BioMed Realty Agrees To Be Bought By Blackstone For $8 Bln Cash

(RTTNews) - BioMed Realty Trust, Inc. (BMR) Thursday announced a definitive agreement with affiliates of Blackstone Real Estate Partners VIII, for Blackstone to acquire all outstanding shares of common stock of BioMed for $23.75 per share in an all-cash transaction valued at $8 billion.

The transaction represents a premium of 24 percent over the closing stock price on September 22, after which a media article was issued reporting a potential transaction involving BioMed.

The deal has been unanimously approved by BioMed Realty's Board of Directors. Completion of the transaction is currently expected to occur in the first quarter of 2016.

BioMed, which went public in 2004, controls about $8 billion in high-quality laboratory properties, according to real estate research firm Green Street Advisors LLC. The healthcare REIT owns office properties catering to pharma and biotech companies.

The company owns or has interests in properties comprising about 18.8 million rentable square feet.

The company had previously declared a common stock dividend of $0.26 per share on September 15, payable on October 15. Apart from this, if the transaction is completed after January 1, 2016, BioMed stockholders will receive a per diem amount of $0.003 per share for each day from January 1, 2016 until the closing date.

Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC is acting as lead financial advisor to BioMed, while Raymond James & Associates, Inc. is also acting as a financial advisor in connection with this transaction. Latham & Watkins LLP is BioMed Realty's legal advisor.

Eastdil Secured Group of Wells Fargo Securities LLC, Citigroup Global Markets Inc., JP Morgan Securities LLC and Bank of America Merrill Lynch are acting as Blackstone's financial advisors. Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP is acting as its legal advisor.

BMR closed up 0.9 percent on Wednesday at $21.59. BX settled up 2.7 percent at $34.70.