Blackstone has successfully acquired South City Mall in Kolkata for a transaction value of ₹3,250 crore. The Anarock Group served as the transaction advisor for this deal. South City Mall was developed by South City Projects (Kolkata), which is a consortium comprising Merlin Group, Emami Group, Sachi Group, Surekha Group, JB Group, and Rameswara Group, and it was launched in January 2008.
Covering over one million square feet, the mall achieves an average annual turnover exceeding ₹1,800 crore. Sushil Mohta, the chairman of Merlin Group and director of South City Projects, confirmed the transaction in a conversation, stating, “For us, it made sense as we are now planning for the next generation.
Exiting from a previous joint venture allows us to plan for future projects. We were looking to liquidate the asset and Blackstone offered a good value, hence we exited.” Merlin Group intends to establish two additional malls in West Bengal, one of which will cover approximately five lakh square feet and is currently being developed in Joka, Kolkata.
Additionally, the group is working on a five million square feet IT park in Sector V, Kolkata, and has 15 residential projects underway. “Overall, we are developing about 15 million square feet in Kolkata and Pune,” Mohta further added.
