Stockholders of Biomed Realty Trust Inc., the owner of two life sciences campuses in Westchester, on Thursday approved the company”™s transition to private ownership in an $8 billion acquisition by a Blackstone Group real estate investment fund.
Headquartered in San Diego, Biomed Realty is landlord to New York”™s largest biotech employer, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc., at the Landmark at Eastview campus, the former home of Union Carbide Corp. in the towns of Greenburgh and Mount Pleasant. It also owns Ardsley Park, the former Purdue Pharma campus in Greenburgh where Acorda Therapeutics Inc. is headquartered.
BioMed Realty announced the pending acquisition by affiliates of Blackstone Real Estate Partners VIII in early October after the deal was unanimously approved by its board of directors. Blackstone will acquire all outstanding shares of common stock of BioMed Realty for $23.75 per share in an all-cash transaction valued at approximately $8 billion. With small additional per diem payments to shareholders in January before the deal”™s completion, common stockholders would receive slightly over $23.82 per share on the expected closing date of Jan. 26. That represents a premium of about 24 percent over BioMed’s closing stock price on the day before the pending deal was first reported in the press.
Trading of BioMed shares on the New York Stock Exchange will cease at closing of the deal.
BioMed Realty President and CEO Alan D. Gold last fall said his company believed “that the public markets are not adequately valuing our assets and proven business model” despite historic levels of demand for high-quality institutional real estate “to support the unprecedented growth of the life science industry.” He said demand is outpacing supply in all of Biomed”™s core markets for biotech space from Boston and New York to San Francisco and Seattle.
“Entering into this transaction with Blackstone fulfills our board of directors”™ mission to maximize stockholder value,” Gold added.
Nadeem Meghji, co-head of U.S. real estate acquisitions for Blackstone, said regarding the BioMed deal, “We believe in the long-term fundamentals of this sector, particularly in locations with top-tier educational and research institutions.”
Founded in 1991, Blackstone”™s real estate business on four continents has approximately $92 billion in investor capital under management.
