Increasing its play in the commercial and retail real estate, US private equity giant Blackstone has acquired 50 per cent stake in Pune-based Westend Mall.

While the companies did not disclose the deal size, market sources indicated that the size is estimated at ₹600 crore.

With this buy, Blackstone will have a commercial portfolio of around 35 million sq feet. The Westend Mall is housed in a retail area of 3.7 lakh sq feet and is a multi-use commercial development with a shopping mall, including retail and entertainment areas, a 250-key five star hotel, an IT park and serviced apartments.

Property consultant JLL had facilitated the deal.

Both Blackstone Group and JLL declined to comment on the deal size. Sanjay Bajaj, MD- Pune, JLL India 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 mall, a part of the development, is the largest operational retail mall in west Pune, with marquee brands such as H&M, Shoppers Stop, Cinepolis with IMAX, Max, Starbucks, etc. In addition to the mall, the development also houses top-notch IT companies like Convergys, Sungard, OneNetwork,”

Blackstone has been steadily increasing its commercial real estate portfolio. It had previously acquired retail malls in Ahmedabad, Amritsar and Navi Mumbai.

Blackstone has also bought a one million sq ft mall in Navi Mumbai’s Seawoods locality from L&T Realty for over ₹1,400 crore. It also reportedly bought a mall in Coimbatore.

Westend Mall is the fourth acquisition in the category.

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

In October, Blackstone along with its partner Bengaluru-based Embassy Group had filed a draft prospectus for REIT to raise around ₹4,000 crore.

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