Blackstone-Sattva JV Knowledge Realty Trust Files Draft Papers For Rs 6,200-Crore REIT IPO

Knowledge Realty Trust, a joint venture of private equity firm Blackstone and Sattva Developers Pvt., has filed draft papers for an initial public offering worth Rs 6,200 crore.

While Blackstone and Sattva are the sponsors, Axis Trustee Services Ltd. is the trustee of the real estate investment trust. The proposed REIT will include assets of Sattva and Blackstone's Nucleus Office Parks with a total leasable area of 48 million square feet as of Sept. 30.

Kotak Mahindra Capital Co., Axis Capital Ltd., BofA Securities India Ltd., ICICI Securities Ltd., IIFL Capital Services Ltd., JM Financial Ltd., Morgan Stanley India Co. and SBI Capital Markets Ltd. are the lead bankers for the offer.

"We believe our positioning as a brand-agnostic platform serves as a competitive advantage and will enable us to selectively pursue inorganic acquisitions of assets from a wide range of third-party asset owners, particularly those who prefer to retain their branding on the assets," the Trust said.

Upon listing, Knowledge Realty will be the largest office REIT in the country based on gross asset value of Rs 59,445 crore as of the September quarter, according to a company's draft offer document. Knowledge Realty will be the fifth REIT to be launched in India and the fourth to be backed by the buyout firm.

Blackstone launched Embassy, Mindspace and Nexus REITs in India, and exited Embassy by the end of 2023. Sattva Developers Pvt. has so far constructed 74 million square feet across seven Indian cities in commercial, residential, co-living, co-working, hospitality and data-centre sectors, according to the draft filing.

The new REIT, a 55–45 partnership between Blackstone and Sattva, will manage 30 assets spread across six cities — Hyderabad, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Gurugram and GIFT City, Ahmedabad. Mumbai office spaces One BKC, One Unity Center and One World Center will be part of this portfolio.

The company has a 90% committed occupancy in its portfolio assets, which in turn get two-thirds of their gross rentals from multinational tenants.

In the six-month period till Sept. 30, the trust reported a top line of Rs 1,882 crore and a loss of Rs 41 crore on the back of a one-time loss of Rs 149 crore on redemption and re-measurement of financial instruments.

The company will distribute 90% of its net distributable cash flow to unitholders every six months. The net distributable cash flow for the Trust's commercial offices is projected to be at Rs 2,684 crore for fiscal 2026 and Rs 2,990 for fiscal 2027.

This will be Blackstone India's fifth real estate public offering, and will follow a long line of the firm's recent IPOs. In 2024, three of its portfolio companies debuted on Dalal Street, making close to a Rs 4,000-crore profit for the firm in the process.