Oaktree, Bascom JV buys Vegas portfolio for $630m

The California-based private equity real estate firms set a record price for a Las Vegas multifamily deal.

Oaktree Capital Management has partnered with the Bascom Group to purchase a Las Vegas multifamily portfolio for $630 million, a record-setting price for the desert city.

The California-based private equity real estate firms bought the 4,918 garden-style units from real estate investment trust Camden Property Group, which has owned the properties for 18 years, the seller said Friday. The deal also includes a retail center and 19.6 acres of undeveloped land, according to a press release. This is Las Vegas’ biggest multifamily transaction, according to real estate data provider Real Capital Analytics (RCA).

Bascom and Oaktree are not new to Las Vegas real estate, nor are they new partners. The firms have worked together on over a dozen deals, most recently the March purchase of a Sacramento multifamily portfolio for $43.5 million, according to RCA. The firms could not reached for comment at press time.

Camden put the Las Vegas portfolio on the market through an auction process and received multiple offers from across the country, its executives said on a first-quarter earnings call Friday. They emphasized that the firm was prompted to sell the large portfolio because the properties, most of which are about 30 years old, no longer fit into the company’s strategy.

The portfolio “was very widely marketed to a great investor group,” Keith Oden, Camden’s president, said on the call. “That validates that we’re not at the top of the multifamily market because they wouldn’t be buyers if we were.”

Following this sale, Camden no longer has real estate holdings in Las Vegas, which Oden noted has experienced above-average net operating income growth but has “significant long-term challenges” stemming from oversupply and growth constraints. The city’s multifamily transactions reached a post-financial crisis peak in the first quarter of 2016 as measured by both the number of properties traded and volume, according to RCA.