Blackstone Buys Preferred Apartment Communities for $5.8B in Latest Strategic Move
Deals announced in the past three months will add more than 35,000 units to the firm's holdings.
5 Oaks at Westchase. Image courtesy of Preferred Apartment Communities
Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust’s purchase of Preferred Apartment Communities, announced today, is the firm’s third acquisition of a company with a large multifamily footprint in as many months. Since late December, Blackstone affiliates have struck deals that will add more than 35,000 multifamily units to its portfolio.
Blackstone REIT will acquire all outstanding shares of PAC’s common stock for $25.00 per share in the all-cash transaction valued at approximately $5.8 billion. The transaction has been unanimously approved by PAC’s board of directors and is expected to close in the second quarter of 2022, subject to approval by PAC’s stockholders and other customary closing conditions.
The company will acquire 44 multifamily properties with about 12,000 units that are mostly concentrated in Atlanta; Orlando, Tampa and Jacksonville, Fla.; Charlotte, N.C.; and Nashville, Tenn.; and 54 grocery-anchored retail centers comprising approximately 6 million square feet primarily located in Atlanta, Orlando, Nashville and Raleigh, N.C. Also included are two Sun Belt office properties and 10 mezzanine and preferred equity investments.
The transaction follows Blackstone’s purchase of Resource REIT in late January and the acquisition of Bluerock Residential Growth REIT by affiliates of Blackstone Real Estate in late December 2021. Those two acquisitions alone added more than 23,000 units to Blackstone’s multifamily holdings.
Blackstone’s multifamily portfolio totaled 133,000 units as of September 2021, comprising 50 percent of its assets. Industrial accounted for 28 percent in its most recent report. Blackstone’s real estate assets properties also encompass net lease, hospitality, data center, self-storage, office and retail properties.
JLL, BofA Securities, Lazard Frères & Co. and Wells Fargo Securities are serving as BREIT’s financial advisors in the transaction. Simpson Thacher & Bartlett is serving as legal counsel. Goldman Sachs & Co. is serving as PAC’s lead financial advisor, with KeyBanc Capital Markets also serving as financial advisor. King & Spalding and Vinson & Elkins are serving as PAC’s legal counsel.
