Blackstone (NYSE:BX) and Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) today announced that
they had signed agreements to purchase most of the assets of GE Capital
Real Estate in a transaction valued at approximately $23 billion.
The transaction breaks down as follows:
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Wells Fargo has agreed to purchase performing first mortgage
commercial real estate loans valued at $9.0 billion in the United
States, UK and Canada.
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Blackstone’s latest flagship global real estate fund, BREP VIII, has
agreed to purchase the US equity assets for $3.3 billion. These assets
are primarily office properties in Southern California, Seattle and
Chicago.
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Blackstone’s European real estate fund, BREP Europe IV, has agreed to
purchase the European equity real estate assets, for €1.9 billion.
These consist of office, logistics and retail assets, largely in the
UK, France and Spain. The logistics assets will be integrated into
Blackstone’s European logistics platform, Logicor, and the retail
assets into its European retail platform, Multi.
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BREDS, Blackstone’s real estate debt fund, has agreed to purchase
performing first mortgage loans in Mexico and Australia for $4.2
billion.
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BXMT, Blackstone’s publicly traded commercial mortgage REIT, has
agreed to purchase a $4.6 billion portfolio of first mortgage loans
primarily in the US with Wells Fargo providing the financing. (Further
details can be found in a separate release from BXMT issued
simultaneously with this one.)
Eastdil Secured/Wells Fargo Securities acted as advisor to Blackstone
and Wells Fargo. Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP acted as legal counsel
to Blackstone and Dechert LLP acted as legal counsel to Wells Fargo.
GE Capital was advised by Kimberlite Group and BofA Merrill Lynch and
represented by Hogan Lovells.
Mark Myers, Head of Commercial Real Estate for Wells Fargo, said, “This
is an important transaction in the commercial real estate industry and
Wells Fargo is pleased to be working with our colleagues at GE Capital
and Blackstone. The portfolio of performing loans we’ve purchased is a
strong addition to our commercial real estate platform in the United
States, the United Kingdom and Canada, which are all active lending
markets for us.”
Jon Gray, Global Head of Real Estate for Blackstone, said, “We are
delighted to partner with GE on another major transaction and we thank
them for their confidence in us. We also thank Wells Fargo for our
longstanding relationship, and for their swift execution on this
investment. This transaction clearly demonstrates the unique scale and
reach of our real estate platform.”
These transactions are subject to normal regulatory and other approvals.
The initial closings will take place in the second and third quarter of
the year.
About Wells Fargo
Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) is a nationwide, diversified,
community-based financial services company with $1.7 trillion in assets.
Founded in 1852 and headquartered in San Francisco, Wells Fargo provides
banking, insurance, investments, mortgage, and consumer and commercial
finance through more than 8,700 locations, 12,500 ATMs, and the internet
(wellsfargo.com),
and has offices in 36 countries to support customers who conduct
business in the global economy. With approximately 265,000 team members,
Wells Fargo serves one in three households in the United States. Wells
Fargo & Company was ranked No. 29 on Fortune’s 2014 rankings of
America’s largest corporations. Wells Fargo’s vision is to satisfy all
our customers’ financial needs and help them succeed financially. Wells
Fargo perspectives are also available at Wells Fargo Blogs and Wells
Fargo Stories.
About Blackstone Real Estate
Blackstone is a global leader in real estate investing. Blackstone’s
real estate business was founded in 1991 and has approximately $81
billion in investor capital under management. Blackstone’s real estate
portfolio includes hotel, office, retail, industrial and residential
properties in the US, Europe, Asia and Latin America. Major holdings
include Hilton Worldwide, Invitation Homes (single family homes),
Logicor (pan-European logistics), SCP (Chinese shopping malls), and
prime office buildings in the world’s major cities. Blackstone real
estate also operates one of the leading real estate finance platforms,
including management of the publicly traded Blackstone Mortgage Trust
(NYSE:BXMT).
Cautionary Statement About Forward-Looking Statements
This news release contains forward-looking statements about future
transactions, business operations and events. Because forward-looking
statements are based on current expectations and assumptions regarding
the future, they are subject to inherent risks and uncertainties. Do not
unduly rely on forward-looking statements as actual results could differ
materially from expectations. Forward-looking statements speak only as
of the date made, and we do not undertake to update them to reflect
changes or events that occur after that date. For information about
factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from
expectations, refer to Blackstone’s and Wells Fargo’s reports filed with
the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the discussion under
“Risk Factors” in each of their Annual Reports on Form 10-K for the year
ended December 31, 2014, as filed with the Securities and Exchange
Commission and available on its website at www.sec.gov.
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