Brookfield Group subsidiary Moon Holdings (DIFC) has entered a multifaceted transaction with Supreme Infrastructure India promoter group companies BSS Property Ventures and Rajeshwar Property Ventures, said persons with direct knowledge of the development.
The deal will allow the global alternative investment major to expand its commercial real estate portfolio in India that currently stands at 55 million sq ft, of which around 9 million sq ft is in the country’s financial capital.
“This specific transaction includes two principal components, the acquisition of majority shareholding in these Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) that have entered into a pact to get control of around 6 acres of prime land in Mumbai’s Powai locality,” said one of the persons mentioned above.
This deal also includes permissible floor space index (FSI) of more than 1 lakh sq ft in favour of the SPVs. Brookfield has already invested over Rs 600 crore and is expected to invest more to build grade A office properties.
The land transaction is linked to the construction of Project Affected Persons (PAP) buildings by the SPVs through its contractor, as part of a rehabilitation and resettlement project commissioned by the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA).
According to the MMRDA pact, landowner Bhawanishankar Sharma, who is also co-promoter of Supreme Group will undertake construction of PAP buildings.
Sharma owns over 30 acres in Powai and a part of the said plot will be used for this project. He has entered this pact with MMRDA through his group companies BSS Property Ventures and Rajeshwar Property Ventures. These companies also count his sons Vikram Sharma and Vikas Sharma as key shareholders.
Brookfield’s subsidiary has picked the majority stake in these two SPVs and by virtue of this control, it will gain access to the 6-acre Powai land parcel and the free-sale component to be awarded by the MMRDA to these companies.
The MDP Associates team, led by Managing Partner Ashok Paranjpe and Vatsal Merchant acted as the solicitor for the landowner’s family. Jay Gandhi of Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas and Sajit Suvarna of DSK Legal advised Moon Holdings.
Landowner Bhawanishankar Sharma has already registered two separate agreements for sale of land and the free-sale component with his two SPVs–BSS Property and Rajeshwar Property.
The funds brought in by Brookfield have been used for settlement with various lenders of Supreme Group to release the mortgage on this land parcel. These lenders include Indiabulls Housing Finance, Edelweiss ARC, ICICI Bank, JM Financial, and the State Bank of India.
ET’s email query to Brookfield and Supreme Infrastructure remained unanswered until the time of going to press.
Brookfield has been expanding its commercial real estate portfolio in Mumbai. In January, the company signed a pact with the MMRDA to invest $12 billion in various infrastructure projects across the Mumbai Metropolitan Region.
In February, the company emerged as the sole bidder for a plot in the Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC) during an auction conducted by MMRDA. It recently acquired an 8% stake in Nirlon Ltd, the owner of Nirlon Knowledge Park further solidifying its presence in the city’s office space market.
