Jan 23 2017-REIT IPO for Blackstone Group’s Invitation Homes Inc Aims to Raise $1.5bil via Public Offering
Making big bets in the wake of the great financial crisis by buying up swaths of single-family homes continues to pay off for Blackstone Group LP, as the private equity firm’s Invitation Homes Inc. seeks to cash in owner chips via a Initial Public Offering (IPO) of shares that aims to bring $1.5bil in cash back into the coffers of the Blackstone owned REIT.
Invitation Homes, the Dallas-based Blackstone REIT owns approximately 55,000 homes that are leased out to tenants is the largest portfolio of single-family houses in the US. The company plans to raise $1.5 billion by selling 77 million shares at a price range of $18 to $21. At the midpoint of the proposed range, Invitation Homes would command a fully diluted market value of $5.9 billion and an enterprise value of $11.8 billion.
Invitation Homes was founded in 2012 and booked $905 million in sales for the 12 months ended September 30, 2016. It plans to list on the NYSE under the symbol INVH. Deutsche Bank, J.P. Morgan, BofA Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo Securities, Credit Suisse, Morgan Stanley and RBC Capital Markets are the joint bookrunners on the deal. It is expected to price during the week of January 30, 2017.
Blackstone built the company in the aftermath of the housing crash, making the largest investment among big buyers that snapped up properties at depressed prices to institutionalize the business of leasing single-family homes. Their bet depended on unprecedented demand for rentals from Americans who lost residences to foreclosure and those unable to get mortgages as banks tightened credit.