Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust to Acquire Simply Self Storage for Approximately $1.2 Billion

Rhea-AI Summary

Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust (BREIT) announced a definitive agreement to acquire Simply Self Storage from Brookfield Asset Management for approximately $1.2 billion. This acquisition will enhance BREIT’s position as the third largest non-listed owner of storage in the U.S., adding to its existing $300 million portfolio of self-storage facilities. Frank Cohen, BREIT's CEO, highlighted the potential for growth in the resilient self-storage sector, which offers stable cash flows and low tenant turnover. The transaction is expected to close before the end of 2020, subject to customary conditions.

Positive

• Acquisition of Simply Self Storage enhances BREIT's portfolio and positions it as the third largest non-listed owner of storage in the U.S.
• Transaction value of approximately $1.2 billion indicates a significant investment in a resilient sector.
• Potential for growth through future acquisitions in the fragmented self-storage market.

Negative

• None.

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust, Inc. ("BREIT") today announced that BREIT has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Simply Self Storage from a Brookfield Asset Management real estate fund for approximately $1.2 billion. Simply Self Storage is one of the top five private owners of self-storage and operates a high-quality portfolio totaling eight million square feet across the U.S. BREIT currently owns a $300 million portfolio of self-storage facilities, and following this acquisition, BREIT will be the third largest non-listed owner of storage in the U.S.¹

Frank Cohen, Chairman and CEO of BREIT, said, “This transaction is a complementary addition to BREIT’s high-quality portfolio of income-generating real estate, which is heavily weighted towards logistics and multifamily primarily in growth markets. Simply Self Storage is a best-in-class company with significant potential for growth through future acquisitions in a highly fragmented sector, and similar to logistics, self-storage is a resilient sector through economic cycles because of low tenant turnover, minimal maintenance costs and stable cash flows. We look forward to continuing to acquire high quality assets on behalf of our BREIT investors.”

Brookfield acquired Simply Self Storage in 2016 in one of its opportunistic real estate funds. Since that time, Brookfield more than doubled the size of the company and helped transform the business into a fully-integrated institutional platform. Simply Self Storage has a robust talent base and leading technology and processes across its facilities, including revenue management and digital marketing.

More than 90% of BREIT’s real estate investments are in multifamily, industrial, and net leased assets. BREIT has approximately $3.6 billion of immediate liquidity to execute on acquisitions of high-quality assets.

This transaction is expected to close prior to the end of 2020, subject to certain customary closing conditions.

Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP is serving as legal advisor to BREIT, and BofA Securities and Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. are serving as financial advisors to BREIT. RBC Capital Markets LLC, Newmark Group Inc., and Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP advised Brookfield.

About Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust

Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust, Inc. (BREIT) is a perpetual-life, institutional quality real estate investment platform that brings private real estate to income focused investors. BREIT invests in stabilized, income-generating U.S. commercial real estate across key property types and to a lesser extent in real estate-related securities. BREIT is externally managed by a subsidiary of Blackstone (NYSE: BX), a global leader in real estate investing. Blackstone’s real estate business was founded in 1991 and has approximately $167 billion in investor capital under management. Further information is available at www.breit.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain information contained in this communication constitutes “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the federal securities laws and the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward looking terminology, such as “outlook,” “indicator,” “believes,” “expects,” “potential,” “continues,” “may,” “will,” “should,” “seeks,” “approximately,” “predicts,” “intends,” “plans,” “estimates,” “anticipates”, “confident,” “conviction,” “identified” or the negative versions of these words or other comparable words thereof. These may include financial projections and estimates and their underlying assumptions, statements about plans, objectives and expectations with respect to future operations, statements regarding future performance and statements regarding identified but not yet closed acquisitions. Such forward-looking statements are inherently uncertain and there are or may be important factors that could cause actual outcomes or results to differ materially from those indicated in such statements. BREIT believes these factors also include but are not limited to those described under the section entitled “Risk Factors” in its prospectus, and any such updated factors included in its periodic filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”), which are accessible on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. These factors should not be construed as exhaustive and should be read in conjunction with the other cautionary statements that are included in this document (or BREIT’s prospectus and other filings). Except as otherwise required by federal securities laws, BREIT undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise.

¹ Includes private owners and non-listed REITs.