Blackstone-backed Nexus Select Trust, a real estate investment trust, is set to hit the bourses with a Rs 4,000-crore initial public offering by May, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The IPO will be the first by a retail REIT in India. It will also be the third by a Blackstone-backed REIT, after the Embassy Office Parks REIT that listed in 2019 and Mindspace REIT in 2021, which are both based on leasing office assets.
The company had filed the draft red herring prospectus in November last year. According to the person quoted above, the company will look to list at a valuation of about $3 billion or Rs 23,500 crore in the first week of May.
The IPO will consist of a fresh issue of shares worth Rs 1,600 crore and an offer-for-sale worth Rs 2,400 crore.
Nexus Select Trust leases out about 3,000 stores in 17 commercial real estate properties or malls across 14 Indian cities, claiming to have a share of about 30% of India's total discretionary retail spending in FY20 and an annual footfall of 1.3 crore.
According to its prospectus, occupany by tenants across its 9.8 million sq. ft. in malls stood at around 93.5%, with an average lease length of 5.6 years, as of June 30, 2022.
The REIT counts Delhi's prominent Select Citywalk mall in its portfolio, the acquisition of which was recently cleared by the Competition Commission of India.
The trust typically acquires assets such as shopping malls, then premiumises it via certain capital expenditure, thereby increasing rental yield and then focuses on marketing to attract traffic.
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