Blackstone is set to take a US data centre operator QTS Realty Trust private, with an all-cash deal valued at $10bn (£7bn).
QTS owns more than 7m sq ft of “mega scale” data centre space in the US and Europe.
Under the agreement Blackstone Infrastructure Partners, Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust and other unnamed funds managed by the firm will pay $78 per share for the REIT. The price represented a premium of 21% to QTS’s closing share price on Friday 4 June.
The deal will include the assumption of existing debt. A 40-day “go-shop” period has also been agreed, in which QTS is able to seek and consider other acquisition proposals.
If the deal proceeds, it is expected to close in the second half of the year.
Tyler Henritze, head of acquisitions Americas for Blackstone Real Estate, said: “We are focused on investing in assets that are benefitting from strong, secular tailwinds, such as the rapid digitalisation of data.
“QTS is a leading provider of data center solutions with a portfolio of high-quality assets in desirable markets, positioning it well to capitalise on these powerful trends in the data centre space.”
Greg Blank, senior managing director at Blackstone Infrastructure Partners, said: “QTS aligns with one of Blackstone’s highest conviction themes – data proliferation – and the required investment makes it well suited as a long-term holding for our perpetual capital vehicles.”
Chad Williams, chairman and chief executive of QTS, said the REIT’s leadership team “sees a significant market opportunity for growth”.
Williams said: “We are confident this transaction is the right step to achieve our strategic objectives in our next phase of growth.”
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