Blackstone is buying a US medical REIT in an $8bn (€7.1bn) deal.

The company said it agreed to buy BioMed Realty Trust for its Real Estate Partners VIII fund.

BioMed’s tenants include life science and biotech companies.

The $8bn transaction, approved by BioMed’s board members, is expected to close early next year.

Nadeem Meghji, co-head of US real estate acquisitions at Blackstone, said BioMed owned an β€œexceptional collection of office buildings catering to life science tenants” in Boston-Cambridge, San Francisco, San Diego and Seattle.

The company holds an 18.8m sq ft portfolio.

β€œWe believe in the long-term fundamentals of this sector, particularly in locations with top-tier educational and research institutions,” Meghji said.

Alan Gold, chairman, president and chief executive at BioMed Realty, said demand for high-quality, institutional real estate to support the unprecedented growth of the life science industry was at β€œhistoric levels”.

β€œDemand is outpacing supply in all of our core innovation districts,” he said. 

β€œT³σ±π public markets are not adequately valuing our assets and proven business model. Entering into this transaction with Blackstone fulfills our board of directors’ mission to maximise stockholder value.”