Blackstone to Acquire AIR Communities Portfolio in $10B All Cash Deal
A sign of Blackstone’s conviction that interest rates will stabilize is the recent announcement of the private equity firm’s agreement to acquire Apartment Income REIT. The imminent sale of the REIT known as AIR Communities fetched roughly $10 billion in what will be an all-cash deal by Blackstone fund Blackstone Real Estate Partners X, for the purchase of all the REIT’s outstanding shares at $39.12 per share — 25% more than the April 5th closing price in addition to assumed debt. The 76 buildings with more than 27,000 units are located in “markets where multifamily fundamentals are strong” — including Miami, Los Angeles, Boston, and Washington, D.C. Blackstone plans to invest another $400 million in the AIR Communities portfolio to improve and boost growth of what the global co-head of Blackstone Real Estate described as “the highest quality, large scale apartment portfolio” ever acquired by the firm.