Blackstone to Buy BioMed Realty Trust for $4.84 Billion

Blackstone Group will acquire BioMed Realty Trust in an $4.84 billion cash deal, adding more office buildings and laboratory-capable facilities to its real estate portfolio. The $23.75 per share price tag represents a 10% premium over Wednesday's closing price. The deal may include debt. Blackstone, the world's largest private-equity firm, has been raising cash to make deals in the space, last quarter closing a $15.8 billion distressed and opportunistic real-estate fund. BioMed Realty owns a collection of office buildings catering to life science and biotech tenants in what Nadeem Meghji, co-head of U.S. real estate acquisitions for Blackstone, called the "gateway markets" of Boston, Cambridge, Mass., San Francisco, San Diego and Seattle. BioMed Realty Chief Executive Alan Gold said that while growth of the life science industry is at historic levels, "public markets are not adequately valuing our assets." The companies expect to complete the transaction in the first quarter. If the deal closes after Jan. 1, BioMed shareholders will receive a per diem amount of approximately $0.003 per share for each day from Jan. 1 up to the closing date. Blackstone's real-estate business was founded in 1991 and has more than $91 billion in investor capital under management. Write to Lisa Beilfuss at lisa.beilfuss@wsj.com