Blackstone is in talks to sell around half of its stake in India’s largest real estate investment trust Embassy Office Parks to private equity firm Bain Capital, two sources said, in a deal worth up to $480 million at current prices.

A deal would mark USbased Bain’s first REIT investment in India where office space is drawing in investors as many workers have returned to offices with the waning of the Covid-19 pandemic. For Blackstone, it would mean a further selldown of its Embassy stake as it adjusts its portfolio.

The talks are still at a preliminary stage, the sources told Reuters.

The plan is to execute the transaction via block deals on Indian stock exchanges in the coming weeks, though a timeline or pricing has not been finalised, said the first source who had direct knowledge of the matter.

A spokesperson for Blackstone declined to comment while Bain Capital and Embassy did not respond to requests for comment. The sources did not wish to be named as the discussions are private.

Embassy Office Parks was India’s first REIT to list in 2019. It owns and operates more than 43.2 million square feet of office parks and office buildings in cities such as Bangalore and Mumbai and is also the largest office REIT in Asia by area.

REITs own and operate real estate assets, similar to how mutual funds hold stocks. They earn rent from the properties they manage, which they use to distribute dividends to investors.

Blackstone currently owns 24 per cent of the Embassy REIT, which has a market capitalisation of nearly $4 billion.

The private equity group is planning to sell about 10-12 per cent of it, the sources said.

That will be worth $400 million-$480 million based on Monday’s closing price of the Embassy REIT on the stock exchange in Mumbai.

A block trade will be Blackstone’s fourth stake sale in Embassy, following sales in 2020, 2021 and 2022.