 275 is what they expect the rent to be on renewals. The income support is nothing but the difference between the INR 250 and INR 197, where JP Morgan stands today. That has been taken until the expiry of the lease term.
Sure. This is helpful. My last question, Ramesh, going forward, will you continue to prefer relatively mature assets at high occupancies, or are you also considering assets where scope for turnaround is potentially higher? Is there an LTV ratio cap that you would not want to exceed in terms of acquisitions?
See, Karan, in terms of CBD assets, prime CBD assets, not too many typically come into the market. We have noticed it. Whenever there is a CBD asset in Bangalore, there was a CBD asset which was offered a while back. There were like 20 bidders who were participating in that bid. Highly sought after, but we look at all the opportunities which come in the market.
The LTV cap?
LTV cap right now, we are still below 25%, so it's quite comfortable. We have opportunity to grow that.
Yeah, and as we've always been saying, Karan, we are okay anywhere around between 30%-35% should be okay. Obviously, if we start going beyond that, then we do an equity base. We have enough headroom. To add to what Ramesh said, we would be open to buying assets where there is some amount of leasing left because that also gives us some upside. We are okay with all kinds of assets, fully completed, fully leased. If we have certain stuff to still lease because we believe that our leasing competency should be able to get us the right rentals within the right time frame. We will be open to all kinds of assets.
I'll just add a couple of lines there, Karan. This is a good example of a super premium core kind of an acquisition, core plus kind of an acquisition. The last one we did was more of a value-added one, which we did in Hyderabad, the QCity acquisition. It is a mix, like Preeti said, of different styles of acquisition strategies.
Great. Thank you and all the best.
Thank you.
Thank you so much. We have our next question coming in from Parvez Qazi of Nuvama Group. Please go ahead with your question now.
Thanks for taking my question. Two questions from my side. I believe in the asset which has been leased to JP Morgan, we have a potential to add another floor. How long will it take you to construct that floor? During this construction period, can we continue to get rent by leasing the balance area to some tenant, or for maybe that one-year period, we will need to keep the entire building vacant?
Parvesh, great question. It's going to take us around nine months to upgrade this building and also to add that extra area of 60,000 sq ft. During that time, we would also have the tenant doing fit-out, so there'll be an overlap. Like in any redevelopment potential, like if you look at our Hyderabad B1, for example, there's like three and a half years in between us redeveloping. This is going to be just over nine months. It depends on how we are able to overlap the tenants' rentary periods along with our upgrades of the building.
Sure. Thanks. Second, in the Pune asset, I think one building is already fully leased to WeWork. I guess there is another building which is currently vacant. How soon can we lease that? I believe that is for social infrastructure. How soon can we lease that building?
It's a very small 15,000 sq ft building, which is basically more like an amenity building. We'll have to give this to some alternate users that are getting an amenity conversion in terms of usage or give it to existing usages like a school, a healthcare center, or a convention center. That's the possibilities. We believe this can be done over the next couple of quarters. It's not an office building. It's just an amenity building on the site.
Sure. Thanks and all the best.
Thank you.
Thank you so much. Our next question is coming in from Pritesh Sheth of Axis Capital. Please unmute your microphone.
Yeah, hi. Am I audible?
Yes, we can hear you.
Yes. Okay, hi. Hi. Just a few questions. In terms of Ascent Worli, which we got OC recently, and it's 86% committed occupancy, how long will it take for us to reach 100% in terms of the interactions which are already going on with the tenants? Sorry, how long will it take for the rent-generating occupancy to reach this 86% number? For the balance vacant portfolio, what's the timeline of leasing that out? That's the first question. Second, on the assumptions of NOI that we have made for these individual assets to calculate the cap rate, is it usual occupancy into rentals plus CAM, which has gone, or are there any other additions to that? What's the CAM income that we have assumed for each of these assets individually, if you can highlight? Three questions.
Yeah, the first question with regards to when the rentals will start. By March, there would have been 73% of this 86% the rentals would have started by March of 2026. By June of 2026, all 86% would have started. We are confident that by April, we should be able to lease the balance 14% space. With regards to cap rates, it's normal to assume your CAM margins while calculating cap rates. That's a standard market price.
Pritesh, it's determined in the usual fashion. Since most of the leases are contracted, the revenue streams and the CAM income streams are determined as per the contracted rents and CAMs that are agreed. The expenses in the asset, again, property tax, CAM expenses, insurance, which are the usual deductible expenses that go into net operating income. That's how the NOI has been determined. There are no unusual items that are considered.
Sure. Sure. Got it. Just as a follow-up, for this Ascent Worli, we've assumed FY 2027 NOI as roughly INR 170 crore. That assumes JP Morgan is still with us, or that assumes that JP Morgan is out and we have leased to another tenant at a higher rental, so?
Ascent is Pritesh, not JP Morgan.
Sorry. Yeah. Sorry, sorry. The JP Morgan asset, the NOI assumption that we have made is based on JP Morgan still staying with us in FY 2027, or?
Yes, yes. In JP Morgan, in the Square Avenue 98 building, we assume that JP Morgan continues till the lease expiry of October 2027.
Sure. Okay.
Just one more thing I'd like to add here is typically large organizations like JP Morgan take a long time to do the fit-out zones. It is not that they can just pack their bags and leave tomorrow. First, the building has to get ready. Plus, their interior fit-out timelines could easily be 12-15 months, which gives us enough headroom to think and close on our strategy.
Got it. Fair enough. Those were my questions. Thank you.
Thank you so much. Ladies and gentlemen, anyone who wishes to ask a question may click on the raise hand icon from the participant tab on your screen. We'll wait for the question queue to assemble. Since there are no more questions, we will take that as the last question for today. On behalf of Mindspace Business Parks REIT, that concludes today's conference call. Thank you for joining us, and you can now click on the leave icon to exit the meeting. Thank you all for your participation.