Blackstone Group, the world’s largest private equity investor in real estate, has settled four class-action lawsuits that hampered progress in a deal to buy BioMed, it has been revealed in an SEC filing. The firm said it would acquire the San Diego-based BioMed Realty Trust for $4.8 billion, or $23.75 per share, through Blackstone’s Real Estate Partners Fund VIII in October.
BioMed develops and leases laboratory and office spaces that specialise in life sciences, including biotech and other agriculture-focused research. Its main tenant at its Bio Research and Development Growth Park is the Danforth Plant Science Center, which claims to be the world’s largest independent research institute focused on plant science.
The centre attracts an average of $11 million in grants and funding a year, from sources such as the National Science Foundation, United States Department of Agriculture, the Unites States Agency for International Development, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Monsanto Fund, according to its website.
The price of $23.75 a share in cash is about 24 percent more than BioMed’s closing share price on 22 September, one day before Bloomberg reported that BioMed was working with Morgan Stanley to explore a sale.
BioMed “was trading at a discounted price because the public market perception of the company was relatively poor”, John Kim, an analyst at BMO Capital Markets in New York, told sister publication Private Healthcare Investor in October.
“Even though it’s a somewhat specialised asset class, the location of the assets is very attractive and the biotech industry is flourishing.”
The transaction is valued at about $8 billion, including debt. The deal, which is supported by BioMed’s entire board of directors, is subject to a vote by its shareholders on 21 January.
If you do not receive this within five minutes, please try to sign in again. If the problem persists, please email: