Atlantic Union Bankshares Corporation (NYSE: AUB) (“Atlantic Union”), the holding company for Atlantic Union Bank (the “Bank”), and Blackstone (NYSE: BX) jointly announced today the closing of the sale of approximately $2 billion of the Bank’s performing commercial real estate (“CRE”) loans acquired from Sandy Spring Bank to vehicles affiliated with Blackstone Real Estate Debt Strategies (“BREDS”). The CRE loan sale was contemplated and announced as part of Atlantic Union’s merger with Sandy Spring Bancorp, Inc., which closed on April 1, 2025.
“After closing our acquisition of Sandy Spring, we have been focused on integration and execution,” said John Asbury, president and CEO of Atlantic Union. “Today’s announcement is another proof point of Atlantic Union’s ability to execute and deliver on transactions that create long-term value for our shareholders. We were pleased to work with Blackstone Real Estate on this transaction, which both sides executed seamlessly. The loan sale transaction reduces our CRE concentration and frees up capacity for potential future growth.”
Tim Johnson, Global Head of Blackstone Real Estate Debt Strategies, said: “This transaction demonstrates the breadth of our market-leading platform and deep expertise providing solutions to financial institutions for their commercial real estate portfolios. With $76 billion 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.”
The final CRE loan pool sold by the Bank had balances totaling approximately $2 billion which were previously identified and transferred to held for sale as of April 1, 2025. The loan pool was sold in the low 90s as a percentage of par value, and the Bank retained customer-facing servicing responsibilities.
The Bank intends to use the proceeds from the loan sale to pay down certain high-cost deposits and certain other high-cost funds, as well as to add to its securities portfolio.
For Blackstone Real Estate, this transaction follows the acquisition of $20 billion of CRE loan portfolios in the last 24 months, including the acquisition of an approximately 20% stake in the $17 billion Signature Bank CRE debt portfolio and the $1 billion performing senior mortgage loan portfolio acquisition from PBB.
Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC served as sole structuring advisor to Atlantic Union and Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP acted as its legal advisor on the transaction.
Citigroup Global Markets Inc. and CBRE National Loan & Portfolio Sale Advisors acted as financial advisors to Blackstone. Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP, Ropes & Gray LLP and Benesch Friedlander Coplan & Aronoff LLP acted as legal advisors to Blackstone.
