Retail Opportunity Investments Corp.'s shareholders approved a $4B acquisition by Blackstone that is set to close Wednesday.
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The private equity giant’s Blackstone Real Estate Partners X fund is slated to close on an all-cash deal valued at $17.50 per share. Blackstone’s purchase comes as the retail sector has emerged from the pandemic in a stronger position than most other traditional asset classes.
The acquisition was first announced in November, with Blackstone offering a 34% premium on the stock’s share price in July — before the deal’s potential was leaked — when the stock was trading for under $13 per share.
ROIC’s portfolio includes 10.5M SF of grocery-anchored retail space across 93 West Coast locations. The REIT had focused on stabilized, market-dominant properties larger than 65K SF and priced above $10M.
Blackstone declined to comment on the latest news but reiterated its commentary from when the deal was first announced.
“This transaction reflects our strong conviction in necessity-based, grocery anchored shopping centers in densely populated geographies,” Jacob Werner, co-head of Americas acquisitions at Blackstone Real Estate, said in a statement at the time.
ROIC didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday morning.
The deal could still fall through. ROIC’s board has reserved the right to take a higher bid and pay a $78M termination fee, Commercial Search reported. Blackstone would pay a $239M fee if it walks away.
The investment firm has been making deals with its Blackstone Real Estate Partners X fund, the firm’s largest ever after it closed in 2023 with more than $30B raised. Major investors include the Teachers’ Retirement System of Louisiana, the Arkansas Teacher Retirement System and the Oklahoma Teachers’ Retirement System.
Last January, Blackstone used the fund to take Tricon Residential private in a $3.5B cash deal that gave the private equity firm control of 38,000 single-family rental homes in the Sun Belt as well as apartments in Toronto.
In April, it paid $10B to acquire Apartment Income REIT, also known as AIR Communities, in another all-cash transaction for 76 rental properties spread across 10 states.
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