Monmouth shareholders reject merger deal; $10B QTS merger closes

S&P Global Market Intelligence offers our top picks of real estate news stories published throughout the week.

Hotel real estate investment trusts are still performing well below pre-pandemic levels despite significant improvement in their financial performance in the second quarter. The industry was among the hardest-hit with the onset of the pandemic in 2020. And the recent gains are also threatened by the rise of the COVID-19 delta variant, which is causing uncertainty for the sector's outlook.

Same-store revenue per available room and same-store occupancy were up significantly year over year in the second quarter but remained below 2019 levels, according to an S&P Global Market Intelligence data dispatch.

Hotel REIT executives are remaining cautious and monitoring the delta variant's impact but are also optimistic that the worst of the pandemic has passed.

Merger matters

* Office REIT Equity Commonwealth terminated its merger agreement with industrial REIT Monmouth Real Estate Investment Corp. after Monmouth shareholders did not approve the deal, Dow Jones Newswires reported. The deal was initially agreed in May.

With the termination of the deal, the investment banks serving as advisers stand to lose tens of millions of dollars in fees.

* Blackstone Inc. affiliates completed their roughly $10 billion acquisition of data center REIT QTS Realty Trust Inc. The deal was agreed in June.

* Nontraded diversified REIT Corporate Property Associates 18 Global Inc. received an unsolicited preliminary proposal for a potential merger from affiliates of its external adviser.

* Office REIT Hudson Pacific Properties Inc. paid a combined $222 million for Star Waggons Inc. and Zio Studio Services, two studio companies that feature a fleet of over 1,100 luxury location trailers, specialized vehicles and other transportation assets that are used by studio productions.

Big ticket property deals

* Medical Properties Trust Inc. signed a deal with Macquarie Infrastructure Partners V to form a partnership in which the latter's subsidiary buys a 50% stake in eight hospitals owned by Medical Properties and operated by Steward Health Care System, Dow Jones Newswires reported. The deal values the Massachusetts hospitals at $1.78 billion.

* Oxford Properties Group Inc. and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board are exploring a sale of the Royal Bank Plaza office complex in Toronto for more than US$1 billion, Bloomberg Markets reported, citing a person with knowledge of the plans. The property has two towers and a retail concourse spanning about 1.5 million square feet.

* Harbor Group International LLC affiliates and Cammeby's International Group paid $1.05 billion for a portfolio of 41 workforce housing communities across 14 cities in New Jersey. The portfolio has 5,302 units and is concentrated in Union, Morris and Essex.

* Boston Properties Inc. completed its roughly $465.0 million acquisition of Safeco Plaza in Seattle with the establishment of a new joint venture with two institutional investors. The 50-story property is 90% leased and marks the office REIT's entry into the Seattle market.

* Multifamily REIT Centerspace completed its $323.8 million acquisition of a portfolio of 17 properties in Minnesota.

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