BREIT Sells Simply Self Storage for $2.2 Billion

Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust Inc., a publicly registered non-traded REIT sponsored by private equity giant The Blackstone Group (NYSE: BX), announced an agreement with Public Storage (NYSE: PSA) to acquire Simply Self Storage from BREIT for $2.2 billion.

BREIT says the portfolio comprises 127 wholly owned properties and nine million net rentable square feet across 18 states. Approximately 65% of the properties are located in “high-growth Sunbelt markets.”

Public Storage says it will also integrate an additional 25 properties into its PS Advantage third-party management platform.

Since 2019, Public Storage has expanded its portfolio by approximately 55 million net rentable square feet, or 34%, through $10.6 billion of acquisitions, development and redevelopment, including Simply and additional properties.

Nadeem Meghji, head of Blackstone Real Estate Americas, said, “Where you invest matters, and this transaction demonstrates the strong investor demand for the high-quality assets and platforms we have assembled within BREIT. This sale is a terrific outcome for BREIT stockholders and enables us to further concentrate BREIT’s portfolio in its highest growth sectors. Public Storage is a leader in its space and will be a terrific steward of this portfolio.”

The acquisition is currently expected to close in the third quarter of 2023.

As previously reported by The DI Wire, BREIT was unable to fulfill redemption requests for the first time in its six-year history in November 2022. The company recently announced that they received the lowest redemption requests this year, totaling $3.8 billion in June, which is 29% lower than the peak in January 2023.

Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust is also fielding offers for half its interest in the real estate of the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas, which the company previously purchased $4.25 billion of real estate assets in November 2019.

Public Storage, a member of the S&P 500 and FT Global 500, is a REIT that primarily acquires, develops, owns, and operates self-storage facilities. As of March 31, 2023, the company held interests in 2,877 self-storage facilities located in 40 states with approximately 205 million net rentable square feet in the United States. Their headquarters are located in Glendale, California.

Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust’s initial offering launched in August 2016 and has raised approximately $60 billion in three public offerings as of June 2022. The current offering has raised $6.6 billion, and as of June 30, 2023, its aggregate NAV was $67.8 billion.

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