Embassy Group, which owns WeWork India, is in the market to raise $200 million for expansion of the co-working business, Jitu Virwani, chairman and managing director of Embassy Group has told CNBC-TV18.

Embassy Group is also looking at disinvestment worth Rs 4,000 crore, of which some amount would go towards the co-working business, Virwani said.

This comes after the talks with WeWork to sell a majority stake in the entity have taken a back seat following the American unicorn's failed IPO attempt and the departure of founder Adam Newmann as CEO.

"We are in the market to raise $200 million in equity and debt for WeWork India," Virwani said. He said they could also consider offering coupons to these investors.

Embassy has so far pumped in Rs 900 crore into WeWork India and has also taken a debt of Rs 500 crore for the co-working business.

Virwani said the disinvestment will be done at a group level and was mainly to "keep cash" given the "turmoil". He added that Embassy Group will also continue with the WeWork brand in India.

WeWork India currently has 48,000 seats with a 73 percent occupancy and recently opened three centres in Noida. The company is also set to start offering managed offices, Karan Virwani, who heads WeWork India, told CNBC-TV18

Embassy Group was looking to sell a majority of the 90 percent stake in WeWork India at a company valuation of $2.75 billion.

"Given the cash flow India business generates, if WeWork had gone IPO for $14 billion, India would be still $3 billion," Jitu Virwani explained.

"The focus is on profitability. We just saw the largest sales quarter - we added 10,000 desks in three months," the younger Virwani said.

"Even in the agreement with WeWork, the focus was on EBITDA. We have operationally broken even across centres. We will achieve corporate profitability by mid-2020 and will reach 100,000 seats by end of 2020," he added.

First Published:Oct 10, 2019 3:38 PM IST