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Blackstone has signed a contract to acquire Dream Global, a Canadian real estate investment trust, rating the owner of office properties in Western Europe at C $ 6.2 billion ($ 4.7 billion).
The all-cash takeover is the latest in a series of multi-billion dollar deals by the real estate arm of Blackstone, which closed a record $ 20.5 billion commitment last week. The new fundraiser is the largest fundraiser ever for a real estate fund, and it raises the war chest that Blackstone has raised to invest more than $ 36 billion in real estate.
Dream Global's assets include over 200 office spaces and warehouses in more than 100 cities in Western Europe, with a significant presence in Germany and the Netherlands.
The acquisition adds to Blackstone's growing portfolio of logistics properties, which Ken Caplan, Co-Chief Property Officer, has described as a "business of supreme conviction".
In June, Blackstone paid $ 18.7 billion to GLP's Singapore-based US warehouse portfolio, one of the company's largest transactions, betting on consumers' continued move to online shopping in the US. whole world.
The value of warehouses has skyrocketed, fueled by demand from retailers such as Amazon, e-commerce, and transactions in the sector have been lively. Earlier this year, Prologis agreed to buy $ 4 billion from the warehouse owner's Industrial Property Trust, while Colony Capital announced the purchase of a $ 1.2 billion warehouse portfolio. of dollars.
Dream Global shareholders will receive Cdn $ 16.79 in cash for each share they hold, a premium of 18.5% over Friday's share price. The two companies plan to finalize the deal by December, following a vote by Reit shareholders in Toronto.
"At a time when the Western European real estate market is becoming more and more competitive, this transaction provides value to unitholders," said Detlef Bierbaum, chairman of Dream Global's board of directors.
A real estate boom of nearly ten years has inflated the coffers of real estate funds to $ 154 billion, making it the second largest of the four major investment strategies of the company after private equity. However, some real estate investors see the potential for turbulence when money invests in the sector by avid investors for yield, while interest rates are nearing their lowest levels.
According to the data provider Preqin, asset managers had close to 2.5 tonnes of dry powder at the end of June. This is a record amount that has contributed to the valuation of businesses and real estate, even as global growth has slowed.
In a recent interview, Mr. Caplan acknowledged that there were headwinds in the market but said he did not see a housing bubble.
"The underlying fundamentals still feel good, but we are living in a more difficult investment environment in terms of higher prices for several years and compression yields," he said.
James Seppala, director of Blackstone Real Estate Europe, called Dream Global a "high quality and diversified portfolio" on "some of the largest and most important markets in the region".
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