PE Firm Blackstone to buy Indiabulls’ Chennai commercial property for $123 mn

Private equity giant Blackstone Group LP has agreed to buy a commercial property in Chennai from Indiabulls Real Estate Ltd for Rs 850 crore ($123 million).

The transaction is part of Indiabulls Real Estate’s decision to reorganise its commercial leasing business in India and exit non-core markets, the Mumbai-listed developer said in a statement on Friday.

The property, One Indiabulls, covers an area of a 1.9 million sq ft and is rented out to companies such as Royal Bank of Scotland, Vodafone, Britannia Industries Ltd and state-run BSNL Ltd. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and is likely to be completed in tranches by 30 September 2019.

Indiabullls had, in March, struck a deal to sell a 50% stake in two commercial properties in Mumbai—Indiabulls Finance Centre and One Indiabulls Centre—to Blackstone in one of the biggest PE deals in the Indian real estate sector. It had also agreed to sell its commercial and residential projects in Chennai at the time in a separate transaction.

The company says it has been restructuring its commercial and residential businesses for sustainable growth.

Blackstone, which is one of the top owners of commercial property in India, continues to invest in both commercial and retail segments.

Last year, it bought into the commercial unit of Mumbai-based developer K Raheja Corp. Before that, it picked up a stake in First International Finance Centre (FIFC) at the Bandra Kurla Complex in Mumbai.

Of late, the firm has been in the limelight for eyeing stressed real estate funds. Blackstone was one of the bidders for the maiden real estate fund of IL&FS PE and was in talks to acquire Anand Jain-led Jai Corp’s residential real estate fund.