US: Investment giant Blackstone has acquired student housing operator American Campus Communities Inc. for $12.8 billion.
The all-cash transaction is the largest student-housing deal by the Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust (BREIT). The $97 billion fund entered the PBSA sector last year via a $784 million joint venture with Landmark Properties.
“American Campus Communities has a best-in-class portfolio and platform, built on longstanding relationships with some of the most distinguished and fastest growing universities in the country,” Jacob Werner, Blackstone’s co-head of Americas acquisitions.
Blackstone will pay $65.47 a share, according to the statement, which equates to around 14 per cent above Monday’s closing price. Shares of Austin, Texas-based American Campus jumped 12.7 per cent to $64.91 at 9:52 a.m. in New York.
American Campus is the largest owner, manager and developer of high-quality student housing communities in the US. It owned 166 PBSA properties with around 111,900 beds across the US. Almost a quarter of its buildings are on-campus.
Earlier this year, BREIT acquired multifamily outfit Preferred Apartment Communities Inc. in a $5.8 billion deal. It also purchased Home Partners of America Inc., which rents single-family homes, in a $6 billion transaction last year.
More than half of BREIT’s assets are in residential property, according to its latest factsheet, with almost 20 per cent of its real estate in Las Vegas and Atlanta.
