Blackstone Pursuing Another $1B Portfolio Sale in Europe

Blackstone appears to be losing interest in the European housing market, making a significant portfolio on the continent available for the second time in a matter of months.

The alternative asset manager retained Goldman Sachs and CBRE to advise on the sale of Leaf Living, a rental home business based in the United Kingdom, Bloomberg reported. A sale is expected to come in above £1 billion ($1.3 billion), sources told the outlet.

Leaf Living was founded by Blackstone and Regis in 2021. The company works with developers and builders to create single-family rentals across the country.

It’s not clear how many homes are in the Leaf Living portfolio today. At launch, Leaf Living was “poised to invest over £1 billion and deliver more than 5,000 homes,” according to a release.

About two years ago, Vistry Group signed a £580 million build-to-rent deal with Regis and Blackstone to deliver roughly 1,750 new homes across 36 Vistry developments mostly centered around Southeast England; Leaf Living was to manage the portfolio.

Blackstone and Goldman Sachs declined to comment to the publication, while CBRE did not return a request for comment.

A few months ago, it was reported that Blackstone was exploring a sale of a Spanish rental housing portfolio for $1.4 billion, tapping JLL and Eastdil Secured to advise on a potential deal. The portfolio is managed by Fidere Patrimonio Socimi, a platform Blackstone first bought into in 2013; the firm intends to hold onto the management arm even if it unloads the homes.

Starting in 2013, the New York-based firm plowed into distressed real estate as Europe staggered out of one of its worst housing busts. It also took advantage of the government’s turn toward deregulating the market.

But Europe’s deal market is only just beginning to thaw after years of rising rates paused transaction activity. Limited sales deprived investors of capital returns, damaging fundraising across the private equity industry.

— Holden Walter-Warner