Brookfield trust to acquire 50% stake in four Bharti Enterprises assets

Brookfield India Real Estate Trust (BIRET) has signed a binding agreement to acquire 50 per cent stake in four Grade A assets from Bharti Enterprises, including commercial properties totalling 3.3 million sq ft at an enterprise value of Rs 6,000 crore. 

The real estate trust said in a statement that the total equity consideration would be fulfilled through a preferential allotment of units in BIRET to Bharti Enterprises at Rs 300 per unit. Bharti would become the second largest unitholder in BIRET after this, with an ownership stake of 8.53 per cent. BIRET is India’s only 100 per cent institutionally managed office REIT. 

The portfolio of assets includes operating Worldmark assets at Aerocity New Delhi, a mixed-use property of 1.4 million sq ft, the state-of-the-art corporate facility, Airtel Centre, of 700,000 sq ft in Gurugram, and Worldmark Gurugram, a mixed-use asset spanning over 700,000 sq ft – all the properties have good connectivity, modern retail and F&B offerings. 

Ankur Gupta, Managing Partner, Head of Real Estate for the Asia Pacific region, Brookfield, said, “With this acquisition, we add New Delhi to our portfolio making BIRET the most diverse office REIT in India. These high-quality assets with strong tenancy also increase our retail operating area to 1 million square feet.”

"With this transaction, Brookfield, through its two managed vehicles, will own 100% stake in the four marquee assets originally developed by Bharti Realty. With an over 8.5% stake in the REIT, Bharti is excited to take its partnership with Brookfield forward through a meaningful ownership in their listed portfolio of high quality assets. Bharti also continues to invest substantially in a large development pipeline of over 10 million square feet of Grade A commercial real estate assets in Aerocity, New Delhi and hopes to grow this partnership through similar transactions," said Harjeet Kohli, Joint Managing Director, Bharti Enterprises. 

Kotak Mahindra Capital Company acted as the financial advisor to BIRET, while Khaitan & Co and Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas were its legal counsels. Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas represented Bharti as its legal counsel.