Select Income REIT adds to portfolio in $2.7B deal

NEWTON, Mass. (AP) — Select Income REIT is spending about $2.7 billion in cash and stock to buy Cole Corporate Income Trust in deal that adds 64 office and industrial properties to the real estate investment trust's portfolio.

The deal gives Select Income strategic distribution centers for companies like Amazon.com and headquarters locations for companies including Tesoro Corp. and Noble Energy Inc. The acquisition totals about $3 billion, counting the assumption of mortgage debt.

Select Income also will sell 23 health care properties to Senior Housing Properties Trust for about $509 million once the Cole acquisition closes. That would knock the net purchase price of Cole for Select Income down to about $2.2 billion, not counting the mortgage debt.

The Cole acquisition is expected to close in next year's first quarter, pending shareholder approval.