On Monday, QTS Realty Trust, a Kansas City-area listed data center REIT, announced that it has agreed to be bought by various investment vehicles managed by private equity giant Blackstone. Blackstone Infrastructure Partners, Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust Inc., and other long-term Blackstone investment entities will buy all outstanding QTS shares for $78 apiece–a 21 percent premium to Friday’s closing price, and a 24 percent premium to its volume weight average of the past 90 days–in an all-cash deal valuing the Overland Park, Kansas company at $10 billion, including debt. The deal is expected to close in the second half of 2021.
In a statement announcing the deal, Blackstone credited QTS’s management team with its interest in acquiring the company, which will remain headquartered in Overland and led by current senior management.
“We are pleased to enter into this transaction with Blackstone, as it will deliver compelling, immediate and certain value to stockholders while positioning QTS to continue supporting customers’ expanding data center infrastructure needs,” said Philip Trahanas, Lead Director of the QTS Board of Directors. “The QTS Board regularly reviews the Company’s strategy and market opportunities to maximize stockholder value, and we are confident this transaction achieves that objective.”
“QTS is powered by its people and continues to set a new standard for service delivery in the data center industry,” QTS Chairman and CEO Chad Williams said. “We see a significant market opportunity for growth as hyperscale customers and enterprises continue to leverage our world-class infrastructure to support their digital transformation initiatives. We are confident this transaction is the right step to achieve our strategic objectives in our next phase of growth. I want to thank each of our QTS employees for their continued dedication to a culture of service to others, which has positioned QTS to enter into this transformative transaction.”
“We are delighted to back QTS and its world-class management team as they continue to scale the company to meet the rising demand for data centers. QTS aligns with one of Blackstone’s highest conviction themes – data proliferation – and the required investment makes it well suited as a long-term holding for our perpetual capital vehicles. We are committed to a strong, lasting partnership, leveraging Blackstone’s scale, reach, resources and access to capital to drive long-term growth at QTS,” said Greg Blank, Senior Managing Director, Blackstone Infrastructure Partners.
“We are focused on investing in assets that are benefitting from strong, secular tailwinds, such as the rapid digitalization of data. QTS is a leading provider of data center solutions with a portfolio of high-quality assets in desirable markets, positioning it well to capitalize on these powerful trends in the data center space. We believe the vast expertise across our business will enable the QTS platform to succeed over the long-term,” said Tyler Henritze, Head of Acquisitions Americas for Blackstone Real Estate.
