GLP's New $4.5B 100 Property Industrial Portfolio

Global Logistics Properties (GLP), a leading provider of modern logistics facilities in China, Japan and Brazil, announced this week that it had completed the acquisition of a $4.55 billion portfolio from Industrial Income Trust (IIT), creating one of the largest real estate deals this year. The deal will be closed over the course of 100 separate transactions and result in GLP owning 100% of IIT's portfolio, and ITT officially merging with Western Logistics II LLC, an affiliate of GLP.

"This transaction complements our existing portfolio well, expanding GLP's size and scale in the U.S.," GLP's Chief Operating Officer Stephen Schutte said in a press release. "We feel particularly good about the quality and location of the facilities, which have an average building age of 15 years and a strong concentration in major distribution markets. We are excited about the synergies the combined portfolio is expected to generate and see upside potential from increasing occupancy and rents."

The portfolio comprises 58 million square feet of state-of-the-art, in-fill logistics assets spread across 20 major markets. The largest markets include Los Angeles, Metro D.C. and Pennsylvania. The portfolio was 93% leased as of 30 June 2015, with a weighted average lease expiry of nearly 5.5 years. GLP says the transaction enlarges GLP’s US footprint by 50% by 173 million sq ft, making GLP the second-largest property owner and operator in the US within a year of market entry. The deal comes just months after GLP made its first entrance into the US market with the acquisition of IndCor Properties this past May.

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Colony Capital Moving Forward on $1.6B Industrial Deal

Santa Monica, California-based Colony Capital LLC is buying a 291-building industrial portfolio from Irving, Texas-based Cobalt Capital Partners according to several reports this week. Commercial Mortgage Alert reported Friday that GE Capital has agreed to provide $1.2 billion of the portfolio’s purchase price via a floating-rate loan for the 291-property industrial portfolio. The terms of the loan are now being finalized, with Colony weighing a menu of options from GE that include varying amounts of proceeds tied to the degree of leverage, according to people familiar with the process.

Colony has agreed to pay about $1.6 billion for the 29.5 million-square-foot portfolio, which contains mostly light-industrial buildings of less than 250,000 sf in 18 markets across the U.S. The 291 buildings are 85% leased by more than 650 tenants. Eastdil and CBRE are jointly brokering the sale on behalf of Cobalt, CM Alert reported. CoStar reported last week that Colony, which is about to see a merger of two affiliated entities, beat out such would-be buyers as the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, the Blackstone Group and TPG. Blackstone is itself preparing to sell its IndCor Properties industrial platform, Bloomberg reported last week.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

Lehman Sells Warehouse Portfolio to Blackstone & ProLogis for $960M

Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. has divested another real estate portfolio, selling of its North American Industrial Fund III portfolio to The Blackstone Group and ProLogis. Lehman sold the massive portfolio totaling 17.7 million square feet over 82 properties in Nevada, New Jersey and Pennsylvania for a total of $960 million. Lehman was represented by Steven Klein, David Drewes, Justin Elliott, Edward Dix of Willkie Farr & Gallagher.

According to a CoStar report, the portfolio was sold in separate transactions to the two buyers, with affiliates of Blackstone Real Estate Partners VII acquiring the Reno assets, which will be managed by IndCor Properties, Blackstone's national industrial portfolio company. Prologis Inc., an existing partner with Lehman, acquired the Pennsylvania, Las Vegas and New Jersey properties. The decision to monetize the portfolio today enables Lehman "to capitalize on strong demand for high-quality industrial product and deliver significant value to its stakeholders," the company said in a statement.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.