Brookfield India REIT to buy Bharti Enterprises' 50% stake in realty JV for Rs 6,000 cr

Bengaluru: Brookfield India Real Estate Trust (BIRET) is set to acquire Bharti Enterprises' stake in four commercial properties for a sum of Rs 6,000 crore, the two companies said in a joint press statement on Thursday.

This will give parent Brookfield full control of Bharti Enterprises' 50 per cent stake in its joint venture with Brookfield Asset Management. The Canadian alternative investment fund had acquired a 50 per cent stake in the said assets, through its private realty fund, in May last year.

"With this transaction, Brookfield, through its two managed vehicles, will own 100 per cent stake in the four marquee assets originally developed by Bharti Realty,” said Harjeet Kohli, Joint Managing Director, Bharti Enterprises.

Payment to Bharti will be made in the form of a preferential allotment of shares in BIRET at Rs 300 per unit. With this, Bharti will become the second-biggest unitholder in BIRET with an ownership stake of 8.53 per cent.

"With this acquisition, we add New Delhi to our portfolio making BIRET the most diverse office REIT in India," said Ankur Gupta, Managing Partner, Head of Real Estate for the Asia Pacific region, Brookfield. He added that the deal has taken Brookfield's retail operating area to a million square feet.

The four properties, totalling 3.3 million square feet, include Worldmark assets at Aerocity New Delhi, Airtel Center in North Gurugram, Worldmark Gurugram and the Pavillion Mall in Ludhiana.