Brookfield Asset Management is set to close the biggest real estate deal in India’s history.
The firm will pay RMZ Corp. $2 billion for a 12.5 million-square-foot office portfolio, according to Bloomberg. It includes properties in the southern cities of Bengaluru and Chennai.
RMZ said the deal will leave it with zero debt and plans to use the proceeds from the sale to expand its portfolio. The firm wants to expand its real estate portfolio from 67 million square feet to 85 million square feet over the next six years.
The deal comes shortly after news that Blackstone Group signed a non-binding agreement to buy $2 billion worth of office and retail properties in India from Prestige Estates Projects. Terms of that deal haven’t been finalized.
Both firms have poured big money into India over the last few years, and the pandemic hasn’t stopped them.
Brookfield already owns and operates around 22 million square feet of office space in India. Last month, it announced plans to go public with its real estate investment trust, Brookfield India Real Estate Trust, with the goal of raising around $500 million.
The country’s office market has attracted $15.4 billion worth of equity investments since 2011. [Bloomberg] — Dennis Lynch