Sixth Street Partners Offers Buyout Of Plymouth Industrial REIT

Sixth Street Partners sent out an unsolicited takeover proposal for Plymouth Industrial REIT that values the company at roughly $1.1B.

The San Francisco-based private fund manager already has a 10% stake in the Boston REIT and proposed to buy the rest of the company for $24.10 per share in cash, The Wall Street Journal reported. Shares for Plymouth Industrial were up roughly 47% to $21.85 in midday trading Tuesday.

Sixth Street said it would fund the transaction through a combination of cash from its investment vehicles and roughly $1.5B in new debt financing, according to the WSJ.

Plymouth Industrial said its board of directors will "carefully evaluate the proposal to determine the course of action it believes is in the best interests of all Plymouth shareholders," according to a press release.

KeyBanc Capital Markets is serving as financial adviser to Plymouth, and Morrison & Foerster LLP is serving as legal counsel.

Plymouth owns 226 buildings totaling 32M SF in 10 markets. The company also has a joint venture stake in Chicago properties that comprise more than 5M SF, according to its website.

In May, the REIT expanded its Atlanta portfolio with the acquisition of a 100K SF warehouse facility for $11.7M. The sale added to the company's 400K SF Peachtree City portfolio, bringing the total footprint to 2.5M SF across 15 buildings.

Sixth Street has more than $115B in assets under management. The firm invests across several sectors, including renewable energy, life sciences, financial services and real estate.

In May, the firm and Copley Point Capital acquired five industrial assets in the UK, expanding their portfolio in the region to 3.3M SF.

In June, Sixth Street partnered with L+M Development Partners to focus on affordable housing. The partnership didn't disclose the size of the investment, but it is expected to create a new L+M corporate structure and allow the firm to expand into new markets.