Blackstone, the world’s biggest alternative investment firm, has acquired the Kolkata-based South City Mall in a Rs 3,250 crore ($376.8 million) deal.
Blackstone, which also sponsors Nexus Select Trust, the only listed retail-focused real estate investment trust (REIT) in India, has acquired the mall from South City Projects (Kolkata) Ltd, according to a press statement.
South City Projects is a real estate development firm formed by a consortium of six Kolkata-based business families–Emami Group, Rameswara Group, Shrachi Group, Sureka Group, Merlin Group, and JB Group–which have been in the real estate business for two decades and a half.
Spread over an area of one million square feet and launched in 2006, the South City Mall has an annual turnover of Rs 1,600 crore. Apart from hosting leading Indian and international brands across more than 150 stores, it also features a large food court and a multistory parking capacity that can hold 1,250 cars.
Real estate consultancy Anarock was the sole adviser on the transaction.
The latest acquisition comes just over four months after Nexus Select Trust completed the acquisition of Bangaluru-based Vega City Mall for Rs 913 crore ($105 million back then) from Blu Horizons Hotels Pvt Ltd.
This was Nexus Select’s fourth such acquisition in Bengaluru. Apart from Vega, the REIT also owns Nexus Shantiniketan, Nexus Whitefield and Nexus Koramangala in the city.
Apart from Bengaluru, it is also present across 14 other cities including Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai and Chandigarh, owing a retail portfolio of 9.9 million square feet.
In India, Blackstone manages $50 billion in assets, with a significant real estate portfolio. In March this year Blackstone chief executive officer Stephen Schwarzman said that the global alternative assets manager planned to double its India exposure to $100 billion over the next few years.
The same month it announced an acquisition of a stake of up to 66% in Pune-based Kolte-Patil Developers Ltd for Rs 1,800 crore. The deal helped Blackstone foray into India’s growing housing property market; thus far the private equity giant has focused on the commercial property segment in India.
