Blackstone Nears Acquisition of Chinese Real Estate Developer Soho China

Resumption of Acquisition Talks Halted by COVID-19 Impact
Bloomberg "Final Announcement Likely Within Two Weeks"
Blackstone Accelerates Entry into Asia Market

Soho China Headquarters, Beijing, China

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Suhwan] Blackstone, the world's largest private equity firm based in the United States, is expected to acquire SOHO China, a Chinese real estate development company.

Bloomberg News reported on the 16th, citing anonymous sources, that Blackstone is expected to announce the acquisition of SOHO China as early as this week. The deal is known to be worth up to $3 billion.

However, the news agency also mentioned that although negotiations are in the final stages, there is still a possibility that the deal could fall through.

Previously, SOHO China suffered a decline in revenue as office rental demand decreased mainly in major Chinese cities due to the impact of COVID-19.

Early last year, SOHO China entered acquisition talks with Blackstone, but negotiations were temporarily suspended as the COVID-19 pandemic progressed.

In August last year, SOHO China announced that all negotiations with potential buyers had been halted.

Recently, acquisition talks with Blackstone have resumed, and Bloomberg News explained that final negotiations are underway ahead of an official announcement.

The reason Blackstone has relaunched these negotiations is interpreted as confidence in being able to generate profits in China despite the global economic slowdown.

Through this acquisition, Blackstone will be able to secure a large amount of real estate owned by SOHO China in Beijing and Shanghai, China.

Blackstone has been increasing its investments in Asia over the past few years and has been pushing to enter the regional real estate market.

In 2019, Blackstone raised the world's largest real estate fund worth $20.5 billion, and earlier in 2018, it established Asia's largest real estate fund worth $7.1 billion.

In 2018, Blackstone purchased a shopping mall and office complex in Shanghai, China, from Singapore real estate firm MapleTree Investments for $1.2 billion, and was one of the major buyers of commercial real estate in Beijing and Shanghai that SOHO China sold in 2019.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.