Blackstone buys self storage company from Brookfield

Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust has agreed to buy a US self-storage specialist from Brookfield Asset Management for $1.2bn (£922.6m). The deal will see Blackstone purchase Simply Self Storage from a Brookfield real estate fund, boosting the trust’s $300m portfolio of self-storage facilities. Frank Cohen, chairman and chief executive of Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust, said: “This transaction is a complementary addition to BREIT’s high-quality portfolio of income-generating real estate, which is heavily weighted towards logistics and multifamily primarily in growth markets.” He added: “Simply Self Storage is a best-in-class company with significant potential for growth through future acquisitions in a highly fragmented sector, and similar to logistics, self-storage is a resilient sector through economic cycles because of low tenant turnover, minimal maintenance costs and stable cash flows.” Brookfield bought Simply Self Storage in 2016 through an opportunistic real estate funds, since which time the company has more than doubled in size. To send feedback, e-mail tim.burke@egi.co.uk or tweet @_tim_burke or @estatesgazette