Blackstone has sold 20.8 per cent stake in its mall-based real estate investment trust, Nexus Select Trust, mopping up ₹4,361 crore at ₹138 a unit, exchange data showed.

The private equity firm, which held 43.13 per cent stake in the REIT at the end of June, divested the stake on both the NSE and BSE through several bulk deals.

The units offloaded by Blackstone were acquired by Indian and overseas funds such as Morgan Stanley Asia, HDFC Flexi Cap Fund, ICICI Prudential MF, French asset management firm Carmignac, and Wells Fargo Emerging Markets.

Over 2.6 per cent stake was acquired by two funds of Morgan Stanley Asia, while HDFC MF bought around 2 per cent.

Nexus Select listed on the bourses in May 2023 with an issue price of ₹100 and from a 52-week low of ₹114.12 that month it rose to a 52-week high of ₹154.85 in the last week of July this year. It has mostly been trading in a narrow range through the past year.

Monetisation strategy

The stake sale is part of the US private equity firm’s monetisation strategy in investments it holds in India and churn in its portfolio. In December 2023, it had exited its investment in Embassy Office Parks REIT , while prior to that it had exited its stake in Mindspace Business Parks REIT.

Blackstone is credited with the launch of real estate investment trusts in India and of the four REITs in India, it has been involved in the launch of three of them.

Nexus Select is only one of the four REITs to have retail assets as its underlying portfolio.

Blackstone is learnt to be working to launch its next office REIT under Nucleus Office Parks, which will be a joint venture with the Bengaluru-based Sattva group.

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