Blackstone group to invest Rs. 450 cr in commercial real estate

In a pure equity transaction, the world’s biggest private equity player in real estate, Blackstone Group, is at an advanced level of talks with Salarpuria Sattva Group to pump in nearly Rs 450 crore in its 30-acre commercial property coming up in Knowledge City, Hyderabad.

After being one of the most active buyers of commercial properties across the country last year, this will be the first real estate investment by the New York-based company in 2016. “Although the fund has by and large picked up ready and income-generating office real estate projects, this will be one of the few under-construction properties that Blackstone is investing in,” said sources familiar with the development.

The Knowledge City project in Hyderabad is a land parcel of about 200 acres that was sold to nearly 13 companies for Rs 2,000 crore by the Andhra Pradesh government in 2008. Salarpuria Sattva purchased 30 acres in the project for an estimated Rs 400 crore. The Salarpuria project is expected to have a total saleable commercial space of 6.5 million square feet to be developed in phases over the next five years.

Stamp Duty for property transfer

Following representations received by the prime minister’s office (PMO) from both domestic and foreign private equity players in the past two months, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is expected to consider the issues of scrapping stamp duty on transfer of properties by private individuals and firms to real estate investment trusts (Reits) and making dividend distribution tax (DDT) ‘pass through’ for Reits and investors in the trusts. Tax levies, including DDT and stamp duty issues, were flagged by top investment bankers and chief executives of companies like JP Morgan & Blackstone.

The real estate industry, equity investors and international trusts have represented to the government for granting “pass through status” for dividend payments by Reits. In effect, rental income from assets with the trusts would not be liable for tax as and when these assets or units are returned to the investors.

The demand for exemption from payment stamp duty and DDT was put forward after the government recently scrapped long-term capital gains tax on transfer of Reits units by their sponsors or investors. An exemption on payment of minimum alternate tax (MAT) when investors transfer shares to the Reit or on sale of Reits units was also granted by the Government recently.

Pending tax issues have been dissuading equity investors and real estate companies from making it big in real estate investment trusts (Reits) and infrastructure investment trusts (InvITs), rating agency CARE said in a note. In his last budget, finance minister Jaitley had given hope to real estate companies looking to list their rent-yielding real estate assets through Reits. Reports from various analysts suggest that the potential for Reits listing in India was about $ 20 billion since in May, the Union cabinet allowed foreign investors to take exposure in Reits to bring in capital and reduce the debt liability of domestic real estate companies.

As per estimates made by real estate firm Raheja Group, the top seven cities of India have more than 400 million square feet of operational office space; of which, over 150 million sq feet would be ready for Reits listing by April.

The largest realty developer, DLF has announced plans to start two Reits, with one exclusively for commercial office space. The company plans to monetize about 30 million sq feet office and retail space by the end of this financial year.

“The government may not wait till presentation of Budget in February next year, instead, it may shortly notify the exemption on payment of stamp duty on transfer of properties to Reits,” confirmed a PMO official. “Exempting Reits completely from payment of DDT might need further discussion,” he added.