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Private equity firm Blackstone has put its plans to offload stake in Embassy Office Parks REIT on the backburner and wait for a better exit pricing.
“We will eventually exit, but not right away,” Senior MD and head of real estate acquisitions in India for Blackstone, Asheesh Mohta, said. He added that the exit price and valuation had to be right for the company to make a profitable exit. The last time it sold stake in the REIT was in September last year when it offloaded 8 per cent in block deals raising about ₹2,700 crore.
Embassy Office Parks was the first REIT to be listed in the country and its main sponsors were Bengaluru-based Embassy Group and Blackstone. After the listing in 2019, the US-based asset manager has been gradually offloading stake in tranches. From 55.3 per cent stake that it held in June 2020, the holding has been pared down to 23.59 per cent at the end of March.
Volatile market
Earlier this year, in January, the firm was understood to be in talks with a host of PE funds, including Bain Capital, to sell a portion of the stake in Embassy REIT through the block deal route. However, the stock market has been fairly volatile and since the beginning of 2023, has been marked by deep swings.
Embassy Office Parks REIT, which listed at ₹312, has been a moderate performer. This year’s high was ₹346.54 on January 12, while its 52-week high is ₹406.95, which it reached in June last year. This year, the stock also touched a low of ₹298.90 on February 6 on the NSE. Over the last 180 days, the REIT’s units have fallen over 3 per cent, while in the last three years it has fallen 11.6 per cent. At Wednesday’s closing price, Blackstone’s holding in the REIT is valued at ₹7,380 crore.
A media report recently said Blackstone has encashed around $2 billion from its exits in India over the last 12-15 months across its holdings in the country. In January 2022, the PE firm had exited another REIT, Mindspace Business Parks, in which it had a 15 per cent stake, with an impressive internal rate of return of 20 per cent on its investment.
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