Prologis is in advanced talks to acquire a $4 billion warehouse portfolio, a month after getting outbid by Blackstone in a far larger industrial deal.
Investors are increasingly drawn to warehouse properties, which attract major e-commerce firms, and are typically shielded from drastic market swings. In the fourth quarter of 2018, warehouse vacancy rates were at 7 percent, the lowest point since 2000, during the dot-com boom.
This portfolio, Industrial Property Trust, spans 37.6 million square feet across industrial properties in 21 states, and houses tenants including Amazon and FedEx, according to Bloomberg.
Black Creek Group listed the portfolio in February, and said it is 96 percent leased, with no occupant accounting for more than 3 percent of annual rents. The outlet reported the deal could be announced as early as this week.
San Francisco-based Prologis, which is one of the largest real estate investment trusts in the U.S. — and valued at $51 billion — has eyed multiple large-volume portfolios in recent years, with limited success. In April last year, it acquired DCT Industrial Trust Inc., a 21 million-square-foot warehouse portfolio, for $8 billion.
Last month, Blackstone outbid it for the U.S. operations of GLP, a Singapore based investment trust. Blackstone ended up paying $18 billion in a deal that amounted to one of the largest real estate transactions in history. [Bloomberg] — David Jeans