US private equity firm Blackstone plans to exit its holding in Embassy Office Parks REIT for ₹6,931.5 crore ($833 million) in a block deal on December 20.
According to the term-sheet seen by businessline, Blackstone-sponsored special purpose vehicles will be selling 22.4 crore units or 23.59 per cent stake in Embassy REIT, the country’s first REIT to be listed.
The floor price for the deal is ₹310 a share, which is at a 7.7 per cent discount to the closing price of Embassy REIT on Tuesday.
Blackstone, which held a stake of 55.3 per cent in the REIT in June 2019, has been paring its stake over the years through strategic sales.
Talks with Bain Capital
This year, it has been attempting a full exit but could not find the right price. In January, talks with Bain Capital for a possible stake-sale floundered on valuations. Blackstone India officials also told businessline on two occasions during the year that it was not the right time to exit because the price was not right.
The REIT’s units listed at ₹314.10 in 2019 with modest listing gains and reached a high of ₹512 in March. It is currently trading at ₹335.75 on the NSE. It has fallen 3.8 per cent over a 52-week period to date and is down 13.7 per cent over a three-year period.
IIFL Securities and Kotak Securities are the bookrunners to the deal.