Blackstone Group and MGM Growth Properties, a publicly traded REIT, completed the acquisition of MGM Grand and Mandalay Bay resorts, two hotels & casinos, from MGM Resorts for $4.6bn. The deal values MGM Grand’s real-estate assets at about $2.5bn and Mandalay Bay’s at just over $2bn. Blackstone owns slightly less than half of the properties through the private-equity and real estate giant's non-listed real estate investment trust, while MGM Growth Properties will own the remainder. "We are pleased to announce this partnership with BREIT, which illustrates the numerous opportunities available to grow our business and emphasizes the strong institutional demand for gaming real estate assets. Along with the contemplated cash redemption of $1.4bn of MGM's operating partnership units as announced by MGM, we expect this transaction to be accretive to AFFO while allowing us to maintain pro rata net leverage of 5.6x," James Stewart, MGP CEO.