’It’s an alpha trade’: Private equity comes for logistics REITs

Blackstone is emerging as the victor of a months-long tussle for control of UK-listed investment trust Warehouse REIT – just the latest publicly traded industrial real estate firm to be snatched up by private equity over the past year.

Indeed, private asset managers have been on a public-market tear in the sector, from Brookfield’s pursuit of UK warehouse owner Tritax EuroBox, to Starwood and Sixth Street’s take-private of Asian logistics giant ESR, to last week’s news that Sixth Street is advancing an unsolicited bid to acquire Boston-based Plymouth REIT and its 36 million-square-foot US warehouse portfolio.

This episode spotlights this trend, including a recap from PERE Deals editor Guelda Voien of Blackstone’s on-again, off-again chase for Warehouse REIT, a look at Sixth Street’s emergence in the space, and broader analysis from PEI Group real estate editor-in-chief Jonathan Brasse and Principal Asset Management’s head of real estate research and strategy Rich Hill.