NEW DELHI: Knowledge Realty Trust (KRT) has sought approval for a Rs 6200 crore ($711 million) IPO in what could be India’s largest real estate investment trust (REIT) listing. The REIT, backed by Blackstone Inc. and Sattva Developers, has offices in key Indian metro cities such as Bengaluru, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Chennai.
KRT filed the Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP) on Thursday with the capital market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to launch the REIT public issue.
KRT posted a net operating income of Rs 1,632.38 crore in the first half of this fiscal while its asset value stood at nearly Rs 60,000 crore as of September 2024, according to the IPO paper.
"We own and manage a high-quality office portfolio in India, and upon listing, we will be the largest office REIT in India based on Gross Asset Value of Rs 594,450 million as of September 30, 2024 as well as by Net Operating Income (NOI) for H1, FY25 of Rs 16,323.82 million, and the second largest by NOI for 2023-24 of Rs 28,820.83 million," KRT said in its filing paper.
The Trust said it will also be the second largest office REIT in Asia and one of the largest office REITs globally in terms of leasable area.
The KRT portfolio comprises 30 Grade A office assets totalling 48.1 million square feet as of September 30, 2024, with 37.1 million square feet of completed area, 2.8 million square feet of under-construction area and 8.2 million square feet of future development area.
Bengaluru-based Sattva Group has a 45% shareholding in the KRT while global investment firm Blackstone has the remaining 55% stake. Sattva Developers has so far constructed 74 million square feet across 7 Indian cities in commercial, residential, co-living, co-working, hospitality, and data center sectors.
An additional 75 million square feet area is in planning and implementation.
At present, there are four listed REITs in India -- Brookfield India Real Estate Trust, Embassy Office Parks REIT, Mindspace Business Parks REIT, and Nexus Select Trust.
KR’s plan to go public in India comes at a time number of companies filing for IPOs has dropped sharply amidst a broader market downturn. Last month, only 14 companies submitted their DRHP with Sebi to launch an IPO compared to 29 filings in January.