By Peter Grant
GIC Pte. Ltd., Singapore's sovereign-wealth fund, is making a
major push into the U.S. industrial real-estate market by buying
IndCor Properties from Blackstone Group LP for $8.1 billion.
Blackstone announced late Monday that it has agreed to sell
IndCor to affiliates of GIC. IndCor owns and operates a portfolio
of 117 million square feet of industrial space in markets
throughout the U.S.
Blackstone built IndCor through a series of acquisitions, many
of them made for discount prices during the downturn. The
private-equity giant had been planning to sell IndCor in an initial
public offering but decided instead to sell to GIC to take
advantage of strong demand for commercial real estate among
domestic and foreign investors.
"We are excited about the company's future prospects under new
long-term ownership with GIC," Tim Beaudin, IndCor's chief
executive, said in a written statement.
GIC's partner in the acquisition will be Global Logistic
Properties Ltd., one of the largest owners of warehouses and other
industrial property in Asia, according to people familiar with the
matter.
Global Logistic issued a statement late Monday saying the
company "has not entered into any binding agreement" at this time.
The statement said that Global Logistic "continually reviews
various initiatives...including exploring various investment
opportunities" and that the company will make further announcements
"when appropriate."
The sale of IndCor, one of the largest sales of industrial
property ever, is expected to close in the first quarter of 2015.
It would make the GIC venture one of the largest owners of
warehouses and other industrial real estate in the U.S. at a time
that demand for this space is growing.
Global Logistic Properties has had close ties to GIC. The
Singapore sovereign-wealth fund formed the company with others
after it acquired Prologis's Asian operations during the downturn.
Global Logistic made an initial public offering on the Singapore
stock exchange in 2010.
Blackstone was advised in the sale by Eastdil Secured,
Citigroup, Barclays and RBC Capital Markets.
Write to Peter Grant at peter.grant@wsj.com
Corrections & Amplifications
The name of the Blackstone Group's industrial property company
is IndCor Properties. An earlier version of this article misspelled
IndCor.
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