Blackstone has bought an industrial portfolio in Australia for AUD126m (€89.2m).
The four assets were sold by two unlisted wholesale funds managed by Charter Hall Group.
They will bolster Blackstone’s existing industrial portfolio, which it acquired last year from the Goodman Group in two tranches for almost AUD1.3bn.
Blackstone, now one of the largest owners of logistics assets in Australia, is looking to offload its AUD3.5bn retail portfolio in the country.
The planned arrival of Amazon to the Australian consumer market is expected to liven up an already heated logistics sector in Australia.
Blackstone’s Australian business, 151 Property, recently recruited Matthew Meredith to run its industrial business, in a move that observers say signals its intention to deepen its presence in a tightly held sector.
Vendors of the latest acquisitions were the Prime Industrial Fund (CPIF) and the Core Logistics Partnership (CLP), which describe the properties as “small, non-core assets”.
CPIF owned three of the facilities and CLP the fourth, all located on Australia’s eastern seaboard.
Charter Hall Group, which currently manages AUD4.7bn worth of industrial assets across its funds, said the price reflected a premium above book value and an equated capitalisation rate of 6.98%.
It said the sale of these smaller non-core assets will improve the quality and size of underlying assets, with the capital to be redeployed into strategic acquisitions and future projects.
Richard Mason, CPIF Fund Manager, said the divestment allows CPIF to reinvest the net sale proceeds in development projects in Sydney.
The move will enable the two funds to have an increased weighting to prime east-coast logistics markets, particularly in Melbourne and Sydney, he said.
