Blackstone sells US industrial platform to GIC for $8.1bn

Blackstone is selling IndCor Properties, its US industrial platform, to GIC for $8.1bn (€6.52bn).

Funds affiliated with Blackstone Real Estate Partners VI & VII are selling the wholly owned company to GIC.

Closing is expected in the first quarter of next year.

The deal rules out an IPO for IndCor, which owns and operates a 117m sqft portfolio.

Blackstone said IndCor’s assets were located in “desirable in-fill industrial markets”, close to domestic and global transportation hubs, logistics and warehouse/distribution networks and large population concentrations.

IndCor, an internally managed REIT, was created in 2010.

The company’s properties, in 29 key markets in 23 states, are 100% owned, with no joint-venture or co-investment structures.

In Europe, Blackstone Real Estate Partners Europe IV has made its first logistics investment for its European logistics platform, Logicor.

The portfolio of five logistics assets – also sold by funds managed by Novo Banco – takes Logicor’s Spain and Portugal portfolio to more than 825,000sqm.

The 185,000sqm portfolio, in Azambuja, north-east of Lisbon, is fully let.

Mo Barzegar, chief executive and president at Logicor, said growth in Portugal would “improve export performance and consumer confidence, which in turn will drive increased demand for modern logistics space in the greater Lisbon area”.

Blackstone Real Estate Partners Europe IV has also bought five Portuguese retail assets and 14 Dutch retail assets for its Multi Corporation entity.

The 65,000sqm Portuguese portfolio, in and around Lisbon, was sold by Portugal’s ‘good bank’ Novo Banco (previously Banco Espirito Santo) through ESAF-Espírito Santo Fundos de Investimento Imobiliário.

Jaap Blokhuis, chief executive of Multi, said the assets had “dominant market positions”.

In the Netherlands, Blackstone Real Estate Partners Europe IV bought 14 retail assets from CBRE Global Investors’ Dutch Retail Funds.

The 107,500sqm portfolio is spread across Nootdorp, Utrecht and Leusden.

Jaap Demoed, fund manager of the CBRE Dutch Retail Funds, said the sale was part of a move to dispose of properties that “do not fit the fund’s investment criteria in the long term”.