Nexus Malls, the Indian retail portfolio arm of Investment Company Blackstone Group and the Promoters of Delhi’s upscale mall. Select Citywalk has finalized the terms of the mall’s inclusion in an upcoming retail REIT planned by the Blackstone Group.
The REIT will be called Nexus Trust and promotors of Select Citywalk will get a percentage share in the REIT. There will be no deal payment to the mall promotors, however, they can exit at any time once REIT is listed.
The Select City Mall will be valued by independent valuers and added to the REIT portfolio. The total value of the REIT portfolio including malls such as Blackstone-Nexus and Select City will be around $3 bn.
Select City alone could be valued between Rs 4,000 and Rs 4,500 crore. The company is expected to file the DRHP by the end of 2022 and out of the 12 mn sq ft Select City operates about 10 mn sq ft and will be part of REIT.
The mall is the trophy retail asset located amongst Delhi’s most affluent residential catchments. With Select’s inclusion, the REIT also expands its footprint in Delhi. It has been in operation for more than 14 years and hence it is stabilized which will provide more stability to the Nexus portfolio.
Nexus didn’t have a mall in Delhi and with the inclusion of Select Citywalk which generates the highest sales per sq ft in the country, the Blackstone arm will have malls in all metros and mini metros. Select Group’s Promotor has not added any mall to its portfolio in the 15 years that Select Citywalk has been open and they want it to be part of a REIT. There are three REITS for office space in the country but none are dedicated REITs for retail assets.
Select Citywalk was conceptualized by Yog Raj Arora, Neeraj Ghei, and Arjun Sharma in 2003 when they successfully bid at the DDA auction for the 15,884 sq mt plot with a landscaped plaza of 8,992 sq mts. Select Citywalk is operated by Select Infrastructure a JV between the Select Group and the Aarone Group.