CHICAGO—As reported yesterday in GlobeSt.com, less than six months after closing on its $8.1-billion acquisition of the Blackstone Group's IndCor industrial platform, Global Logistics Properties has decided to acquire yet another massive US portfolio. The Shanghai-based company said it had agreed to acquire 100 properties that have a total of 58 million square feet from Industrial Income Trust for $4.55 billion. And it won't be a surprise if similar multi-billion deals get announced in 2015.

“Industrial is one of the most favored asset classes across the globe,” Erik Foster, a Chicago-based principal with Avison Young, tells GlobeSt.com. But individual class A industrial properties are usually far less expensive class A office or multifamily properties, and aggregating these assets takes a lot of manpower and time. Therefore, “in order for investors to get significant amounts of money out the door, they need to do it with platform plays like this.”

And foreign buyers will lead much of this activity. Foster, who is also Avison Young's practice leader for its national industrial group, expects to see in 2015 a steady increase in the amount of foreign money poured into US industrial assets. And “there are currently large foreign investors that are looking to purchase companies and platforms, and hope to close these transactions later this year.”