In landmark business deal, Godrej sells BKC office space to Abbott for 1,480 crore

New Delhi: In one of the largest office space deals, Godrej Properties has sold a 4.35 lakh sq ft in commercial project at BKC, Mumbai, to healthcare products major Abbott for about Rs 1,480 crore. Abbott plans to use the space as its corporate office, bringing together all of its business in the city at one location. This is a part of the company’s deepening commitment in India, Abbott said in a statement. It will house more than 1,500 employees. The company expects to occupying this building from 2016. In a filing to the BSE, Godrej Properties on Wednesday announced that “the company has entered into a transaction for selling 4,35,000 sq ft of saleable area at its commercial project Godrej BKC in Bandra Kulra Complex (BKC) Mumbai to a single user for a total consideration of Rs 1,479 crore.” [caption id=“attachment_2451386” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Pirojsha Godrej. Image courtesy: Screengrab from moneycontrol.com[/caption] This is the highest ever value for any single end-user commercial real estate transaction in India, it added. “This deal will be an important driver of our plans to unlock capital invested in our commercial portfolio and will hasten the pace of our growth going forward,” Godrej Properties MD & CEO Pirojsha Godrej said. When contacted, Godrej said the fund would be utilised to reduce the company’s debt significantly and for future growth. “We still have 3 lakh sq ft left in the project which will be monetised over the next one year,” Godrej told PTI. In a separate statement, Abbott Chairman and CEO Miles D White said: “India is one of the most important places in the world for Abbott, and we’re investing here accordingly. We intend to be a strong, committed, and contributing part of India’s future.” Godrej BKC, which is being developed in partnership with Jet Airways, is a large high-end commercial project with about 1.3 million sq ft of saleable area. This project would be completed and be ready for occupancy by mid-2016. The company said ‘Godrej BKC’ project has been planned as the country’s premier office address. Larsen & Toubro (L&T) is constructing the project. In May, Pirojsha Godrej had said that the company is targeting to sell Rs 2,000 crore worth commercial assets over the next 2-3 years to reduce debt, which stood at Rs 2,764 crore as on March 31, 2015. Although the real estate market is facing a huge slowdown for the last 2-3 years, the office space segment is performing well with increased leasing activities on the back of growth in e-commerce business. Recently, Flipkart leased over 2 million sq ft of office space in Bengaluru. Godrej is developing residential, commercial and township projects spread across 110.30 million sq ft in 12 cities. Abbott has 4 primary businesses in India - diagnostics, medical devices, nutritionals and branded generic pharmaceuticals. It has 14,000 employees working in manufacturing, research and development, logistics, sales and marketing in India. PTI