Nexus Select Trust, the retail-focused real estate investment trust sponsored by private equity firm Blackstone, has received the final observations, and go ahead from the Securities and Exchange Board of India for its initial public offering of units, sources said.

The ₹4,000-crore IPO consists of a fresh issue of ₹1,600 crore while the remaining ₹2,400 crore is through an offer of sale from its main sponsor Blackstone and some other smaller holders. The portion raised by the REIT will be used to pay down debt.

The REIT aims for a listing by May 15 and is expected to file its final offer document. It has just over three weeks left to complete formalities, including filing the final document, making a pre-IPO placement (if any), setting the price band, launching the IPO, and finally allotting the units.

The REIT’s portfolio comprises 17 malls with a total leasable area of 10 million square feet, two hotel assets with 354 keys and three office assets of 1.3 msf. The mall assets include Delhi’s Select CityWalk Mall, located in upmarket Saket in Delhi, which will be added to the REIT when it lists. The assets have a weighted average lease expiry of 5.6 years.

With an enterprise value of ₹23,000 crore and a debt of ₹3,600 crore, the REIT will still have about $500 million for making acquisitions and adding to its portfolio. It already has an acquisition pipeline of 2.5 msf of assets identified in places such as Ranchi and Chennai.

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