Nexus Select Trust is planning to enter the capital markets on 9 May with a Rs 3,200 crore REIT (Real Estate Investment Trust) IPO at a price band of Rs 95 to 100 per unit. The IPO consists of a fresh issuance of units aggregating up to Rs 1,400 crore and an offer for sale of up to Rs 1,800 crore.
Nexus Select owns 17 Malls across 14 cities, including the Ahmedabad One Mall, which it acquired in 2015. Addressing a news conference in Ahmedabad on Thursday, Jayen Naik, COO of Nexus Select Mall Management said the company is not in the business of building malls, but acquiring them. “We acquire, upgrade, and reposition malls so as to increase rental yields. Our focus is on increasing shopper traffic through marketing,” he said.
Addressing the news conference, CFO Rajesh Deo said that the net operating income of Ahmedabad One mall had increased from Rs 45 crore in 2015 to over Rs 110 crore presently. “We see great scope for more such acquisitions. India currently has around 100 Grade A malls with 95% occupancy and they are all potential acquisition targets. Builders are often not equipped to run them profitably.” he said.
Nexus has been acquiring 1.4 million square feet of mall-space annually and has spent around Rs 100 crore renovating them. It recently acquired seven malls from the Prestige Group in the South. One of its best performing malls is Citywalk Delhi, where Tim Cook recently opened an Apple Store. “Global brands are coming to India in numbers and need high-end retail space,” said Mr Naik. “H&M had just two stoes in India in 2015, now it has 50. PVR had just 464 screens in 2015, now it has 846.”
The Nexus IPO is backed by Blackstone, which launched India’s first REIT, Embassy Office Parks (2019), and then the Mindspace Business Parks REIT (2020). Nexus Select Trust will be India’s first listed rent-yielding retail REIT.
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