Blackstone to Acquire Anbang’s $2.8B Japan Portfolio

Osaka. Image via Pixabay

Blackstone has inked a deal to buy back a multifamily portfolio in Japan from the Chinese insurance giant Anbang Group for $2.8 billion, three years after selling the properties to Anbang. Once completed, the deal would be the largest ever real estate acquisition in Japan.

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Last week, Nikkei Asian Review first reported that Blackstone was poised to acquire the 220-property portfolio from Anbang. The company confirmed the deal to Multi-Housing News. The transaction comes one month after funds advised by Round Hill Capital and Blackstone Tactical Opportunities sold its shares of a 4,515-property residential portfolio in the Czech Republic for $1.4 billion to Swedish real estate firm Heimstaden.

The multifamily properties in the portfolio are mostly 10-story buildings in Tokyo and Osaka and were renovated by Blackstone prior to Anbang purchasing the portfolio in 2017 for around $2.3 billion. Blackstone purchased the portfolio as part of a strategy focused on residential properties located in major cities in Japan where there is a high amount of population growth, according to a report from Mingtiandi.

Once the deal officially closes, it would surpass the record for largest real estate transaction in Japan that was first set in 2007 when Morgan Stanley acquired 13 hotels for $2.4 billion from Japanese airline carrier ANA.

Anbang has been selling off some of its real estate holdings after being taken under government control in early 2018. Last fall, the company sold a portfolio of U.S. hotels to South Korean financial services firm Mirae Asset Global Investments for a record $5.8 billion. The firm had spent $30 billion on real estate assets in the years prior, including the $1.9 billion purchase of New York City’s famed Waldorf Astoria Hotel, which the firm is currently restoring as a 375-key hotel with an additional 375 condo units.