Blackstone turning its attention to European industrial real estate

On the heels of its blockbuster industrial deal in the United States, Blackstone Group is turning its attention to warehouses in Europe.

The private-equity giant is assembling $6.8 billion worth of its European warehouse properties into a new company that it ultimately will list publicly or sell, according to Bloomberg.

The firm is in the process of hiring an executive to run the new company, which will focus on last-mile properties and bets on continued demand from e-commerce tenants to increase the value of the properties. Last-mile properties are located in or near cities and towns and help speed delivery of products bought online.

M7 Real Estate currently oversees the properties in a venture with Blackstone, according to Bloomberg.

Blackstone last week agreed to spend $18.7 billion to buy 179 million square feet of industrial properties across the United States from Singapore company GLP Pte, one of the biggest private-equity real estate deals ever.

Management challenges and the fact many small buildings are owned by private investors make it difficult to build a large portfolio of last-mile properties in Europe. But Blackstone’s efforts got a boost in 2017 with a nearly $1.5 billion purchase of properties from Hansteen Holdings Plc, according to Bloomberg. [Bloomberg] — John O’Brien