Brookfield India to acquire 50% stake in four Bharti Enterprises assets

New Delhi [India], May 16 (ANI): Brookfield India Real Estate Trust (BIRET) has signed binding agreements to acquire a 50 per cent stake in four premium Grade A assets from Bharti Enterprises (Bharti), it informed stock exchanges on Thursday early hours.
The acquisition includes marquee commercial properties totaling 3.3 million square feet, at an enterprise value of Rs 60,000 million.
The total equity consideration for the 50 per cent stake will be fulfilled through a preferential allotment of units in the company to Bharti, at Rs 300 per unit.
Following this agreement, Bharti, will become the second largest unitholder in the company, India's only 100 per cent institutionally managed office REIT, with an ownership stake of 8.53 per cent.
The portfolio of assets includes operating Worldmark assets at Aerocity New Delhi, a mixed-use property covering 1.4 million square feet, Airtel Center of 700,000 square feet in North Gurugram, and Worldmark Gurugram, an asset spanning over 700,000 square feet.
These assets are in established office markets, with excellent connectivity, modern retail and F&B offerings.
Ankur Gupta, Managing Partner, Head of Real Estate for the Asia Pacific region, Brookfield, said, "We are pleased to extend our partnership with Bharti through this strategic venture making them a significant investor in BIRET. 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."
Harjeet Kohli, Joint Managing Director, Bharti Enterprises said, "With this transaction, Brookfield, through its two managed vehicles, will own 100 per cent 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 a meaningful ownership in their listed portfolio of high quality assets."
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, Kohli added.
Brookfield India has six large integrated office parks located in key markets of India - Mumbai, Gurugram, Noida, and Kolkata. The Brookfield India REIT portfolio consists of 25.5 million square feet of total leasable area, comprising 20.9 million square feet of operating area, 0.6 million square feet of under construction area and 4.0 million square feet of future development potential.
Brookfield India REIT is sponsored by an affiliate of Brookfield whose asset management business is one of the world's leading alternative asset managers with approximately USD 925 billion of assets under management across real estate, infrastructure, renewable power, private equity and credit strategies and a global presence across more than 30 countries. (ANI)