Blackstone set to buy 1 mn sq ft from L&T for ~1,000 crore
US-based private equity giant Blackstone is in the final stage of talks with L&T Realty to buy 1 million square feet (sq ft) of office property in Seawoods in Navi Mumbai.
Market sources said the deal could be valued at ~9001,000 crore, given rents in the area. Sources in L&T Realty said the company was expecting ~1,400 crore.
The property is part of a 40-acre integrated transit-oriented development at Seawoods railway station. Earlier, Blackstone bought a one-million-sq-ft mall for ~1,400 crore from L&T Realty in the same project. Blackstone recently inaugurated the Seawoods Grand Central Mall.
L&T Realty has 1.5 million sq ft of office space in the project and has sold 300,000400,000 sq ft to various buyers.
“Commercial real estate is not core for T&T Realty, which is focusing on residential projects. That is why it is selling such properties,” a source said.
In 2015, L&T Realty sold its 1.8 million sq ft commercial project in Chandigarh, including Elante Mall, a Hyatt hotel and offices, to the Carnival group for Rs 1,785 crore. That was the largest commercial real estate deal of that year.
L&T Realty Chief Executive Officer Srikant Joshi declined to comment on the deal with Blackstone. A spokesperson for Blackstone said, “As a matter policy, Blackstone does not comment on media/market speculations.”
Sources said L&T Realty was also in talks with Blackstone and Brookfield to sell office assets in Powai in Mumbai’s eastern suburbs, but this could not be independently verified. L&T Realty has developed 1.5 million s q ft in Powai and has the potential to develop another 3-4 million sq ft.
Blackstone is the largest owner of office space in the country at 70 million sq ft. It has invested over $3 billion in Indian real estate since 2011. Two of its joint ventures, one with the Embassy group in Bengaluru and and another with Panchshil of Pune, are planning to float real estate investment trusts, or Reits.
Early this year, Blackstone bought a 15 per cent stake in the rental arm of the K Raheja Corp for ~1,700 crore. It was also in the reckoning to buy a stake in DLF’s subsidiary, DLF Cybercity, which was sold to Singapore's GIC.