BENGALURU, May 16 (Reuters) - Brookfield India Real

Estate Trust (BIRET) has signed a binding agreement to

acquire a 50% stake in four Bharti Enterprises properties for 60

billion rupees ($719 million), including debt, it said on

Thursday.

The deal will take place through a preferential allotment of

units in BIRET at 300 rupees per unit to Bharti Enterprises,

which owns telecom operator Bharti Airtel, in exchange

for the stake.

The properties, some of which are used for commercial

purposes, while others host offices and retail stores both, are

located in New Delhi and Gurugram and measure a total of 3.3

million square feet in area.

A boom in companies setting up offices in India, coupled

with post-pandemic return-to-office requirements and strong

retail consumption, have boosted optimism for commercial

properties.

With 25.5 million square feet of total leasable area, BIRET

is India's fourth-largest listed REIT by market capitalisation,

after Embassy Office Parks, Nexus Select Trust

and Mindspace Business Parks REIT.

($1 = 83.4420 Indian rupees)