GREENWICH, CT—In the week's second REIT privatization, Starwood Capital Group and Milestone Apartments Real Estate Investment Trust said Thursday afternoon they would acquire Landmark Apartment Trust through an entity known as Monument Partners, LLC. The Richmond, VA-based multifamily REIT, with a portfolio across eight Sunbelt states, is being taken private in an all-cash transaction valued at $1.9 billion.

A controlled affiliate of Starwood Global Opportunity Fund will acquire Landmark's ownership interest in 63 apartment communities totaling 19,615 units. Headquartered in Dallas while listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange, Milestone will take control of 4,172 units across 15 properties, and will serve as property manager for Starwood's portion of the portfolio. The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2016.

The sale follows a strategic review that Landmark's board undertook earlier this year. Among the possibilities the board considered was an initial public offering, says CEO Jay Olander. “Given recent market volatility, we believe that this merger provides our stockholders with a more certain liquidity event,” Olander says. “Management and the board of directors support the transaction and will work diligently to ensure a smooth transition.”

At Starwood Capital, Christopher Graham, Americas head of real estate acquisitions, says the deal “highlights our confidence in multifamily housing as an asset class that represents an attractive risk/reward proposition for our investors.” Across the US, he adds, “demographic, economic and financial factors are driving apartment vacancy rates lower and rental rates higher—and we believe that these trends will continue into the foreseeable future.”

Focusing more specifically on the Landmark portfolio, Starwood Capital VP Ethan Bing notes that the properties are located in markets benefiting from “a wide variety of demand drivers for population, job and household formation growth.” Among those markets are Dallas, Atlanta, Orlando, Tampa, Charlotte and Nashville.

The population across the Landmark portfolio's markets has expanded by 1.5% annually over the past two years, double the national average and likely to be sustained over the next five years, says Bing. “More than half of the portfolio's NOI is located within the country's top 14 largest metropolitan areas for expected household growth over the next five years, he says, adding that “all five of the country's top multifamily markets for absorption rate over the past four quarters are represented in this portfolio, and we expect the multifamily fundamentals for these markets to remain positive going forward.”

Including the Landmark transaction, Starwood Capital and its controlled affiliates have acquired or contracted to acquire approximately 44,500 apartment units over the past 12 months. Following the merger with Landmark, Starwood will own almost 65,000 units.

Earlier this week, GlobeSt.com reported another REIT privatization deal of similar size, this time in the student housing sector. Chicago-based private equity firm Harrison Street Real Estate Capital LLC will acquire Campus Crest Communities Inc. for $6.90 per share; when coupled with the REIT's sale of its joint-venture interest in two Montreal properties, the total transaction is valued at approximately $1.9 billion.