Pacific Gulf Completes Sale of Real Estate to CalWest Industrial

The $856.9-million sale of Newport Beach real estate investment trust Pacific Gulf Properties’ 14-million-square-foot industrial real estate portfolio closed Tuesday.

The sale to CalWest Industrial Properties--a joint venture of public pension-fund giant California Public Employees’ Retirement System and RREEF Funds--comes less than two weeks after final shareholder approval of the deal related to the REIT’s liquidation.

CalPERS, through its partnership with Chicago-based investment advisory giant RREEF, assumed some mortgage debt, but plopped down more than $750 million in cash to take over the properties in California, Arizona, Oregon and Washington. Secured Capital and Morgan Stanley arranged the transaction.

Pacific Gulf management determined that its portfolio could be worth more to shareholders through private property sales than through operations as a publicly traded company.