Buyout group has spent billions of dollars taking four ‘Reits’ private since start of the pandemic
Blackstone has opened a new front in the private capital industry’s quest to supplant the stock market, taking aim at publicly listed real estate investment trusts that have fallen out of favour with investors as inflation and recession fears weigh on public market valuations.
The private equity group’s acquisition of listed student housing operator American Campus Communities for $13bn last week was the biggest in a string of such takeovers. It followed last year’s $6bn acquisition of Extended Stay America, a lodging chain geared towards out-of-town workers and others who spend long spells away from home.
Blackstone is in pole position to buy out listed real estate companies with languishing stock market valuations, having raised $63bn for its private Reit, called Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust, since it was launched in 2017. The group has taken four listed real estate companies private since the beginning of the pandemic in 2020.
Read more: FT
