Bain said to near deal to acquire Blackstone’s Avery Lodge

BAIN Capital is nearing a deal to acquire Blackstone’s Singapore worker dormitory firm Avery Lodge after outbidding other rival private equity firms, according to people familiar with the matter.

The US-based investment firms are hammering out the details of a transaction that could be agreed as soon as the coming days, the people said, asking not to be identified because the matter is private. A potential deal could value Avery Lodge at S$750 million to S$780 million, the people said.

Representatives for Bain and Blackstone declined to comment. 

Avery Lodge has four purpose-built worker dormitory compounds with about 1,700 units. Apollo Global Management Inc. and Brookfield Asset Management Ltd. were among other firms eyeing Avery Lodge, Bloomberg News has reported. 

Blackstone started marketing the housing provider after holding the properties for more than a decade, online news outlet Mingtiandi reported in June, citing people it didn’t identify. The private equity firm bought the assets from Morgan Stanley in 2010 for about S$380 million, the daily said.

Deals involving Singapore companies have climbed 24% this year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Among those, a KKR & Co.-Singapore Telecommunications Ltd. consortium agreed to invest S$1.75 billion in ST Telemedia Global Data Centres in June.

A return of investor confidence, along with relative economic and political stability, have helped turned Singapore into a busy market for transactions in Asia Pacific this year. BLOOMBERG