Blackstone to buy Air Communities for $10 billion

Blackstone Inc (NYSE: BX) is in focus today following a report that it plans on buying Apartment Income REIT (NYSE: AIRC) for about $10 billion.

Details of Blackstone - Air Communities deal

The all-cash transaction values each share of the real estate investment trust known broadly as Air Communities at $39.12 per share - a 25% premium on their previous close.

$AIRC currently owns 76 rental housing communities in Miami, Boston, Los Angeles and other coastal markets. Nadeem Meghji – the global co-head of Blackstone Real Estate said in a press release today:

Wall Street currently has a consensus "overweight" rating on $BX that pays a dividend yield of 3.34% at writing.

Blackstone to spend further on Apartment Income

Blackstone Inc also committed to spending an additional $400 million on improving the rental housing communities that Apartment Income owns - added the Wall Street Journal on Monday.

In January, the alternative investment management giant based out of New York, United States said it will buy Tricon Residential Inc for about $3.5 billion as Invezz reported here.

The recent moves suggests $BX - one of the biggest real-estate investors in the world is now accelerating investments after moving more cautiously for a while.

Note that the New York listed firm is scheduled to report its financial results for the first quarter on April 18th. Consensus is for it to earn 99 cents a share versus 97 cents per share a year ago. Blackstone has now gained more than 50% over the past twelve months.