Blackstone's Logicor Expands UK Industrial Footprint - Big Picture

On April 27, The Blackstone Group LP

upped its bet on European industrial assets with the purchase of a UK portfolio of distribution warehouse assets from a JV entity affiliated with Oaktree Capital Group

. Blackstone is the largest private equity firm with over $300 billion total assets under management, including $93 billion of real estate AUM. This latest Oaktree acquisition results in Blackstone owning ~80 million square feet of European logistics and industrial facilities operated by its Logicor portfolio company. Tale Of The Tape - Since Oaktree 2012 Listing

Logicor currently operates in 12 European countries, including: Germany, Portugal, France and Spain. Oaktree - Global Presence Although Oakridge is best known as private equity shop focused upon distressed debt and bankruptcy opportunities, the firm had over $7 billion of real estate AUM as of March 2015.

Oaktree's global investment strategies include six categories: distressed debt, corporate debt, control investing, convertible securities, real estate and listed equities. Oaktree - Strategy Timeline

Real estate investments represent ~8 percent of Oaktree's $91 million of AUM. Blackstone Real Estate - Logicor In Perspective Although Logicor operates at a large scale in Europe, it is only one part of a vast Blackstone real estate platform.

The Blackstone real estate platform also includes management of Blackstone Mortgage Trust

. • http://www.benzinga.com/trading-ideas/long-ideas/15/04/5399557/a-small-cap-mortgage-reit-might-be-the-ge-capital-deals-bigge This Logicor UK industrial portfolio acquisition follows on the heels of Blackstone's recent acquisition of real estate assets from GE Capital; which included ~$2 billion of European assets, and nearly doubled Blackstone Mortgage Trust's assets under management. Logicor - Latest UK Acquisition Blackstone highlighted that "this portfolio of 16 warehouse properties are located in core logistics markets close to major urban centres across the UK, including Birmingham, Leeds and Oxford. The properties are leased to a diverse range of tenants such as Arcadia, B&Q, The Co-Operative, Debenhams and Unipart." According to a recent Wall Street Journal report, this 6 million square foot industrial portfolio was purchased for just over $600 million. Charlie Howard, Managing Director – UK, Logicor added: "This transaction enhances our relationships with a number of important customers and strengthens our overall position as a leading owner and operator of logistics warehouses."