Blackstone Inc.’s upsized sale of a stake in India’s Knowledge Realty Trust to raise about 121 billion rupees ($1.3 billion) was fully subscribed, underscoring strong investor appetite.
Blackstone offered as many as 1.11 billion units at an indicative price of 109.17 rupees each in the biggest share sale by a private shareholder in India via offer-for-sale route. The deal comprised a base offer of about 740 million units and an oversubscription option of about 370 million units, or a combined 25% stake. The sale opened Aug. 31 for non-retail investors and Sept. 1 for retail investors.
The strong performance of listed REITs is helping deepen India’s relatively young market for real estate trusts, giving property owners another avenue to monetize assets while offering investors access to institutional-grade commercial real estate.
“REITs and infrastructure investment trusts in India are drawing growing investor interest as relatively stable distributions offer an alternative to volatile equity markets,” said Raghuram Kasiviswanathan, head of IPO advisory at Uniqus Consultech. “Recent regulatory changes, strong performance and tax-efficiency measures have further boosted the appeal of these products.”
All five listed REITs have outperformed the benchmark Nifty 50 over the past year, delivering total returns of about 8% to 22%, compared with a 1% decline in the index. Embassy Office Parks, Mindspace Business Parks and Nexus Select Trust have each returned more than 20% during the period. The Knowledge Realty Trust sale will reduce Blackstone’s stake to about 21.5% from 46.5%, making joint-venture partner Sattva Group the REIT’s largest holder with a stake of about 32%.
Knowledge Realty Trust made its stock-market debut in August last year after raising 48 billion rupees in an initial public offering that was subscribed about 13 times
Source: Bloomberg
