Brookfield Reit declares Rs 170 cr payout in Q4, Rs 690 cr for FY22

Brookfield India Real Estate Trust (Biret), the only 100 per cent institutionally-managed Reit in the country, on Wednesday announced Rs 170 crore or Rs 5.10 per unit dividend for the March quarter, taking the total cumulative payout to Rs 690 crore or Rs 22.10/unit for the full fiscal 2022. The company said it has generated an NDCF (net distributable cash flow) of Rs 160 crore or Rs 4.64 per unit for the quarter. The company said the Rs 22.10/unit payout for the year exceeds its guidance of Rs 22/unit and with this it has delivered a total return of 24 per cent since the listing, including a stable yield of 8 per cent at the IPO price. The company, sponsored by an affiliate of Brookfield Asset Management Inc that is one of the world’s largest alternative asset managers and investors with around USD 725 billion in assets under management, said 44 per cent of the payout is tax-free for unitholders. Berit comprises five large campus format office parks located in Mumbai, Gurgaon, Noida, and Kolkata with a portfolio of 18.6 million square feet (MSF) comprising 14.1 MSF of completed area, 0.2 MSF of under-construction area and 4.4 MSF of future development potential. The company has seen a 22 per cent increase in income from lease rentals in Q4 and a 40 per cent increase in adjusted net operating income for Q4 primarily due to the addition of Candor Techspace N2 into the portfolio. Biret has rights to acquire a further 3.7 MSF and rights of the first offer on an additional 6.7 MSF, both currently owned by members of the Brookfield Group.Commenting on the performance, Alok Aggarwal, the chief executive of Brookprop Management Services, which runs Biret, said in the first year since listing they have delivered on high yields and attractive total returns to our unitholders. Since listing it has achieved 1.6 MSF of leasing across assets including 1.2 MSF of new leasing, he said, adding the return to office trends coupled with the expansion plans of global IT/ITES industry point towards strong demand for commercial realty in the country. The company has completed gross leasing of 1.6 MSF in FY22 at an 11 per cent re-leasing spread and has also signed expansion options of 0.3 MSF during the year.The year saw robust growth with 9 per cent average escalation on 2.8 MSF of the leased area while rental collections remained strong at 99 per cent for the year.During the year, it completed a large-scale and complementary acquisition of Candor Techspace N2 for Rs 4,000 crore, enhancing its operating area by 35 per cent and improving its effective occupancy by 4 per cent. The company has an inorganic growth pipeline of 6.4 MSF of fully built properties to further increase our scale and operating income.Candor Techspace G1 is a 3.7 MSF fully-operational campus and has seen strong leasing traction with 333,000 sf of new leasing in FY22.The Sponsor Group has initiated a carve-out of the rent generating assets in Powai Business District, comprising 2.7 MSF of leasable area and has committed occupancy of 87 per cent.