Blackstone acquires 50% stake in Westend Mall in Pune

Blackstone is the largest real estate private equity firm in the world with $102 billion of assets under management

Leading private equity (PE) firm Blackstone Group has bought 50% stake in Westend Mall in Pune for an undisclosed amount.

"This is the fourth acquisition by Blackstone after it bought stakes in retail malls in Ahmedabad, Amritsar and Navi Mumbai last year," property consultant Jones Lang LaSalle, which facilitated the deal, said in a statement here today.

Blackstone is the largest real estate private equity firm in the world today with $102 billion of assets under management, it said.

Westend is the largest integrated mixed-use development in the micro-market of Aundh and Baner, which houses some of the top IT companies and an abundant residential catchment in the vicinity. The shopping complex is the largest operational retail mall in west Pune.

"Against the backdrop of several question marks being raised on the impact of various potential disruptive changes in the real estate sector, this deal underscores the fact that institutional investors are still wired into relevant big- ticket opportunities," JLL India Managing Director-Pune Sanjay Bajaj said.

By harnessing the demand for Grade A real estate developments in the city, Blackstone has once again shown it has a firm finger on the pulse of the Indian growth story, he added.