U.S. private equity firm Blackstone Group LP and Indian developer Panchshil Realty are close to buying a majority stake in an office tower in Mumbai for about 9 billion rupees ($144 million), two sources with direct knowledge of the matter said. The deal could be concluded as early as next week, said a source directly involved in the talks. Both the sources declined to be named as the details are not public yet.The 25-storey Express Towers in Nariman Point, a business district, is 49 percent owned by ICICI Ventures, the private equity arm of ICICI Bank, India's biggest private sector lender.The rest is held by Indian Express Group, a newspaper publisher.Blackstone, ICICI Ventures and Indian Express Group declined to comment. Panchshil could not be reached immediately.
The Blackstone Group L.P. (Blackstone) is a manager of private capital and provider of financial advisory services. Shares of BX remained unchanged at $27.34. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $14.00 and as high as $28.73. On average, 4617850 shares of BX exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 0.
Source
