COPT Forms New $293 Million Data Center Shells Joint Ventures with Blackstone Real Estate
November 02 2020 - 07:30AM
Business Wire
Approximately $165 Million of Equity Value to
COPT
Corporate Office Properties Trust (“COPT” or the “Company”)
(NYSE: OFC) announces the formation of new joint ventures with
funds affiliated with Blackstone Real Estate. The new ventures are
acquiring interests in eight single-tenant, data center shell
properties totaling 1.3 million square feet and valued at $293
million.
In a recently closed transaction, Blackstone Real Estate
acquired a 90% interest in two of COPT’s wholly owned data center
shell properties valued at $90 million. Blackstone Real Estate has
also signed an agreement to acquire a 90% interest in six other
data center shell properties partially owned by COPT, and that
transaction is expected to close before the end of the year.
“We are very pleased to expand our relationship with Blackstone.
These transactions further confirm the value of our portfolio of
strategically located data center shell properties and the value
our development platform adds for shareholders,” stated Stephen E.
Budorick, COPT’s President & Chief Executive Officer.
Tyler Henritze, Head of Acquisitions Americas for Blackstone
Real Estate, said, “We believe data centers will continue to
benefit from strong secular tailwinds, including immense demand
growth as internet traffic and the use of cloud services continue
to rise. These transactions are attractive opportunities to invest
in high-quality powered shell warehouses in the premier market
globally. We have an excellent partner in COPT and look forward to
continuing to build our relationship over the long-term.”
About Blackstone Real
Estate
Blackstone is a global leader in real estate investing.
Blackstone’s real estate business was founded in 1991 and has $174
billion of investor capital under management. Blackstone is one of
the largest property owners in the world, owning and operating
assets across every major geography and sector, including
logistics, multifamily and single family housing, office,
hospitality and retail. Our opportunistic funds seek to acquire
undermanaged, well-located assets across the world. Blackstone’s
Core+ strategy invests in substantially stabilized real estate
globally through regional open-ended funds focused on high-quality
assets and Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust, Inc. (BREIT), a
non-listed REIT that invests in U.S. income-generating assets.
Blackstone Real Estate also operates one of the leading global real
estate debt businesses, providing comprehensive financing solutions
across the capital structure and risk spectrum, including
management of Blackstone Mortgage Trust (NYSE: BXMT).
About COPT
COPT is a REIT that owns, manages, leases, develops and
selectively acquires office and data center properties. The
majority of its portfolio is in locations that support the United
States Government and its contractors, most of whom are engaged in
national security, defense and information technology (“IT”)
related activities servicing what it believes are growing, durable,
priority missions (“Defense/IT Locations”). The Company also owns a
portfolio of office properties located in select urban/urban-like
submarkets in the Greater Washington, DC/Baltimore region with
durable Class-A office fundamentals and characteristics (“Regional
Office Properties”). As of September 30, 2020, the Company derived
88% of its core portfolio annualized rental revenue from Defense/IT
Locations and 12% from its Regional Office Properties. As of the
same date and including 15 properties owned through unconsolidated
joint ventures, COPT’s core portfolio of 174 office and data center
shell properties encompassed 20.2 million square feet and was 94.6%
leased; the Company also owned one wholesale data center with a
critical load of 19.25 megawatts that was 86.7% leased.
Forward-Looking
Information
This press release may contain “forward-looking” statements, as
defined in Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section
21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, that are based on the
Company’s current expectations, estimates and projections about
future events and financial trends affecting the Company.
Forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words
such as “may,” “will,” “should,” “could,” “believe,” “anticipate,”
“expect,” “estimate,” “plan” or other comparable terminology.
Forward-looking statements are inherently subject to risks and
uncertainties, many of which the Company cannot predict with
accuracy and some of which the Company might not even anticipate.
Although the Company believes that the expectations, estimates and
projections reflected in such forward-looking statements are based
on reasonable assumptions at the time made, the Company can give no
assurance that these expectations, estimates and projections will
be achieved. Future events and actual results may differ materially
from those discussed in the forward-looking statements and the
Company undertakes no obligation to update or supplement any
forward-looking statements.
The areas of risk that may affect these expectations, estimates
and projections include, but are not limited to, those risks
described in Item 1A of the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K
for the year ended December 31, 2019 and subsequent Quarterly
Reports on Form 10-Q.
Source: Corporate Office Properties Trust
View source
version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20201102005155/en/
IR Contacts: Stephanie Krewson-Kelly 443-285-5453
stephanie.kelly@copt.com
Michelle Layne 443-285-5452 michelle.layne@copt.com
Corporate Office Propert... (NYSE:OFC)
Historical Stock Chart
From Feb 2024 to Mar 2024
Corporate Office Propert... (NYSE:OFC)
Historical Stock Chart
From Mar 2023 to Mar 2024