Blackstone Sells Storage Business as BREIT Faces Withdrawals (2)

Blackstone Inc.’s $68 billion real estate trust agreed to sell Simply Self Storage to Public Storage for $2.2 billion as the property vehicle grapples with investor withdrawals and upheaval in the commercial-property sector.

Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust will sell the self-storage business, the companies said Monday in a statement. The deal, expected to close in the third quarter, will result in more than $600 million in profit for BREIT, Blackstone said.

Blackstone built BREIT into a massive player in the real estate industry, attracting investors as it snapped up properties from student housing to data centers across ...