Blackstone Buys Industrial REIT WPT in $3.1B Deal
WPT’s portfolio includes 37.5 million square feet across 19 states
By Nicholas Rizzi August 9, 2021 10:59 am
reprints
Blackstone is continuing its spree of acquisitions; this time, picking up WPT Industrial Real Estate Investment Trust in a deal valued at $3.1 billion, the companies announced Monday.
The Manhattan-based investment giant, through its Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust, agreed to buy WPT for $22 per share, a 17.1 percent premium on its Friday closing price, in an all-cash deal that includes the assumption of debt.
The industrial market has been red-hot during the pandemic, thanks in large part to the boom in online shopping, and the deal gives Blackstone a 37.5 million-square-foot logistics portfolio spread out across 109 properties in 19 states.
“Logistics remains one of our highest conviction themes as the sector continues to benefit from strong tailwinds driven by e-commerce,” David Levine, a senior managing director at Blackstone, said in a statement. “We look forward to expanding our logistics presence across key U.S. markets with the acquisition of this high-quality portfolio that WPT has built.”
The deal is set to close in the fourth quarter of 2021 and comes on the heels of Sam Zell’s Equity Commonwealth picking up industrial giant Monmouth Real Estate Investment Corporation in a $3.4 billion deal, after beating out Barry Sternlicht’s Starwood Capital Group.
Blackstone has barreled through the coronavirus pandemic, purchasing billions of dollars of assets in growing asset classes, including multifamily and life sciences.
Nicholas Rizzi can be reached at nrizzi@commercialobserver.com.
