mumbai the worlds largest private equity manager blackstone group which is also the most prolific investor in indian commercial properties is finalizing plans to raise rs 4000 crore about 600 million through a listing of real estate investment trust reit on the domestic stock exchanges people directly familiar with the matter said this will perhaps be indias first reit listing and a test case for global investors who have poured big bucks into the countrys rentyielding commercial assets especially tenanted office spacesreits are listed trusts holding income generating properties earnings from which are distributed to shareholders market regulator sebi came out with reit guidelines two years ago helping real estate developers list their rentyielding assets and also providing large and small stock market investors with an inflation indexed product blackstone through its joint ventures with bangalorebased embassy group and punes panchshil is on the road to build 50 million sqft tenanted office buildingsof which 30 million are already leasedacross top indian cities it could target a possible listing during the first quarter next calendar though a decision on timing would be taken only after filing for permission with sebiblackstone and its local partners have been working with investment bank morgan stanley and law firm cyril amarchand mangaldas for nearly six months and are expected to announce their intent by early october sources added blackstone has met with other banks and law firms to induct them into the listing processwhile the decision on listing an reit appears certain blackstone and its partners are deciding on the assets that may go into the initial trust and the name of the listed vehicle sources said blackstone was unlikely to list its entire portfolio initially and could look at multiple trusts over a period of time given the size of its portfolio the specifics are still unclear as there are several moving pieces one of the sources cited earlier said embassy office parks is the largest unit among blackstones tenanted office portfolio with annualized rental income of rs 1150 crore blackstone and its partners overall portfolio collected about rs 2200 crore or slightly over 300 million in rentals last fiscal they are targeting the rental income to touch 500 million by march 2018 blackstone morgan stanley and cyril amachand mangaldas declined to comment on the storysources said blackstone and allies could raise anywhere between 600 million to 750 million in reit listing but would be cautious given the fact that it will be the first mover in the market while tax efficiency concerns persist the anticipated fall in interest rates and growing investor interest in the reit market are positives triggering the listing move globally a large specialized pool of capital has emerged to invest only in income generating real estate and infrastructure assets japanese south korean canadian and european pension fund managers and sovereign wealth funds from the middleeast and singapore have been big investors in these listed trustsseveral indian companies are already lining up for listing invits or infrastructure investment trusts under