According to the Wall Street Journal report, Blackstone prevailed in bidding against two other groups, one a partnership of Morgan Stanley Real Estate Fund VII and Starwood Capital and the other a partnership of NRDC Equity Partners and AREA Property Partners.
Centro was one of the first major commercial-real-estate holders to hit the wall when, in late 2007, it failed to refinance portions of its $16bn debt as they came due.
Since then, Centro has repeatedly won reprieves from its lenders to push back the due dates. But, late last year, it started soliciting buyout and recapitalization bids in an effort to resolve its fate before $5.5bn of debt comes due in December, reported the Wall Street Journal.
Debt-laden Centro, which manages $17bn of shopping malls in Australia, New Zealand and the US, is considering scrapping the planned sale of its Australian assets, and using the proceeds from the US sale to reduce debt.
