Blackstone Said Near $8 Billion Deal to Sell IndCor Unit 

Blackstone Group LP (BX) is close to a deal to sell IndCor Properties Inc., an owner of U.S. industrial real estate, to investors led by Singapore’s GIC Pte for more than $8 billion, said two people with knowledge of the matter.

The GIC partnership is seeking $5 billion in debt to finance the acquisition, said one of the people, who asked not to be identified because the negotiations are private.

IndCor had planned to raise about $1 billion through an initial public offering, which would have valued the company at about $8 billion, a person with knowledge of the plans said in August. A private sale would give Blackstone an assured profit on a major asset at a time when stocks have been volatile.

Blackstone, the world’s biggest private-equity firm, started accumulating property in 2010 to build the industrial landlord. IndCor has about 118 million square feet (11 million square meters) of warehouses throughout the U.S.

GIC has been expanding beyond prime office towers in major cities. In September, a GIC affiliate and two Canadian pension funds invested $700 million in XPO Logistics Inc. (XPO), a provider of services including airfreight forwarding and warehousing management that’s based in Greenwich,Connecticut.

Blackstone is stepping up real estate sales as it prepares to raise its next global property fund. The firm has said it plans to raise at least as much as its last fund, the $13.3 billion pool completed in 2012.

 

Source: bloomberg-Blackstone Said Near $8 Billion Deal to Sell IndCor Unit

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