Blackstone sells 5.7 cr units in Embassy Office Parks REIT for over Rs 2k cr

Global fund Blackstone has sold about 5.7 crore units in Embassy Office Parks REIT for over Rs 2,000 crore USD 275 million as part of its strategy to monetise part of its investment, sources said. As per bulk deal data on BSE, Blackstone group entities have sold nearly 2.73 crore units at Rs 355 apiece, totalling around Rs 969 crore.

Global fund Blackstone has sold about 5.7 crore units in Embassy Office Parks REIT for over Rs 2,000 crore (USD 275 million) as part of its strategy to monetise part of its investment, sources said. Embassy Office Parks REIT is the country's first real estate investment trust (REIT), sponsored by realty firm Embassy group and Blackstone. Embassy REIT got listed on the stock exchanges in April 2019 after raising nearly Rs 5,000 crore through a public issue. As per bulk deal data on BSE, Blackstone group entities have sold nearly 2.73 crore units at Rs 355 apiece, totalling around Rs 969 crore. However, sources said Blackstone group overall sold around 5.7 crore units through multiple trades on stock exchanges to raise about Rs 2,025 crore. Not all trades were counted among bulk deals as some were below the threshold limit for such classifications. As many as 14 entities of Blackstone sold a total of 5.7 crore shares for Rs 2,025 crore, the sources said. Embassy REIT's unit price fell by 4.76 per cent on Wednesday to Rs 355.84 apiece on the BSE. Post this deal, Blackstone's unitholding will come down by around 6 per cent to 32 per cent, sources said. Embassy Group has around 12 per cent stake. When contacted, Blackstone, Embassy group and Embassy Office Parks REIT declined to comment. In June last year as well, Blackstone had raised around USD 300 million (about Rs 2,270 crore) by selling its shares in Embassy Office Parks REIT. Blackstone has deployed over USD 12.5 billion in the Indian real estate space.

Besides Embassy REIT, Blackstone has sponsored the country's second REIT -- Mindspace Business Parks REIT. Earlier this year, it acquired the office, retail and hospitality portfolio of realty firm Prestige group. Blackstone group currently has over USD 50 billion of assets under management in India.

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