FINANCE: Blackstone has added £673m of assets to its London office and industrial platforms – heightening expectations of a future stock market exit by the US giant.
The private equity house this week agreed a £448m deal to buy Nick Leslau’s AIM-listed Max Property Group, which had gross assets of £508m as at 31 March.
The cash deal, agreed at a 22% premium to net asset value, sees Blackstone add £209m of former Industrious assets to its €3bn (£2.4bn) European industrial platform.
LogiCor was set up in 2012 to manage Blackstone’s then 26m sq ft European sheds portfolio which has grown to 50m sq ft.
The purchase of Max’s MPG Opco by Blackstone subsidiary Marina Topco (Jersey) will add a further 6m sq ft of assets to this income-generating platform.
The creation of a new industrial REIT is one future option for the industrial platform, with sources adding that Blackstone’s growing central London portfolio could also be listed in the future.
Through the Max acquisition, due to complete in 20 days, Blackstone takes control of the £140m St Katharine Docks, E1W, and the £63.6m High Holborn Estate, WC1.
This week Blackstone also completed its £165m purchase of the Financial Conduct Authority’s 362,500 sq ft Canary Wharf headquarters, E14, which the agency will vacate in four years this November. This follows previous London purchases, including 20 Old Bailey, EC4.
It is expected that Blackstone will offload the 19% ‘tail end’ of Max’s portfolio which comprises £46m of London pubs, £44m of provincial offices and £5m of provincial nightclubs.
Blackstone head of European real estate, Ken Caplan, said that the “properties are great additions to our London office portfolio as well as our growing UK industrial and logistics platform”, but would not comment further.
Max shareholders hail “knock-out” bid
Property entrepreneur Nick Leslau, who set up Max Property Group in 2009 when it raised £211m in the largest European IPO of that year, is confident in his decision to offload the group as a whole two years ahead of its seven-year life expiry. Although better valuations may have been achieved from a piecemeal disposal, Leslau said Max’s shareholders, including cornerstone investor Och-Ziff, were “all very, very happy” that the board agreed to the “knock-out bid from a knock-out buyer”.
Bridget.O’Connell@estatesgazette.com
