Brookfield India REIT, which hopes to raise INR 3,800 crore ($520 million) as it becomes just the third real estate investment trust to trade on the Indian stock exchanges. The REIT, sponsored by an affiliate of Canada-based Brookfield Asset Management, has a price band of INR 274-275 per share for the IPO at a minimum lot size of 200 shares. Once launched, Brookfield India REIT will join two other office trusts Embassy Office Parks REIT and Mindspace Business Parks REIT, both sponsored by US private equity giant Blackstone as India’s only listed real estate investment trusts. A significant chunk of Brookfield’s acquisitions has been funneled into an initial portfolio for the REIT, consisting of four office parks in Mumbai, Gurugram, Noida and Kolkata spanning a combined 14 million square feet.
Headlining the seed portfolio is Kensington office park, which is an IT special economic zone property within the Hiranandani Gardens township in Powai, central Mumbai. The asset, with one completed building measuring 1.5 million square feet of leasable area, was acquired through a 2016 deal in which Brookfield Asset Management spent $1 billion to buy 4.5 million square feet of commercial space from a developer controlled by billionaire Niranjan Hiranandani and his brother Surendra. The REIT acquired the development in 2019. The other three assets in the initial portfolio are sprawling campus-type office parks under the Candor TechSpace banner. The properties were acquired by Brookfield Asset Management in 2014 when it agreed to pay $525 million for Indian developer Unitech Corporate Parks’ Candor Investments subsidiary, which held 100 percent of four special economic zones and 60 percent of two other office park developments. Brookfield later went on to buy out the remaining 40 percent equity in the two projects. The soon-to-be-listed entity acquired the three Candor TechSpace assets in 2015. All four projects in the REIT’s initial portfolio have committed occupancy of over 90 percent. The portfolio’s pipeline assets include two other Candor TechSpace projects, plus certain Brookfield-owned properties to which the REIT has the right of first offer.