Blackstone, the global private equity giant based in the US which has a corpus of $9.5 billion, is understood to be closing in on its first real estate deal in India. The private equity fund, present in India with its real estate team for the past three years, is understood to be in discussions with Bangalore-based Embassy Property Development to invest around Rs 200 crore in one of its projects.
Embassy Property Development is understood to be raising private equity even as it is awaiting Securities & Exchange Board of India (SEBI) clearance for a planned public offer of Rs 2,400 crore which is expected during this calendar. The issue is expected to be managed by investment banks UBS, Citigroup, Nomura and Edelweiss. While Blackstone could not be reached for comments, Embassy denied any such plans of raising funds from Blackstone. According to recent reports, Embassy was also in talks with Temasek and HDFC Property Ventures for a $100 million private equity infusion, the status of which is not yet clear
