Sanofi Unloads Large Office In India

November 13, 2014

By Riley McDermid, BioSpace.com Breaking News Editor

French biopharma giant Sanofi has sold off one of its largest offices in India, saying this week it will unload 37, 210 square feet in Hoechst House in Nariman Point to private firm Bright Star Investments and its group companies for Rs 134.2 crore.

Well-known Indian investor Radhakishan Damani, who owns the retail chain D-Mart, bought 37,000 square feet spread over five floors, reported the Economic Times.

Nariman Point has recently become a difficult investment for Sanofi to maintain, with a vacancy rate over 25 percent and fewer deals in a sluggish local market.

"It is a depressed market. Sanofi has got good rate given that the building commands rate of Rs 275 to Rs 300 per square feet," Raja Seetharaman, managing director, Aperon Realty, told the Economic Times.

Sanofi said in a statement to the Bombay Stock Exchange that the company’s board of directors had agreed to let go of the space.

"All the floors have presently been given out on leave and license basis by the company to various third parties," Sanofi said in a statement to the BSE. All floors are currently on lease.

The deal is expected by completed by the end of the quarter ending Dec. 31, said Sanofi in a release to BSE.

Sanofi still has a significant presence in Indian, after acquiring 150,000 square feet of office space from L&T Realty at its new project in Powai, a suburb in Mumbai, for Rs 220 crore in early 2013. It did not comment on the future of any of its other Indian holdings.