An industrial property in Sherburn-in-Elmet, the UK

LONDON—Blackstone said Friday it had agreed to sell Logicor, its European logistics platform, to China Investment Corp. for €12.25 billion, or approximately US$13.8 billion. The sale by Blackstone-managed real estate funds reportedly is the biggest private equity deal to date in Europe.

“We built Logicor through over 50 acquisitions to be a premier pan European logistics real estate company,” says Anthony Myers, Blackstone's head of real estate Europe. “It will now have an excellent new long-term owner, and we have no doubt that it will go from strength to strength in a sector with hugely positive prospects.”

The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this week that CIC was in advanced talks to buy the Logicor platform in what was the WSJ reported as a €12-billion acquisition. The deal scuttles a possible initial public offering for the industrial landlord, which owns and operates a portfolio totaling 147 million square feet. The portfolio is spread across 17 countries with over 70% concentrated in the UK, Germany, France and Southern Europe.

A year ago, published reports had Blackstone considering either a sale or IPO of Logicor, at that time valued at about US$11 billion. Two years after forming Logicor in 2012, Blackstone in late 2014 agreed to sell its US industrial platform, IndCor, for US$8.1 billion to a partnership of Global Logistics Properties and GIC Pte. Ltd., Singapore's sovereign wealth fund. The deal closed in early 2015 and replaced a planned IPO for the IndCor unit.

This past March, Blackstone partnered with M7 Real Estate Ltd. on Hansteen Holdings Plc's portfolio in Germany and the Netherlands, a deal valued at €1.28 billion (US$1.38 billion). The WSJ reported at the time that the acquisition was seen as a move to fatten up Logicor in advance of a possible sale or IPO.

Eastdil Secured and Goldman Sachs were lead advisors to Blackstone on the CIC deal, with additional advice provided by PJT Partners, Morgan Stanley, BofA Merrill Lynch and Citigroup.  Simpson Thacher & Bartlett acted as legal advisors to Blackstone. For CIC, UBS acted as financial advisor and Clifford Chance acted as legal advisors. The sale is expected to close later this year.

An industrial property in Sherburn-in-Elmet, the UK

LONDON—Blackstone said Friday it had agreed to sell Logicor, its European logistics platform, to China Investment Corp. for €12.25 billion, or approximately US$13.8 billion. The sale by Blackstone-managed real estate funds reportedly is the biggest private equity deal to date in Europe.

“We built Logicor through over 50 acquisitions to be a premier pan European logistics real estate company,” says Anthony Myers, Blackstone's head of real estate Europe. “It will now have an excellent new long-term owner, and we have no doubt that it will go from strength to strength in a sector with hugely positive prospects.”

The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this week that CIC was in advanced talks to buy the Logicor platform in what was the WSJ reported as a €12-billion acquisition. The deal scuttles a possible initial public offering for the industrial landlord, which owns and operates a portfolio totaling 147 million square feet. The portfolio is spread across 17 countries with over 70% concentrated in the UK, Germany, France and Southern Europe.

A year ago, published reports had Blackstone considering either a sale or IPO of Logicor, at that time valued at about US$11 billion. Two years after forming Logicor in 2012, Blackstone in late 2014 agreed to sell its US industrial platform, IndCor, for US$8.1 billion to a partnership of Global Logistics Properties and GIC Pte. Ltd., Singapore's sovereign wealth fund. The deal closed in early 2015 and replaced a planned IPO for the IndCor unit.

This past March, Blackstone partnered with M7 Real Estate Ltd. on Hansteen Holdings Plc's portfolio in Germany and the Netherlands, a deal valued at €1.28 billion (US$1.38 billion). The WSJ reported at the time that the acquisition was seen as a move to fatten up Logicor in advance of a possible sale or IPO.

Eastdil Secured and Goldman Sachs were lead advisors to Blackstone on the CIC deal, with additional advice provided by PJT Partners, Morgan Stanley, BofA Merrill Lynch and CitigroupSimpson Thacher & Bartlett acted as legal advisors to Blackstone. For CIC, UBS acted as financial advisor and Clifford Chance acted as legal advisors. The sale is expected to close later this year.

NOT FOR REPRINT

© Arc, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to TMSalesOperations@arc-network.com. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.