Brookfield India Real Estate Trust (BIRET) has acquired a 50% stake in four Grade A assets from Bharti Enterprises for an enterprise value of Rs 6,000 crore ($718 million), per an announcement on Thursday.
The total equity consideration for the 50% stake will be fulfilled through a preferential allotment of units in BIRET to Bharti, at Rs 300 per unit. Post the transaction, Bharti will become the second largest unitholder in BIRET with an ownership stake of 8.53%, said a press statement.
“With this transaction, Brookfield, through its two managed vehicles, will own a 100% stake in the four marquee assets originally developed by Bharti Realty. With an over 8.5% stake in the REIT, Bharti is excited to take its partnership with Brookfield forward through meaningful ownership in their listed portfolio of high-quality assets,” said Harjeet Kohli, Joint Managing Director, Bharti Enterprises.
“Bharti also continues to invest substantially in a large development pipeline of over 10 million square feet of Grade A commercial real estate assets in Aerocity, New Delhi, and hopes to grow this partnership through similar transactions,” he added.
The acquisition includes commercial properties totaling 3.3 million square feet, including operating Worldmark assets at Aerocity New Delhi, a mixed-use property covering 1.4 million square feet; Airtel Center, the state-of-the-art corporate facility of 700,000 square feet in North Gurugram; and Worldmark Gurugram, a mixed-use asset spanning over 700,000 square feet.
“With this acquisition, we add New Delhi to our portfolio making BIRET the most diverse office REIT in India. These high-quality assets with strong tenancy also increase our retail operating area to 1 million square feet,” said Ankur Gupta, Managing Partner and head of Real Estate for the Asia Pacific region, Brookfield.
Brookfield India REIT comprises six integrated office parks in Mumbai, Gurugram, Noida, and Kolkata. Its portfolio includes 25.5 million of total leasable area, 20.9 million sq ft of operating area, 0.6 million sq ft of under construction area and 4 million sq ft of future development potential.
Kotak Mahindra Capital Company acted as the financial advisor to BIRET. Khaitan & Co and Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas represented BIRET as legal counsels. Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas represented Bharti as its legal counsel.