Blackstone CEO Stephen Schwarzman and WPT CEO Scott Frederiksen (Blackstone and LinkedIn)
The Blackstone Group keeps feeding its seemingly insatiable appetite for industrial real estate.
In its latest move, the firm’s private real estate investment trust is acquiring WPT Industrial Real Estate Investment Trust in an all-cash deal valued at $3.1 billion, according to Bloomberg. Debt is included in that valuation, according to the report.
The deal was done through Blackstone Real Estate Investment Trust. Over the past year, BREIT has added west coast warehouses, Silicon Valley offices and mobile-homes in Florida for a combined $1.8 billion.
WPT rose almost 16 percent in trading on the Toronto market — where the company is based — after news of the acquisition emerged.
WPT owns about 110 commercial properties in the United States, with warehouses and distribution centers in major markets around Atlanta, Houston and Chicago. The company’s portfolio consists of almost 37.5 million square feet across 20 states.
Rents for industrial properties like warehouses have been booming, buoyed by rising e-commerce and falling availability. A recent CBRE analysis found first-year base rents on leases of at least a year rose nearly 10 percent this year.
Earlier this year, Blackstone was negotiating a $720 million deal for industrial and development sites in India, among its numerous transactions in the sector. Last year, it acquired a $358 million warehouse portfolio from Iron Mountain.
[Bloomberg News] — Holden Walter-Warner
