Indiabulls to sell commercial assets worth Rs 811 crore to Blackstone

Realty major Indiabulls Real Estate on Monday said it has entered into agreements to sell commercial projects in Mumbai and Gurugram to global investment firm Blackstone for Rs 811 crore. Indiabulls Real Estate, in an exchange filing, said that it has signed pacts with companies run by The Blackstone Group Inc to sell its stake in Mariana Infrastructure and the commercial assets in Mumbai for a total value of Rs 810.7 crore, subjected to requisite approvals. Mariana Infrastructure owns a commercial project in Gurugram.

"Indiabulls Real Estate Limited and its certain subsidiaries have entered into definitive agreements with entities controlled by The Blackstone Group, which is a globally renowned real estate private equity investor, to divest the entire stake in Mariana Infrastructure and the commercial assets at Mumbai, at an aggregate enterprise value of approximately Rs 810.7 crore, subject to closing adjustments, if any," the company said in a regulatory filing on Sunday.

Indiabulls Real Estate said that the sale of the properties is expected to be completed by December 31 2019.

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"The commercial assets at Mumbai are being divested through slump sale by the subsidiary of the company, which owns this project, at an aggregate enterprise value of Rs 675 crore," it said in the exchange filing.

Indiabulls Real Estate, however, maintained that there will be no change in shareholding pattern of the company, pursuant to such slump sale.

The sale is part of Indiabulls's divestment process to become a debt-free company by the end of the current fiscal. In September this year, the Mumbai-based realty major had said that it would achieve zero net debt in the current financial year through strategic divestment of its stake in certain commercial and leasing business assets. As of September 30, 2017, the company had a debt of Rs 1,783 crore.

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In June this year, Indiabulls Real Estate promoters had sold 14 per cent stake in the company to Embassy Group for Rs 950 crore through open market transactions.

Reacting to the news, shares of Indiabulls Real Estate closed Monday's trade at Rs 59.25 apiece, down 4.05 per cent, on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Edited by Chitranjan Kumar