A bank that has just weathered two years of high interest rates is nonetheless choosing to put fresh money back into physical real estate. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. announced on 18 August 2026 that it had signed an agreement to acquire LCN Capital Partners, a New York-based investment firm founded in 2011 that specialises in sale & leaseback – the transaction through which a company sells its property to an investor while retaining use of the premises via a long-term lease – as well as in build-to-suit and triple net lease (NNN) deals.
The consideration can reach €351M ($410M), of which €223M ($260M) will be paid at closing and up to €128M ($150M) in earn-outs tied to the achievement of long-term performance targets. Around 80% of the total amount will be settled in Goldman Sachs shares, a payment structure that directly ties LCN’s founders to the share price performance of their new parent company.
A specific area of expertise added to a thirty-year-old real estate business
LCN has built its specialism since 2011 by raising ten investment funds across North America and Europe, backed by insurers, institutional investors and high-net-worth individuals. The firm manages approximately €2.57Bn ($3Bn) in assets under supervision as of 30 June 2026, with a claimed average net cash-on-cash return of 10.8% since inception, and funds ranked in the first or second quartile among peers, both in terms of multiple on invested capital (MOIC) and distributions to paid-in capital (DPI).
Goldman Sachs is bringing the entire team on board, including co-founders Edward V. LaPuma and Bryan York Colwell, to strengthen a private real estate business that has existed at the bank since 1991 and claims more than €55.6Bn ($65Bn) invested since 2012. “Our team, our strategy and our commitment to our partners remain unchanged – what changes is the scale of our ambition,” commented Edward V. LaPuma.
A bet on bricks and mortar in the midst of a high-rate era
According to David M. Solomon, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Goldman Sachs, this platform strengthens the group’s ability to serve its insurance, institutional and wealth management clients in search of diversified sources of return. The announcement points to a global sale-leaseback market of approximately €11,984Bn ($14,000Bn) in corporate-owned real estate assets across North America and Europe, of which only a fraction is transacted through this type of structure each year.
This move to strengthen exposure to physical real estate comes as the sector has been through a period of high interest rates that weighed on valuations and slowed transaction activity. It fits into a logic already familiar to the hospitality sector, where separating property ownership from operations frees up capital – a mechanism at work, for example, in the sale of the Venetian to VICI Properties in Las Vegas, or in Goldman Sachs’s already well-known exposure via its stake in B&B Hotels.
A Spanish hospitality foray that came to nothing
Goldman Sachs’s official statement makes no mention of any hospitality exposure at LCN, whose portfolio is mainly made up of industrial, office, retail and corporate-specific-use assets.
However, last year LCN was a serious contender for hotel assets in Europe: in 2025, the fund was selected for exclusive negotiations to acquire the nine hotels of the Silken chain in Spain, then owned by CBRE Investment Management and Pygmalion Capital Advisers, with an offer approved at €225M.
The acquisition ultimately did not go ahead for LCN: it was the Spanish group Hotusa, parent company of Eurostars, that won the deal for €250M, outbidding LCN’s initially accepted offer and consolidating its position in the urban segment. To date, this episode remains LCN’s most well-documented exposure to hotel assets.
Timeline and closing conditions
The transaction is expected to close by the end of 2026, subject to regulatory approval and customary closing conditions. Goldman Sachs was advised by its own Global Banking & Markets division, as well as by Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz and DLA Piper. LCN Capital Partners was advised by RBC Capital Markets and by a law firm identified in the announcement as McDermott Will & Schulte.
At a glance by The Hospitality Tribune
Deal:
Goldman Sachs agrees to acquire LCN Capital Partners, a sale & leaseback and triple net lease investment platform, adding a specific real estate skill set to a 30-year-old business line
Deal value: up to €351M ($410M), with approximately 80% paid in Goldman Sachs equity
LCN manages roughly €2.57Bn ($3Bn) in assets under supervision, raised across 10 funds since 2011
Co-founders Edward V. LaPuma and Bryan York Colwell will join Goldman Sachs Asset Management’s real estate business post-closing
Closing expected by end of 2026, subject to regulatory approval
Hospitality angle: LCN held exclusive talks in 2025 to buy 9 Silken hotels in Spain for €225M, but the deal ultimately went to Hotusa at €250M
