Blackstone Buys Kolkata Mall From Developer South City for $377M

Private equity titan Blackstone has acquired a Kolkata mall for INR 32.5 billion ($376.8 million), as one of India’s most committed inbound investors continues to expand its retail holdings in the world’s most populous country.

South City Mall provides more than 1 million square feet (92,903 square metres) of retail space and generates average annual sales in excess of INR 18 billion, according to a Tuesday statement issued by Anarock, the sole advisor on the transaction with the project’s developer and seller, South City Projects.

Manhattan-based Blackstone has invested in India for over 20 years and sponsors Nexus Select Trust, the nation’s first listed retail REIT, which holds a portfolio of 17 malls spanning 9.9 million square feet of leasable area. The trust also owns two hotel assets totalling 354 keys and three office assets with a combined gross leasable area of 1.3 million square feet.

“We are committed to continuing South City Group’s wonderful work and positioning South City Mall for long-term success, benefiting from our scale, operational expertise, and deep experiences in the retail sector, particularly in India where we own one of the largest retail portfolios,” said Asheesh Mohta, head of real estate acquisitions for India at Blackstone.

Vote of Confidence

Opened in January 2008, South City Mall boasts more than 250 stores by names including Zara, Armani and Calvin Klein, as well as a 1,250-car parking garage and one of the largest food courts in upmarket South Kolkata.

“The mall has a very high footfall — daily visitors range between 55,000 and 60,000, surging to 75,000-200,000 during weekends and festive seasons,” said Soumendu Chatterjee, regional director for land at Anarock.

South City Projects is a consortium of six local developers with a focus on Kolkata. The group has delivered over 150 projects comprising more than 15 million square feet and also has a presence in Chennai, Hyderabad, Jhansi, Gujarat and Chhattisgarh.

“This transaction represents more than an acquisition — it’s a vote of confidence in Eastern India’s retail ecosystem,” said JB Group director Prakash Bachhawat, who led the transaction process on behalf of South City Projects. “South City Mall is an iconic development, and we’re proud to partner with a world-leading firm like Blackstone.”

The capital of West Bengal state is also home to Phoenix Grand Victoria, a 1 million square foot mall under construction in Kolkata’s Alipore area as a joint venture of developer Phoenix Mills and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board. The project is due to be completed in 2026.

Big Bets Continue

Blackstone’s latest India bet comes after the NYSE-listed group last month led a INR 10.6 billion ($120 million) cash infusion into longtime partner Embassy Developments, with the fresh capital to support projects valued at more than INR 150 billion across 7.7 million square feet.

The firm helmed by chairman and CEO Stephen Schwarzman first joined forces with Embassy over a decade ago when the companies assembled the Embassy Office Parks portfolio, later spinning off the 45.3 million square foot platform into India’s first publicly listed REIT. Blackstone sold down its interest in Embassy REIT and exited its remaining 23.59 percent stake in the trust in late 2023 for INR 71 billion (then $853.5 million).

In 2021, Blackstone acquired Embassy Industrial Parks, a joint venture of rival Warburg Pincus and the Indian group, for an undisclosed sum, gaining a portfolio with 10.6 million square feet of logistics and warehouse assets near major cities in India. That buy became the basis for a new logistics platform, Horizon Industrial Parks.

In March of this year, Blackstone filed a draft prospectus for its fourth India REIT, dubbed Knowledge Realty Trust, with the firm and co-sponsor Sattva Group seeking to raise INR 62 billion ($710 million) from the office trust’s initial public offering. The prospective IPO follows Blackstone’s sponsorship of Embassy REIT, Nexus and Mindspace Business Parks.

March also saw Blackstone agree to acquire a 40 percent stake in Pune-based builder Kolte-Patil Developers for INR 11.7 billion ($134 million), marking the fund management giant’s first investment in residential real estate in India.