Blackstone is looking to expand the current logistics portfolio to meet the growing demand of e-commerce Blackstone Group LP, the U.S. based asset management and financial services company, has recently agreed to buy US logistics assets from Singapore-based GLP Pte for a purchase price of US$18.7 billion. This agreement will be the world's largest private real estate transaction. Seemingly, Blackstone stated that the overall transaction provides infill, urban logistics assets spanning 179 million square feet, increasing the current size of U.S. industrial footprint of Blackstone by twice. According to Ken Caplan, Blackstone Real Estate’s global co-head, presently logistics is the company’s highest conviction global investment theme and the company is looking forward to building on the current portfolio to meet the growing demand of e-commerce. Sources close to the matter informed that the upsurge of e-commerce has increased the demand for infrastructure and logistics to serve them. The partners of GLP include e-commerce platforms like JD.com Inc and Amazon.com Inc, besides consumer brands such as L’Oréal SA and Adidas AG. Apparently, the Wall Street Journal earlier stated that Blackstone was acquiring U.S. industrial warehouses from GLP and the agreement price was about $8 billion of debt, which the company would look to refinance. Real estate company Prologis Inc and Blackstone were individually bidding for the portfolio, which included around 1,300 properties. However, in an agreement, Blackstone outbid Prologis, sources added. The real estate business of Blackstone has reportedly around $140 billion in investor capital under management. It functions globally with investments and people in Europe, Latin America, Asia, and North America. Presently, Blackstone is one of the largest owners of logistic properties with assets in Europe, North America, and Asia. In the U.S., the company developed and sold Indcor and successfully simulated this strategy with Logicor in Europe. Since 2010, Blackstone has acquired more than 930 million square feet of logistics internationally. Source Credit: https://www.thestar.com.my/business/business-news/2019/06/03/blackstone-buying-assets-from-singapore-based-glp-for-us$18pt7b/