Blackstone, the US-based private equity major, is reported to have acquired Alpha One mall at Vastrapur in Ahmedabad, which was owned by Guargaon-based real estate company, Alpha G: Corp. Blackstone was in talks to acquire 100% stake in Alpha G: Corp, which owns one mall each in Amritsar and Ahmedabad totalling 1.2 million square feet. According to the market sources the deal for both Ahmedabad and Amritsar centres is around £80 million.
Alpha G: Corp is owned by private equity funds C&C Alpha (50 per cent), Morgan Stanley (15 per cent) and the G: Corp group (30 per cent), while members of the management team hold 5 per cent.
A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed in 2005 Vibrant Gujarat to develop a city centre at Vastrapur in Ahmedabad. Later on Alpha G: Corp bagged the plot in an auction by the Ahmedabad Urban Development Authority to build the city centre and the deal size was £5.2 million at that time. The total built up area of Alpha One mall is approximately 500,000 sq. ft.
Recently, a top official of Alpha G: Corp hinted at a management change for both Alpha One city centers Amritsar and Ahmedabad and revealed that both the properties were being sold to Blackstone. Real estate market sources say that with this acquisition Blackstone in entering into mall management space in a big way.
