Blackstone acquires €1.9bn of European property
US-headquartered investment firm Blackstone and financial services group Wells Fargo have signed agreements to buy most of the assets of GE Capital Real Estate. The transaction cost around $23bn (€21.8bn).
Blackstone’s European real estate fund, BREP Europe IV, has agreed to purchase the European equity real estate assets, for €1.9bn. These consist of office, logistics and retail assets, largely in the UK, France and Spain.
“The logistics assets will be integrated into Blackstone’s European logistics platform, Logicor, and the retail assets into its European retail platform, Multi,” said Blackstone.
In the meantime, Wells Fargo will purchase commercial mortgages valued at $9bn (€8.52bn) in the United States, UK and Canada.
Blackstone’s latest flagship global real estate fund, BREP VIII, will buy the US equity assets for $3.3bn (€3.1bn). It includes office properties in Southern California, Seattle and Chicago.
BREDS, Blackstone’s real estate debt fund, will acquire performing first mortgage loans in Mexico and Australia for $4.2bn (€3.98bn).
Finally, BXMT, Blackstone’s publicly traded commercial mortgage REIT, has agreed to purchase a $4.6bn (€4.36bn) portfolio of first mortgage loans primarily in the US with Wells Fargo providing the financing.
Mark Myers, head of Commercial Real Estate for Wells Fargo, said : “The portfolio of performing loans we’ve purchased is a strong addition to our commercial real estate platform in the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada, which are all active lending markets for us.”
Jon Gray, global head of Real Estate for Blackstone, commented : “This transaction clearly demonstrates the unique scale and reach of our real estate platform.”
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