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Investment giant Blackstone has agreed to buy all outstanding shares of common stock of PS Business Parks for $7.6B, or $187.50 per share, in an all-cash deal.
The common stock price of the Glendale, California-based REIT, which owns about 27M SF of commercial and residential properties, closed on Friday at $167.78 a share. Ownership of PSB’s three outstanding series of preferred stock won't change under the terms of the deal.
PSB's portfolio mostly includes industrial and low-rise suburban office assets in major coastal markets, including California, Florida, Texas and Virginia, though it also has 800 apartment units. The company owns 96 properties altogether with about 4,900 tenants.
The deal is slated to close in the third quarter, pending approval by PSB stockholders. As part of the agreement, PSB has 30 days to actively solicit and consider alternative acquisition bids.
Self-storage specialist Public Storage, which holds about a quarter of the outstanding shares of PSB common stock, has agreed to vote its shares in favor of the deal.
Blackstone has been investing in real estate at a fever pitch. Earlier in April, the New York-based investor agreed to buy student housing operator American Campus Communities for $12.8B.
Also this month, Blackstone closed on a new fund, Blackstone Life Sciences Yield, with $1.6B in investor capital. The fund will invest in commercial-stage bioscience/biotech ventures, complementing Blackstone Life Sciences' overall investment strategy in the life sciences sector.
The investment giant's assets under management ended the first quarter at $915.5B, up from $648.8B a year earlier. As of Q1 2022, Blackstone had $298.2B in real estate assets under management, a larger total than any of its other asset classes.
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