Blackstone Group LP, the world's largest private-equity firm, is
plowing top dollars into a new Nordic home.
The U.S. fund manager said on Wednesday that it was moving into
Norway and other Scandinavian countries through the acquisition of
nearly $3 billion of properties. Blackstone said that it has also
agreed to buy a 34% interest in subsidiaries of Norway's Agasti
Holding ASA, an investment manager.
Blackstone has been looking to expand into Nordic assets as a
long-term investment, because it's positive to the Nordic macro
environment, with reasonably strong economies and relatively low
debt to gross domestic product compared with other parts of Europe,
as well as good growth opportunities.
"We have had a long-standing ambition to increase our presence
in the Nordics," said James Seppala, Blackstone's head of European
acquisitions.
Shares of Oslo-listed Agasti Holding rose more than 30% on the
news in early trading on Wednesday. The company manages one of the
largest real-estate portfolios in the Nordics, valued at 35 billion
Norwegian kroner ($4.31 billion).
Blackstone said that it had agreed to acquire real estate at a
combined value of 22 billion kroner, including office and logistics
properties in Norway and Sweden, from 10 funds currently managed by
Obligo, a subsidiary of Agasti Holding.
Blackstone will pay 250 million kroner for the 34% stake in
Agasti Holding. The firms operational activities, including several
subsidiaries, will be merged into a new company, Obligo BX Holding
AS. Agasti Holding will retain 66% ownership of the company.
The new company aims to build a leading position in the Nordic
real-estate market, it said.
Blackstone's real-estate business was founded in 1991 and has
more than $91 billion in investor capital under management.
Write to Kjetil Malkenes Hovland at
kjetilmalkenes.hovland@wsj.com
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