Blackstone-backed Indian REIT Mindspace jumps 12% in debut

Mindspace Business Parks REIT

07/08/2020 07:28

BENGALURU, Aug 7 (Reuters) - Blackstone-backed Mindspace
Business Parks' shares  MINS.NS  rose as much as 11.71% in their
market debut on Friday, showing investor confidence in the real
estate sector even as many Indians work from home due to the
COIVD-19 pandemic.
    Mumbai-based Mindspace operates as a real estate investment
trust, and controls property with a total leasable area of 29.5
million square feet with tenants including Amazon.com  AMZN.O 
and Barclays  BARC.L .
    Its shares opened trading at 302 rupees, higher than the
initial offer price of 275 rupees, giving the company a market
value of 179.09 billion rupees ($2.39 billion).
    India has seen coronavirus cases surge as its cities sought
to emerge in recent weeks from one of the world's strictest
lockdowns, and millions of office workers are still working from
home. 
    Interest in the real estate market, however, points to
expectations that the country's huge role in global services
will only be reinforced by a coming recession, drawing a wave of
new investment. 
    "Undoubtedly, there was a dip in demand for commercial
spaces - especially during the lockdown period when there was no
activity due to the pandemic," said Anuj Puri, chairman of
Anarock Property Consultants. 
    "However, now we are gradually seeing demand for commercial
spaces pick up in key cities."
    Shares of Mindspace were trading up 10.6% at 304 rupees as
of 0633 GMT.
    
    

($1 = 74.9750 Indian rupees)

 (Reporting by Nivedita Bhattacharjee and Anuron Kumar Mitra in
Bengaluru; Editing by Aditya Soni)
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