Brookfield India REIT to acquire Bharti Enterprises' stake in realty JV

Brookfield India Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) is set to acquire Bharti Enterprises' nearly 50 per cent stake in its joint venture with Brookfield Asset Management. In an announcement on Thursday, it said it was buying a 50 per cent stake in four Grade A assets from Bharti Enterprises.

In May last year, Brookfield Asset Management announced a joint venture agreement to acquire around 50 per cent stake in these properties of Bharti. Bharti owned the remaining stake in the joint venture known as Rostrum Realty. It is now being taken by Brookfield REIT.

"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.

The properties are spread across 3.3 million square feet and have been valued at Rs 6,000 crore. These include Worldmark assets at Aerocity New Delhi, a mixed-use property covering 1.4 million square feet, Airtel Center, the state-of-the-art corporate facility of 700,000 square feet in North Gurugram, and Worldmark Gurugram, a mixed-use asset spanning over 700,000 square feet.

In exchange, Bharti would be allotted preferential units in the REIT at Rs 300 per unit. Following this, Bharti would become the second largest unitholder in Brookfield India REIT with an ownership stake of 8.53 per cent.

"With this acquisition, we add New Delhi to our portfolio, making Brookfield India REIT 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," said Ankur Gupta, managing partner and head of real estate for the Asia Pacific region at Brookfield.

Bharti Enterprises operates its real estate business through Bharti Realty Limited. The company recently announced it would develop India's largest mall at Delhi Airport's Aerocity, spanning over 2.8 million square feet.