Peakstone Realty deal marks 4th REIT privatization since October 2025

Industrial real estate investment trust Peakstone Realty Trust announced a definitive agreement to be taken private by Brookfield Asset Management Ltd. on Feb. 2, marking the first M&A deal in 2026 involving a publicly traded US equity REIT and the fourth go-private transaction for the sector since October 2025.

Under the terms of the deal, a Brookfield private real estate fund will acquire all outstanding shares of Peakstone for $21 per share in cash, representing a transaction value of about $1.20 billion.

According to S&P Global Market Intelligence data, the $21-per-share deal value represents a 34.4% premium over the industrial REIT's closing price on Jan. 30, the most recent trading day prior to the deal announcement, and sits just above the REIT's consensus net asset value estimate of $20.28 per share.

The recently announced deal marks the year's first M&A transaction involving a publicly traded US equity REIT.

US REIT M&A was slow overall in 2025. However, M&A activity for the sector ramped up in the latter-half of the year.

Eight deals in total were announced in 2025, aggregating to approximately $18 billion in transaction value, with six of those being announced in the second half of the year.

Privatizations of public US equity REITs in particular have gained significant traction recently, with four different REIT privatizations announced since late October 2025.

With overall low valuations across the REIT sector, coupled with interest rates continuing to slowly drop, 2026 could shape up as a more active year for REIT M&A activity.

The US REIT sector closed January at a median 16.2% discount to NAV. Office and hotel REITs traded at the steepest discounts to their consensus NAV estimates, at medians of 33.6% and 33.5%, respectively.