{"id":1004794851,"date":"2026-04-09T06:33:35","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T14:33:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/?p=1004794851"},"modified":"2026-04-09T08:19:59","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T16:19:59","slug":"ares-management-to-acquire-whitestone-reit-for-1-7b","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/ares-management-to-acquire-whitestone-reit-for-1-7b\/","title":{"rendered":"Ares Management to Acquire Whitestone REIT for $1.7B"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"World
World Cup Plaza, a shopping center in Frisco, Texas, was purchased by Whitestone REIT last November. Image courtesy of Whitestone REIT<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Ares Management Corp. and Whitestone REIT have entered into a definitive merger agreement under which Ares will acquire the REIT in an all-cash transaction for $1.7 billion, the companies announced on Thursday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following this merger, Ares will acquire all Whitestone common shares for $19.00 per share or unit, representing a 12.2 percent premium to the closing stock price on April 8, 2026. The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2026. Once the deal closes, Whitestone’s common stock will no longer trade on the New York Stock Exchange. The transaction is the latest in a series of public-to-private mergers<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whitestone\u2019s portfolio includes 4.9 million square feet of retail space across markets including Phoenix, Dallas, San Antonio, Houston and Austin, Texas. David Roth, global head of real estate strategy and growth at Ares Real Estate, said in prepared remarks that the portfolio provides an opportunity for Ares to expand in retail markets with low supply and create value for both communities and investors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last November, Whitestone purchased World Cup Plaza<\/a> in Frisco, Texas. The retail center spans 90,391 square feet and the company owns four shopping centers close by including Headquarters Village, The Shops at Starwood, Lakeside Market and Eldorado Plaza.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This acquisition is Ares\u2019 second public-to-private deal of the year. In January, Ares Alternative Credit Funds along with Makarora Management acquired Plymouth Industrial REIT<\/a>. The all-cash deal was valued at $2.1 billion for $22.00 per share.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the merger transaction, BofA Securities is acting as Whitestone\u2019s financial advisor along with JLL, while Bass Berry & Sims is the company\u2019s legal advisor. For Ares, Citigroup Global Markets Inc. is the leading financial advisor, working with Morgan Stanley. Kirkland & Ellis is the legal advisor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This represents Ares’ second public-to-private merger this year. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3749,"featured_media":1004777530,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21781,21808,21825,21783,23891,21742,21749],"tags":[44687,35091],"class_list":["post-1004794851","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-corporate-real-estate","category-featured","category-finance","category-investment","category-national","category-latest","category-retail","tag-ares-management-corp","tag-whitestone-reit"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nAres Management to Acquire Whitestone REIT for $1.7B - Commercial Property Executive<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Ares Management Corp. and Whitestone REIT have entered into an agreement that will allow Ares to take the REIT private in a $1.7 billion deal.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/ares-management-to-acquire-whitestone-reit-for-1-7b\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ares Management to Acquire Whitestone REIT for $1.7B\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Ares Management Corp. and Whitestone REIT have entered into an agreement that will allow Ares to take the REIT private in a $1.7 billion deal.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/ares-management-to-acquire-whitestone-reit-for-1-7b\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Commercial Property Executive\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CPExecutive\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-04-09T14:33:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-04-09T16:19:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2025\/11\/World-Cup-Plaza.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"620\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mikayla Sciortino\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@cpexecutive\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@cpexecutive\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/ares-management-to-acquire-whitestone-reit-for-1-7b\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/ares-management-to-acquire-whitestone-reit-for-1-7b\/\",\"name\":\"Ares Management to Acquire Whitestone REIT for $1.7B - Commercial Property Executive\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/ares-management-to-acquire-whitestone-reit-for-1-7b\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/ares-management-to-acquire-whitestone-reit-for-1-7b\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2025\/11\/World-Cup-Plaza.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-04-09T14:33:35+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-09T16:19:59+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/f119cdcafd70d8f34fc5aa340ed5382b\"},\"description\":\"Ares Management Corp. and Whitestone REIT have entered into an agreement that will allow Ares to take the REIT private in a $1.7 billion deal.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/ares-management-to-acquire-whitestone-reit-for-1-7b\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/ares-management-to-acquire-whitestone-reit-for-1-7b\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/ares-management-to-acquire-whitestone-reit-for-1-7b\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2025\/11\/World-Cup-Plaza.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2025\/11\/World-Cup-Plaza.jpg\",\"width\":800,\"height\":620,\"caption\":\"World Cup Plaza is adjacent to the 21,000-seat Toyota Stadium that will serve as a base camp for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. 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