Blackstone-Panchshil JV seals deal to buy Express Towers for Rs. 870 crore.

After months of negotiations, an entity owned by Pune-based property developer Panchshil Realty and US-based private equity (PE) company Blackstone has bought a majority stake in Express Towers, the iconic building owned by Viveck Goenka of The Indian Express group, PE company ICICI Venture and The Indian Express's former editor-in-chief Shekhar Gupta, for around Rs. 870 crore. The building is in Nariman Point here.

While ICICI Venture has completely exited the building, Goenka and Gupta have retained minority stakes, said two executives involved in the deal. While ICICI Venture held 50 per cent stake in the building, the rest was held by Goenka and Gupta. According to the executives, the majority of the proceeds has gone to ICICI Venture. Though ICICI Venture was reportedly looking at Rs. 500 crore to Rs. 550 crore from the deal, how much the PE fund got could not be ascertained.


BS