Foreign and domestic institutional investors including Morgan Stanley Asia Singapore, Luxembourg-based Carmignac Gestion, US-based Wells Fargo Emerging Markets Equity Fund, HDFC Flexicap Fund, and ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund have bought units of Nexus Select Trust worth over Rs 4,354 crore from Blackstone.
These units were sold through open market block deals at Rs 138 as against floor price of Rs 135 per piece.
ET had reported on Thursday that the US-based private equity major was about to sell over 21% stake of Nexus Select Trust in Friday’s trade through block deals. These deals have fetched the sponsor of the real estate investment trust (REIT) more than $531 million or Rs 4,455 crore.
Post the sale, Blackstone’s stake in the REIT has reduced to around 22% from 43.1% as at June end. IIFL Securities and JM Financial Institutional Securities were the brokers to the deal.
Blackstone will have a statutory lock-up of 15% stake in the REIT until May 2026. It has also agreed for a voluntary lock-up for a balance stake of 6.3% for nine months.
In May 2023, India’s maiden retail assets-led REIT, Nexus Select Trust, raised over Rs 3,200 crore through its initial public offer. Wynford Investments, a portfolio company of Blackstone funds, is the sponsor of the REIT.
The total offer of Rs 3,200 crore consisted of fresh issue of up to Rs 1,400 crore and an offer-for-sale of up to Rs 1,800 crore. The REIT units were issued at Rs 100 per piece and have since gained over 35% based on Thursday’s close. In addition to this, the REIT has made around 8% distribution so far, taking the investors’ gains to 43% as against the issue price. The company currently has a market cap of Rs 21,875 crore.
Nexus started operations in 2015 with acquisition of its first two malls in Ahmedabad and Amritsar. Currently, the Nexus Select Trust portfolio consists of 17 malls with a total spread of nearly 10 million sq ft across 14 cities with 97.3% retail portfolio occupancy.
