Blackstone to exit Embassy Reit in $833mn block deal
Embassy Office Parks Reit for an estimated ₹6,931.5 crore, or $833 million, through a block deal on Wednesday. As per the deal terms reviewed by Mint, the sale has a floor price of ₹310 per share, representing a discount of approximately 7.7% compared to Embassy Office Parks’ Tuesday closing price of ₹335.75 on the NSE. This marks a significant exit for Blackstone, which had been a key investor in Embassy Office Parks Reit since its initial public offering (IPO) in 2019.
The Reit, India’s first, owns a portfolio of high-quality office properties primarily located in Bengaluru, Mumbai, Pune, and Noida. The deal is being facilitated by IIFL Securities Ltd and Kotak Securities Ltd, who will act as bookrunners for the block sale. In 2020, Blackstone sold 8.7% in Embassy Reit worth around $300 million, according to data on stock exchanges.
The shares were sold at ₹341 per unit. The funds raised from this trade used to pay back its investors. In the past year, the company has given a negative return of 3.8% to investors, significantly lower than the Nifty 50 index return of 18.5%.
Embassy Office Parks Reit, backed by global private equity giant Blackstone Group LP and Bengaluru-based developer Embassy Property Developments, raised ₹4,750 crore in India’s first real estate investment trust through IPOs. Embassy Reit is India’s first publicly listed Real Estate Investment Trust. It owns and operates a 45.3 million square feet portfolio of nine infrastructure-like office parks and four city-centre office buildings in India’s best-performing office markets of Bengaluru, Mumbai, Pune, and NCR.
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