Blackstone stake sale and complete exit from listed Mindspace REIT officially announced

Blackstone's stake sale and complete exit from the listed Mindspace Business Parks REIT (real estate investment trust) was officially announced in an exchange filing on January 11.

"We have received the enclosed intimation dated January 10, 2022 for release of encumbrance over 54,291,425 Units held by BREP Asia SG Pearl Holding (NQ) Pte Ltd and subsequent sale of entire Unitholding of 54,484,901 Units (aggregating to 9.19% of the total outstanding Units of the Mindspace REIT) held by BREP Asia SG Pearl Holding," Mindspace informed the BSE and the NSE.

Mindspace, backed by K Raheja Corp and Blackstone, became the second real estate trust to be listed on the Indian bourses in September 2021, after Embassy Office Parks REIT. Blackstone had acquired a 15 percent minority stake in the Raheja portfolio in March 2017, sold stake worth $100 million in the subsequent IPO and retained its 9.2 percent stake.

The Mindspace REIT comprises 10 Grade-A office assets totalling 31 million square feet located across India's 4 office markets. Eighty-five percent of the portfolio is leased to tenants on a 6.7-year WALE (weighted average lease expiry), with 31 percent of rent from Fortune 500 companies.

Notably, Blackstone has emerged as an aggressive institutional investor in India with overall assets under management estimated to be $60 billion across various sectors. The real estate segment accounts for nearly $20 billion of this market value across its 42 investments. It is the largest office and retail assets owner in India with an office portfolio of 135 million sq ft and over 16 million sq ft of retail space and 40 million sq ft of logistics space.