Blackstone to Exit Embassy REIT, Sell 24% Stake

New Delhi, Dec 19 (PTI) Global fund Blackstone plans to sell its entire 24 per cent stake in Embassy Office Parks REIT for around Rs 7,000-7,500 crore to monetise its investments, sources said on Tuesday.

The company plans to offload its units through a block deal on stock exchanges, they said.

The share price of Embassy Office Parks REIT closed at Rs 335.54 per unit on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) on Tuesday. Its total market capitalisation stood at nearly Rs 31,805 crore.

A spokesperson of Blackstone declined to comment.

Embassy Office Parks REIT is India's first Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT), sponsored by Blackstone and Bengaluru-based realty firm Embassy Group. It got listed in 2019 after raising around Rs 5,000 crore through a public issue.

Last year, Blackstone raised around USD 325 million (about Rs 2,650 crore) by selling its shares in Embassy Office Parks REIT.

After this deal, Blackstone's stake in Embassy Office Parks REIT came down to 24 per cent from around 32 per cent shareholding earlier.

This was the third divestment of stake by Blackstone in Embassy Office Parks REIT.

Now, Blackstone intends to fully exit from Embassy Office Parks REIT.

Embassy REIT owns and operates a 45.3 million square feet portfolio of nine infrastructure-like office parks and four city centre office buildings in Bengaluru, Mumbai, Pune and the National Capital Region (NCR).

Embassy REIT's portfolio comprises 35.3 million square feet of completed operating area.

Blackstone launched two office assets-backed REITs in India -- Embassy REIT and Mindspace REIT. It has already exited from Mindspace REIT.

It has also sponsored a retail assets-backed REIT, "Nexus Select Trust", which got listed this year.

There are four REITs listed with stock exchanges in the country currently.