Blackstone to buy TD warehouse portfolio, paying more than $400m

A Blackstone business has agreed to buy six industrial properties in the Toronto area.

Blackstone Real Estate is paying more than $297m in cash for the properties, which total 140,000 square meters and are all fully leased. The transaction is one of the largest trades of a private industrial portfolio in Canada in recent years.

“Global logistics is one of our highest-conviction investment themes, and high-quality, last-mile industrial properties like these continue to benefit from some of the strongest real estate fundamentals in Canada,” said Janice Lin, Blackstone’s head of Canada real estate.

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The private equity firm is purchasing the properties from the asset-management arm of Toronto-Dominion Bank, according to a person familiar with the matter, who asked not to be named because the information is private. A Blackstone spokesperson declined to comment, while a TD representative had no immediate comment.

Blackstone has plowed money into industrial properties in recent years, spending roughly US$1 billion since September to acquire spaces globally in areas such as Europe, China, Canada and India.

Logistics and rental housing have been two big areas of focus for the private equity firm even as the broader U.S. real estate industry slows down. Blackstone hasn’t been immune to the softening market, with one of its key property vehicles, Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust Inc., facing a rise in redemption requests as overseas investor appetites wane.

The deal for more logistics space will expand Blackstone’s reach in Canada, where it bought Pure Industrial Real Estate Investment Trust in 2018. Canada’s industrial market remains tight, with the rate of space available at a record low of 1.6 per cent in the first quarter, according to CBRE.

Source: BNN Bloomberg

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