Blackstone Property Partners to Acquire Pure Industrial Real Estate Trust for $3.8B

by Katie Sloan

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA — An affiliate of Blackstone (NYSE: BX) has entered into an agreement to acquire Vancouver-based Pure Industrial Real Estate Trust (PIRET) (TSX: AAR-UN) for $8.10 per trust unit — $3.8 billion — in an all-cash transaction.

The transaction price represents a 21 percent premium to the closing price of PIRET units on the Toronto Stock Exchange on Jan. 8. Blackstone will complete the acquisition through its real estate investment arm, Blackstone Property Partners.

“The trust has accomplished tremendous growth in the 10 years since the initial public offering in August 2007,” says Rick Turner, chairman of PIRET’s Board of Trustees. “Since inception, we have generated a total return in excess of 345 percent and we have built a platform that has made us a leader in the Canadian industrial REIT space.”

The transaction is structured as a statutory plan of arrangement under the British Columbia Business Corporations Act. Completion of the transaction, which is expected to occur in the second quarter of this year, is subject to customary conditions. PIRET will continue to pay its normal monthly distributions through closing of the transaction.

BMO Capital Markets is acting as financial advisor to PIRET, while Greenhill & Co. Goodmans LLP is acting as legal counsel.

RBC Capital Markets and Citigroup are acting as financial advisors to Blackstone. Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP are acting as legal counsel.

PIRET is an unincorporated investment trust that owns and operates a portfolio of 168 industrial properties in leading markets across Canada, as well as key distribution and logistics markets in the United States. The company is one of the largest publicly traded REITs in Canada.

Blackstone is a real estate investor with approximately $111 billion in capital under management. Blackstone’s real estate portfolio includes hotel, office, retail, industrial and residential properties in the U.S., Europe, Asia and Latin America.

PIRET’s stock price closed at $6.72 per share on Monday, Jan. 8, up from $5.32 one year ago. Blackstone’s stock price closed at $33.28, up from $28.34 last year.

— Katie Sloan

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