Indian property developer Panchshil Realty and US private equity giant Blackstone Group have emerged frontrunners for buying Citibank's old headquarters at the Bandra-Kurla Complex, Mumbai's prime business district. Panchshil and Blackstone have jointly bid INR186 crore for the assets.
According to a report by the Hindu Business Line, Citibank had put the building on the block last year and appointed top commercial real estate services firm CBRE Group Inc. as its consultant.
The report, citing sources, said that Citibank was expecting INR300-350 crore for the property. This values the current bid about 37% lower at INR22,000 per square feet.
Citigroup Center is a seven-floor building spread over 84,000 sq. ft. It served as the investment bank's India headquarters until April last year. Thereafter, Citibank shifted a block away to its new location, the 2.97-lakh sq. ft. First International Finance Center, purchased for INR985 crore, Hindu Business Line said.
This is the second tender for the Panchshil-Blackstone combine, after jointly bidding to buy Express Towers in Mumbai's Nariman Point from ICICI Venture and Viveck Goenka for about INR900 crore, the report said.
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