Big realty deal: Essar sells business park in Mumbai’s BKC for Rs2,400 crore

Spread across 10 acres in the premier commercial district, the deal consists of the sale of four towers with an office space of about 1.25 million sqft area.

In one of the biggest real estate transactions in recent time, the Essar Group has sold its Equinox Business Park in Bandra-Kurla Complex to Brookfield Asset Management for Rs2,400 crore.

The deal is one of the biggest for a commercial space in Mumbai. (Kunal Patil/HT Photo)

Spread across 10 acres in the premier commercial district, the deal consists of the sale of four towers with an office space of about 1.25 million sqft area.

Anshuman Ruia, promoter-director, Essar Group said, “This is among the largest transactions in India’s commercial real estate sector and demonstrates the value we have been able to create in our Equinox investment.”

Currently, some of the top companies such as Tata Communications, Experian, Crompton Greaves and Lafarge are housed in the complex.

Ankur Gupta, real estate head (India), Brookfield, said that they were excited to bring Brookfield’s placemaking capabilities to Mumbai’s main business district.

“We will invest significant capital, introduce more F&B services and modern amenities to establish Equinox as a high-quality office destination,” said Gupta.

The last big deal in BKC took place in September 2015, when Godrej Properties had sold 4.35 lakh sqft area in Godrej BKC project to Abbott for Rs1,480 crore.

Real Estate analysts say such deals indicate positiveness in the commercial real estate.

“Unlike the residential markets, where there is huge inventory and speculative buying, the commercial market space is mainly end-user based. Here, the yields are also good and we will be seeing more such deals in the coming days,” said Viral Desai, National Head, Commercial Transactions, Knight Frank India, a leading real estate consultation firm.

In the last one year, due to slowdown in the residential market, many of the builders have once again started setting their sights on commercial markets.

This is due to interests shown by private equity fund and also due to assured income in this sector.