Blackstone to acquire $18.7bn of US logistics from GLP

Blackstone has nearly doubled its existing US industrial real estate footprint with a deal to buy $18.7bn (€16.7bn) worth of assets from GLP.

In a joint statement, the companies said the opportunistic Blackstone Real Estate Partners strategy will acquire 115m sqft of assets for $13.4bn and the income-oriented non-listed Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust (BREIT) will buy 64m sqft for $5.3bn.

In total, Blackstone is buying 179m sqft of urban, infill logistics assets from Singapore-headquartered GLP.

The transaction takes the total amount of logistics space acquired by Blackstone since 2010 to 930m sqft. Last year, it bought US industrial platform Gramercy Property Trust for $7.6bn.

Ken Caplan, global co-head of Blackstone Real Estate, said: “Logistics is our highest conviction global investment theme today, and we look forward to building on our existing portfolio to meet the growing e-commerce demand.

“Our global scale and ability to leverage differentiated investment strategies allowed us to provide a one-stop solution for GLP’s high-quality portfolio.”

Frank Cohen, chairman and CEO of BREIT, said: “These properties are a complementary addition to our stabilised commercial real estate portfolio, which is oriented toward our highest conviction themes, such as logistics.”

Established in Singapore, logistics giant GLP has been growing rapidly in recent years and today manages $64bn of assets globally.

It entered the US in 2015 and through a series of large acquisitions became the second-largest owner of logistics real estate assets in the country.

GLP said it will remain invested in the US across real estate, technology, and credit and is committed long-term to the US market.

Alan Yang, CIO of GLP, said: “GLP was able to leverage our deep operating expertise and global insights in the logistics sector within four years to build and grow an exceptional portfolio.

“We are proud of the business our team built and are confident it will continue to flourish under Blackstone’s leadership. We are looking forward to expanding our footprint in the US to continue to seize key opportunities.”