Blackstone, partners bet $24 billion on hunger for urgent delivery

LONDON (Reuters) -Blackstone Inc is leading a 21 billion euro ($23.81 billion) recapitalisation of Mileway, the biggest operator of urban warehouses in Europe, as the private equity giant increases its bet on demand for rapid goods delivery.

Rather than list or seek a private sale, the U.S. investor is opting to recapitalise the logistics company, Europe’s largest owner of last-mile logistics, as consumers worldwide increasingly demand same-day delivery of food and other items.

“Logistics is one of our highest conviction themes globally and the sector continues to prove its resiliency and strong growth potential,” James Seppala, Blackstone’s head of Real Estate Europe, said.

Blackstone launched Mileway in 2019 to operate the more than 1,000 logistics assets the private equity firm has bought to build up its last-mile business to deliver goods to tenants in its properties.

Existing investors in Mileway have been offered a chance to retain or increase their shareholding, or exit for cash, the company said.

The recapitalisation is subject to a “go-shop” process, which will start immediately and will run for up to 75 days, Blackstone said.

That process allows Mileway time to see if a better deal can be found for shareholders.

Mileway has over 1,700 assets across 10 major European countries with a team of over 350 employees across 26 offices, according to the company’s website.

Blackstone said the majority of the funding for the recapitalisation would come from existing investors.

($1 = 0.8834 euros)

(Reporting by Lawrence White in London and Bhargav Acharya in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila and Barbara Lewis)