Indiabulls Real Estate promoters sell 12% stake to Embassy Group; plan to exit real estate business

Mumbai: Promoters of Indiabulls Real Estate have sold about 12 percent stake to Bengaluru-based realty firm Embassy Group through block deal, as part of its strategy to focus on financial services and exit realty business, sources said. Promoters have nearly 39 percent stake in Indiabulls Real Estate. On late Thursday, Indiabulls Real Estate informed through a regulatory filing that the “promoters intend to dispose of up to 14 percent of the fully paid-up share capital of the company (out of the aggregate 38.72 percent fully paid up share capital of the Company, currently held by them) to third-party investors”. [caption id=“attachment_3859401” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Reuters[/caption] The stake sale is in line with the promoters’ strategy to focus on financial services in the long run, it added. Indiabulls Group is looking to exit the real estate business so that it can get regulatory approvals for the proposed merger of Indiabulls Housing Finance with the Lakshmi Vilas Bank. Whether Embassy Group is buying a stake in Indiabulls Real Estate directly or in partnership with global investment firm Blackstone could not be ascertained. The sources had earlier said the deal has been struck at an enterprise value of USD 1 billion (around Rs 7,000 crore), higher than the Indiabulls Real Estate’s current market cap of around Rs 6,000 crore. Blackstone and Embassy Group joint venture firm ‘Embassy Office Parks’ recently launched India’s first real estate investment trust to raise Rs 4,750 crore. Indiabulls Real Estate has been selling its commercial assets to Blackstone in the last few years. In December 2018, it sold 50 percent stake in two office assets in Gurgaon to Blackstone for Rs 464 crore. Earlier, Indiabulls had sold 50 percent stake in its two prime commercial assets in Mumbai to Blackstone for an enterprise value of Rs 9,500 crore. Indiabulls has an equal joint venture with Blackstone. The JV has 3.3 million sq ft completed asset with annuity income of Rs 670 crore, while 0.8 million sq ft is under construction.