Colony Capital, Inc. announced the closing of the previously announced sale of its Light Industrial logistics assets and its affiliated industrial operating platform to Blackstone Real Estate Partners IX, an affiliate of Blackstone, for an aggregate price of $5.7 billion*
The sale includes approximately 60 million square feet of last-mile, infill Light Industrial assets consisting of 465 assets in 26 markets across the U.S., with significant concentration in Dallas, Atlanta, Chicago, Florida and New Jersey. The aggregate net sales proceeds to Colony are approximately $1.2 billion.
Thomas J. Barrack, Jr., CEO and Founder of Colony Capital, said, “Lew Friedland, Managing Director and Head of Colony Industrial, is an inspiring leader who has built one of the most highly skilled, light industrial teams in the country. In five years, Lew and his team developed Colony Industrial into one of our best-performing platforms. The Colony strategy of investing in and operating last-mile logistics properties to support an ever-faster delivery cycle was brilliantly executed by Lew and his team. I would also like to thank Blackstone for their constructive and collaborative approach in this acquisition, and their appreciation of the value created by the great Colony Industrial team.”
“Colony’s confidence in our vision for the Light Industrial sector encouraged us to reach and exceed our goals, and we were fortunate to have investors who supported the portfolio’s growth,” said Lew Friedland. “The outstanding results we have achieved for our investors are due to our incredibly talented and dedicated team, who created value from the opportunities in last-mile logistics that have transformed the entire economy.”
Willkie Farr & Gallagher served as legal counsel, and Morgan Stanley and Eastdil Secured served as financial advisors, and CBRE National Partners served as real estate advisor to Colony Capital.
*The transaction was initially announced on September 30, 2019 for $5.9 billion and at the time included both Colony’s Light and Bulk Industrial assets, however, the closing excludes Colony’s 51% ownership interest in its Bulk Industrial logistics portfolio.
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