COPT Forms Two Data Center Shell Joint Ventures with Blackstone Real Estate

Rhea-AI Summary

Corporate Office Properties Trust (NYSE: OFC) announced the formation of two joint ventures with Blackstone Real Estate, acquiring a 90% interest in five data center shell properties valued at approximately $278 million. This acquisition, completed through two transactions, generated about $250 million for COPT, which will fund its development pipeline. The Company expects not to raise additional equity capital in 2023, indicating strong capital management.

Positive

• Acquired 90% interest in properties valued at $278 million, enhancing asset portfolio.
• Generated approximately $250 million in proceeds to fund development pipeline.
• No anticipated need for additional equity capital in 2023, indicating strong financial strategy.

Negative

• None.

Approximately $250 Million of Equity to COPT

COLUMBIA, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Corporate Office Properties Trust (“COPT” or the “Company”) (NYSE: OFC) announces the formation of two new joint ventures with entities affiliated with Blackstone Real Estate (the “Joint Venture”).

The Joint Ventures acquired a 90% interest in five single-tenant, data center shell properties totaling approximately 1.1 million square feet and valued at $278 million. The acquisition was executed through two separate transactions occurring in mid-December and early January. COPT received approximately $250 million of proceeds which it will deploy to fund the equity required for its development pipeline. With these closings, the Company does not anticipate the need to raise any additional equity capital in 2023.

About Blackstone Real Estate

Blackstone is a global leader in real estate investing. Blackstone’s real estate business was founded in 1991 and has $319 billion of investor capital under management. Blackstone is one of the largest property owners in the world, owning and operating assets across every major geography and sector, including logistics, multifamily and single-family housing, office, hospitality and retail. Our opportunistic funds seek to acquire undermanaged, well-located assets across the world. Blackstone’s Core+ strategy invests in substantially stabilized real estate globally through regional open-ended funds focused on high-quality assets and Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust, Inc. (BREIT), a non-listed REIT that invests in U.S. income-generating assets. Blackstone Real Estate also operates one of the leading global real estate debt businesses, providing comprehensive financing solutions across the capital structure and risk spectrum, including management of Blackstone Mortgage Trust (NYSE: BXMT).

About COPT

COPT is a REIT that owns, manages, leases, develops and selectively acquires office and data center properties. The majority of its portfolio is in locations that support the United States Government and its contractors, most of whom are engaged in national security, defense and information technology (“IT”) related activities servicing what the Company believes are growing, durable, priority missions (“Defense/IT Locations”). The Company also owns a portfolio of office properties located in select urban/urban-like submarkets in the Greater Washington, DC/Baltimore region with durable Class-A office fundamentals and characteristics (“Regional Office Properties”). As of September 30, 2022, the Company derived 90% of its core portfolio annualized rental revenue from Defense/IT Locations and 10% from its Regional Office Properties. As of the same date and including 19 properties owned through unconsolidated joint ventures, COPT’s core portfolio of 186 properties encompassed 21.9 million square feet and was 95.0% leased.

Forward-Looking Information

This press release may contain “forward-looking” statements, as defined in Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, that are based on the Company’s current expectations, estimates and projections about future events and financial trends affecting the Company. Forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as “may,” “will,” “should,” “could,” “believe,” “anticipate,” “expect,” “estimate,” “plan” or other comparable terminology. Forward-looking statements are inherently subject to risks and uncertainties, many of which the Company cannot predict with accuracy and some of which the Company might not even anticipate. Although the Company believes that the expectations, estimates and projections reflected in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions at the time made, the Company can give no assurance that these expectations, estimates and projections will be achieved. Future events and actual results may differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements and the Company undertakes no obligation to update or supplement any forward-looking statements.

The areas of risk that may affect these expectations, estimates and projections include, but are not limited to, those risks described in Item 1A of the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021.

Source: Corporate Office Properties Trust

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230111005823/en/

IR Contacts:

Venkat Kommineni

443-285-5587

venkat.kommineni@copt.com

Michelle Layne

443-285-5452

michelle.layne@copt.com

Source: Corporate Office Properties Trust

FAQ

What are the details of Corporate Office Properties Trust's new joint ventures with Blackstone Real Estate?

COPT formed two joint ventures with Blackstone Real Estate for a 90% interest in five data center shell properties valued at approximately $278 million.

How much capital did COPT receive from the joint ventures with Blackstone?

COPT received approximately $250 million from the joint ventures.

What impact do the new joint ventures have on COPT's funding plans for 2023?

COPT does not anticipate needing to raise additional equity capital in 2023, thanks to the proceeds from the joint ventures.

How many properties are included in COPT's joint ventures with Blackstone?

The joint ventures involve five single-tenant data center shell properties.

What is the total square footage of the properties acquired by COPT?

The total square footage of the acquired properties is approximately 1.1 million square feet.