Brookfield India REIT to Buy Half-Stakes in Four Bharti Commercial Properties for $720M

Brookfield India Real Estate Trust has agreed to acquire a 50 percent interest in four commercial properties in Delhi and Gurugram from Bharti Enterprises for INR 60 billion ($720 million).

The REIT sponsored by Canadian giant Brookfield will assume debt under the terms of the deal, with the equity consideration to be fulfilled through a preferential allotment of BIRET units to Bharti at INR 300 per unit, the trust’s manager said Thursday in a release. The Delhi-based conglomerate will thus become the second-largest unitholder in BIRET, with an 8.53 percent stake.

Developed by Bharti’s real estate arm and co-owned by Brookfield, the properties include assets in the Aerocity mega-project at New Delhi’s international airport, as well as an office tower and a mall in Gurugram. The four-asset portfolio comprises 3.3 million square feet (306,580 square metres) in total.

“We are pleased to extend our partnership with Bharti through this strategic venture making them a significant investor in BIRET,” said Ankur Gupta, managing partner and head of Asia Pacific real estate at Brookfield. “With this acquisition, we add New Delhi to our portfolio making BIRET the most diverse office REIT in India.”

Aerocity Pipeline Prospects

Upon completion of the transaction, Brookfield will have full control of the four Bharti-developed properties via the $3.5 billion REIT and a private real estate fund.

The target assets at Indira Gandhi International Airport’s Worldmark Aerocity span 1.4 million square feet, according to the companies. Bharti continues to invest in a development pipeline of over 10 million square feet of commercial assets at the multi-phase Aerocity and hopes to grow the partnership through similar transactions, said Harjeet Kohli, joint managing director of Bharti Enterprises.

The Gurugram office tower, known as Airtel Centre, encompasses 700,000 square feet and serves as the headquarters of telecom division Bharti Airtel, while Worldmark Gurugram mall provides more than 700,000 square feet.

BIRET’s latest buys will add to a portfolio consisting of 25.5 million square feet of total leasable area across Gurugram, Mumbai, Noida and Kolkata.

New Leasing Strong

BIRET’s manager on Thursday reported a 57 percent increase in adjusted net operating income to INR 15 billion for the fiscal year to the end of March, as new leasing reached its highest level since the trust’s initial public offering in 2021.

Gross leasing during the 12 months totalled 2.8 million square feet, including 1.9 million square feet of new leasing and 900,000 square feet of renewals, the manager said in a release.

“Fiscal 2024 was our best year since our IPO, driven by a broad-based recovery in leasing demand across sectors and a strong preference for our sustainability-focused Grade A assets,” said BIRET CEO Alok Aggarwal. “We have already achieved 40 percent of our new leasing guidance of 2 million to 2.4 million square feet till fiscal 2025.”