BLACKSTONE, BROOKFIELD EYE KOTAK REALTY ASSETS

Kotak Realty Fund is in talks with US-based Blackstone Group LP and two Canadian entities to sell assets from two real estate funds raised in 2007, two people aware of the development said on condition of anonymity.

The Canadian entities are Brookfield Asset Management Inc. and the Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB).

Kotak Realty Fund, a part of Kotak Investment Advisors Ltd (KIAL), has four separate special purpose vehicles that hold stakes in residential projects in Chennai and Gurugram acquired by its vintage funds in 2007. The vintage funds include Kotak Alternate Opportunities India Fund worth $331 million and Kotak India Realty Fund worth $265 million. Kotak India Realty Fund was Kotak’s first real estate offshore fund. More than 60% of the investments made from the offshore fund have been sold.

Kotak has hired Jones Lang LaSalle India to advise on the sale process, said the second person. The deal value is not yet known.

The projects that are on the block include residential township project Astaire Gardens in Gurgaon, developed by BPTP Ltd, where Kotak India Realty Fund invested about Rs.170 crore.

Others are Bangalore-based DivyaSree Developers Pvt. Ltd’s 140-acre residential township project in Chennai; Aavisa, a township project being developed by IVRCL Assets & Holdings Ltd in Sriperumbudur, TamilNadu; and residential units on a 20-acre plot off Chennai’s Old Mahabalipuram road.

Spokespersons from Blackstone, CPPIB and Kotak Realty Fund declined to comment. Mails sent to spokespersons at Brookfield and JLL went unanswered.