French multinational pharmaceutical company Sanofi’s Indian arm has decided to put the standalone property spread over 150,000 sq ft that houses its country headquarter in Mumbai’s Powai locality on the block, said persons with direct knowledge of the development.
The company has already picked up an office in Vikhroli suburb through a long-term lease to shift one of its divisions Sanofi Consumer Healthcare and is in the process of leasing additional space for growth as well as relocation of other operations.
“The deal involving the Powai asset is expected to fetch around Rs 250 crore based on the current property rates. The company has been contemplating this asset monetization for almost a year and the new office lease in Vikhroli is also part of this plan,” said one of the persons mentioned above.
Sanofi’s Indian subsidiary had acquired this built-to-suit office building from L&T Realty in 2013. The building is part of L&T Business Park, the commercial complex from where JP Morgan and L&T Infotech operate.
The company had shifted headquarter to this property in 2015 from erstwhile 65,000-sq-ft head office in Aventis House on Sir Mathuradas Vasanji Road in Andheri.
In May 2023, the company’s board of directors decided to demerge its consumer health business into a separate legal entity, to allow it to have independence to pursue its growth strategies and this was approved by the shareholders in December.
The National Company Law Tribunal, Mumbai, following a hearing, sanctioned the demerger in May 2024, paving the way for the listing of the new separate company, Sanofi Consumer Healthcare Ltd.
This demerged entity will operate from the newly leased Vikhroli office premise, which is currently undergoing fit out and will be completed anytime soon.
ET’s email query to Sanofi India remained unanswered until the time of going to press.
In a recent interaction, Sanofi India’s Managing Director Rodolfo Hrosz said the company is committed to the Indian market and plans to launch 1 or 2 products every year from its innovation portfolio in the country.
“India is super important for us,” Hrosz told ET. “One-fifth of people on the planet live in this country. If we have to fulfil our mission (statement) to chase the miracles of science to improve people’s lives, we have to be in India. And, second is that we want to tap the strong talent pool available here.”
The Indian office sector has been witnessing sustained growth in demand despite the global sluggishness, and the performance is seen as a testament to the strong fundamentals of demand and the absence of any lasting effects of the global headwinds.
According to recent data, the office market surged to its best-ever first half with gross leasing of 33.5 million sq ft in, up 29% from a year ago surpassing the previous first half record performance of 30.71 million sq ft seen in 2019.
