Blackstone Real Estate Partners (BREP) VIII and co-investors have agreed to sell BioMed Realty for $14.6bn (€12.3bn) to a group led by existing BioMed investors.

The deal is “part of a new long-term, perpetual capital, core-plus return strategy managed by Blackstone”, the company said.

US medical real estate investment trust (REIT) BioMed Realty was acquired by the opportunistic BREP VIII fund and co-investors for $8bn in January 2016.

Blackstone said it has since transformed BioMed into a premier life science office company by concentrating the portfolio in core life science markets. The company owns buildings in the US and Cambridge, UK.

Blackstone said the new deal will generate $6.5bn of cumulative profits for BREP VIII and BioMed co-investors.

Earlier this month, IPE Real Assets reported that Tennessee Consolidated Retirement System had committed $150m to Blackstone BioMed Life Science Real Estate.

Last month, Massachusetts Pension Reserves Investment Management Board revealed it was co-investing in a life science office portfolio with Blackstone.

Kathleen McCarthy, global co-head of Blackstone Real Estate, said: “Life science is one of Blackstone’s highest conviction themes, and we have made a number of important investments in this space across the firm.

“In real estate, many of our investors are eager to maintain or increase their exposure to life science office, and this recapitalisation enables them to do that with an extraordinarily high-quality company as well as a trusted partner in Blackstone.”

Nadeem Meghji, head of real estate Americas for Blackstone, said: “During our ownership, we have completed and commenced $3.3bn of best-in-class new developments and continue to cultivate an attractive future development pipeline. We are big believers in the life science sector broadly and BioMed in particular, and we look forward to continuing to grow the business over the long-term.”

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