Blackstone buys $2bn in CRE loans from Atlantic Union Bank

Atlantic Union Bankshares Corporation has sold approximately $2bn (£1.5bn) of Atlantic Union Bank’s performing commercial real estate (CRE) loans to Blackstone Real Estate Debt Strategies, having been acquired from Sandy Spring Bank.

The loan sale is part of Atlantic Union’s merger with Sandy Spring Bancorp, which closed on April 1, this year, at which point the final CRE loan pool sold by Atlantic Union Bank had balances of approximately $2bn, which were held for sale.

Blackstone said the loan pool was sold in the low 90s as a percentage of par value, and that the bank had retained customer-facing servicing responsibilities.

“After closing our acquisition of Sandy Spring, we have been focused on integration and execution,” said John Asbury, president and chief executive of Atlantic Union.

“The loan sale transaction reduces our CRE concentration and frees up capacity for potential future growth,” he added.

Atlantic Union Bank will use the proceeds from the sale to pay down certain high-cost deposits and high-cost funds, and to add to its securities portfolio.

Atlantic Union Bankshares Corporation is the holding company of Atlantic Union Bank, which has branches and ATMs in Virginia, Maryland and North Carolina.

Blackstone Real Estate has acquired $20bn of CRE loan portfolios in the past 24 months, including the purchase of an approximately 20 per cent stake in the $17bn Signature Bank CRE debt portfolio and the $1bn performing senior mortgage loan portfolio acquisition from PBB.

“With $76bn of AUM, including the recent closing of one of the largest real estate debt funds ever, we believe we are well-positioned to access differentiated real estate credit investment opportunities on behalf of our institutional, insurance and individual investors,” said Tim Johnson, global head of Blackstone Real Estate Debt Strategies.