(Reuters) -Prologis Inc said on Monday it has agreed to buy 14 million square feet of industrial properties from real estate funds affiliated with Blackstone for $3.1 billion in an all-cash deal.
The acquisition price represents about “4% cap rate in the first year and a 5.75% cap rate when adjusting to today’s market rents”, the warehouse-focused real estate investment trust (REIT) said in a statement.
This deal expands Prologis’ presence to Atlanta, Washington DC, California, Dallas, Las Vegas, New York regions, Phoenix and South Florida, and its relationship with 50 existing customers and adds 77 new customers.
The company plans to hold all of the properties acquired. It currently owns 1.2 billion square feet of logistics real estate in 19 countries.
“This transaction demonstrates the exceptional demand for high-quality warehouses. With near record-low vacancy, logistics remains a high conviction theme for us,” Nadeem Meghji, head of Blackstone Real Estate Americas, said.
Prologis and Blackstone have completed more than a dozen transactions together in the past 11 years, according to the statement.
Prologis has been expanding its presence in the U.S., with the company last year acquiring Duke Realty Corp for about $23 billion, including debt, in an all-stock deal.
The deal with Blackstone is expected to close by the end of the second quarter.
Eastdil Secured, Barclays, BofA Securities, Citigroup Global Markets, Deutsche Bank Securities, Goldman Sachs, J.P.Morgan Securities, Morgan Stanley, PJT Partners and Wells Fargo acted as financial advisers to Blackstone.
(Reporting by Kannaki Deka in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar)
