Blackstone Buys Largest Student Housing Operator

University House, a student dorm on the campus of Arizona State University in Tempe, Ariz. on March 9, 2016. (Daderot)

The investment firm Blackstone has secured a deal to buy the largest student housing operator in the United States for $12.8 billion, in the company’s latest and most expensive of many acquisitions in residential properties.

On Tuesday, representatives of Blackstone Inc. announced that the company had acquired American Campus Communities, the largest provider of student housing in the United States, at a price of $65.47 per share—about 14 percent above Monday’s closing price. The deal is the largest in the history of the Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust, a non-listed real estate fund worth $97 billion.

Since the beginning of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus pandemic, Blackstone and other investment firms have made ambitious and controversial moves to buy housing of all types. While much of the scrutiny applied to these companies has focused on their acquisitions of private homes and the possible negative consequences for the housing market, investment capital has also made significant acquisitions of rental properties and other housing types.

American Campus Communities owns 166 student housing properties, including dorms at such colleges as Arizona State University, Texas A&M University, Temple College, and Clemson University, among many others.

“American Campus Communities has a best-in-class portfolio and platform, built on longstanding relationships with some of the most distinguished and fastest growing universities in the country,” said Blackstone executive Jacob Werner in a statement.

Following the announcement, Blackstone’s stock price rose by 4.94 percent, suggesting enthusiasm among investors for the new acquisition.