OFFICE SPACE - Prestige to acquire Exora biz park in Rs 1,000cr deal :The Times of India

Realty major Prestige Estates Projects is set to unveil a little over Rs 1,000-crore deal to acquire a 63.5% stake in Exora Business Park from Red Fort Capital, people directly involved with the matter said.

The deal values Exora at Rs 1,600 crore, with 8.5% capitalization rate, a percentage that determines the return on investment on rental assets. Prestige, which owns the remaining minority shares, is taking its stake to 100% through a combination of short-term loans and internal accruals.This is one of the biggest commercial real estate transactions in the country's technology capital where foreign investors have lapped up office buildings with stable yields.

The announcement could come early this week after Prestige was given a 90-day exclusivity to clinch the deal.Prestige, which last year emerged as the largest Indian developer by residential units sold, has finalized financing commitments in the past few days, people in the know added. Located in Marathahalli, the park is spread over 22 acres with 2.12 million sq ft of leased area that counts marquee tenants like JP Morgan Chase, Juniper Networks and Xerox.The park earns Rs 130 crore in annual rental. The Bengaluru realty major has got into a separate partnership under the Ex ora JV to develop a villa project in Whitefield.

A few months back, Canada Pension Plan along with Shapoorji, Blackstone, Xander and Government of Singapore had expressed interest in looking at a potential acquisition through Red Fort's stake. This would have meant Prestige also exiting the park, prompting it to consider the buyback.Property consultants CBRE and JLL jointly ran the sale process for Red Fort.

When TOI reached out to Prestige Group CMD Irfan Razack, he said, “We are in advanced stage of closing the deal. Prestige is buying back stake as we have created these properties,“ he said.