Blackstone Group Inc. plans to buy Canada’s WPT Industrial REIT for US$3.1-billlion, as the private equity giant aims to capitalize on the pandemic’s major shift to e-commerce by acquiring dozens of warehouses and distribution centres.
Blackstone’s REIT will pay WPT unitholders US$22 per unit to get its hands on WPT’s 110 industrial properties across 20 U.S. states. The deal, which includes WPT debt, will expand Blackstone’s industrial real estate holdings at a time when consumers are increasingly shopping online and expecting their purchases to be promptly delivered to their door.
WPT said its warehouses and distribution centres – known as logistics operations in the commercial real estate sector – are located in regions that allow for one-to-two day delivery to the majority of the U.S. population. WPT has the highest concentration of properties in Georgia, followed by Illinois, Texas, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Florida.
