Many of these transactions stand out because of their massive scale. For example, the top two transactions were by Brookfield Asset Management when it acquired two REITs in separate deals: GGP in a $15 billion takeover and Forest City Realty Trust in a $11.4 billion transaction (see sidebar).

Another deal that rivaled the heft of Brookfield's GGP transaction was Unibail-Rodamco's $15.7 billion takeover of Westfield Corp. After multiple approvals, the two companies declared that the cash-and-stock deal, which was first announced the previous December, would create “the world's premier developer and operator of flagship shopping destinations.”

Although not quite the scale and scope of these retail plays, there were many other significant acquisitions from 2018. Prologis' acquisition of DCT Industrial, for example, was a clear example of both trends. DCT Industrial Trust's 71-million-sf operating portfolio expanded Prologis' presence in Southern California, the San Francisco Bay Area, New York/New Jersey, Seattle and South Florida.

W. P. Carey's merger with one of its managed funds, CPA:17, is another example of a scale-driven transaction, with the resulting company positioned as one of the largest net lease REITs and among the top 25 publicly traded REITs in the MSCI US REIT Index. So, too was the merger of Phillips Edison & Co., one of the nation's largest grocery-anchored center landlords, with Phillips Edison Grocery Center REIT II. The merger created a $6.3B REIT that operates 323 shopping centers across 36.7 million sf nationally.

The $5.2-billion acquisition of LaSalle by Pebblebrook was probably one of the most publicized REIT M&A deals for the year. At the close of the merger, Pebblebrook became the third-largest lodging REIT, as measured by enterprise value, and the largest owner of independent and lifestyle hotels.

Pebblebrook's lead advisor for the transaction was Brad Butcher with Raymond James. Additional advisors included Ben Lett with BofA Merrill Lynch and David Wright and Mark Wickersham with Hunton & Williams.

Another large hotel deal occurred around the same time that Pebblebrook was pursuing LaSalle: Wyndham Hotels & Resorts' $1.95 billion acquisition of La Quinta Holdings' hotel franchising and hotel management business and the resulting spinoff of CorePoint Lodging. The transaction added more than 900 of La Quinta's franchised hotels to Wyndham's portfolio. CorePoint's portfolio holds 316 hotels previously owned by La Quinta.

Later in the year, Hyatt Hotels closed on the acquisition of Two Roads Hospitality, a lifestyle hotel management company. And Marriott Vacations Worldwide bought ILG in a mega timeshare deal for $4.7 billion.

Along similar lines, two gaming companies also merged in 2018: Penn National Gaming and Pinnacle Entertainment. Penn National acquired Pinnacle in a cash-and-stock transaction that's valued at approximately $2.8 billion. The combined company owns 41 gaming properties in 20 jurisdictions across North America. The transaction required extensive regulatory review and approval by state and federal regulators.

Skadden's Evan Levy, Stephen Arcano, Neil Stronski and David Reamer represented Pinnacle Entertainment, with in-house reps Elliot Hoops, Anthony Sanfilippo and Donna Negrotto. Timothy Wilmott was Penn National's in-house rep, while outside counsel was Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz partners Daniel Neff and Gregory Ostling.

One of the only major student housing M&As to close in 2018 was Greystar's $4.6 billion acquisition of EdR, which made Greystar the second largest institutional owner and manager of student housing in the US. BofA Merrill Lynch served as exclusive financial advisor, and Morrison & Foerster LLP and Venable served as legal advisors to EdR. J.P. Morgan Securities served as exclusive financial advisor, and Hogan Lovells US and King & Spalding served as legal advisors, to Greystar. JPMorgan Chase Bank provided debt financing for the transaction.

In conjunction with the EdR purchase, Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust partnered with Greystar Real Estate Partners to close on the $1.2-billion purchase of EdR's student housing portfolio. The purchase was a 95%-5% joint venture between Blackstone and Greystar. Citigroup Global Markets and TSB Capital Advisors acted as financial advisors to Blackstone, and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett acted as legal advisor to Blackstone.

The office asset class also saw its share of activity in 2018. In September two REITs—Government Properties Income Trust and Select Income REIT—created a single REIT to focus on the office asset class, changing its name to Office Properties Income Trust. The deal was a bit complex as GOV, SIR and SIR's Industrial Logistics Properties Trust, a REIT that owns warehouse distribution and e-commerce fulfillment facilities throughout the US, had intricate ownership structures — GOV was SIR's largest shareholder and SIR was the controlling shareholder of ILPT.

Citigroup Global Markets acted as financial advisor to a special committee of GOV's Board and Sullivan & Worcester acted as legal advisor to GOV in the transaction. UBS Investment Bank was the financial advisor to a special committee of SIR's Board of Trustees. Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom was legal advisor to SIR in this transaction.

Cambridge Crossing

While 2018's landscape may seem to have been dominated by REIT M&As, there were also plenty of deals that were private sector plays. At the end of the year, Oxford Properties Group and Ivanhoe Cambridge, as one example, acquired IDI Realty, a privately held REIT formerly owned by Brookfield Asset Management, for $3.6 billion. This deal brought on board some 180 industrial real estate assets in 15 states, as well as the company's management and development platform. The acquisition was Oxford's first logistics acquisition in the US.

The DLA Piper team that worked the transaction included John Sullivan, Cara Nelson, Primo Fontana, Oriana Robin Montani, Luke Belton Maddox, Bob LeDuc, Allan Bowen, Chris Giordano, Jon Venick, Janessa Griffin and Penny Minna.

Many of 2018's transactions were in cash, but some did close as all-stock transactions. The merger of Colony NorthStar Credit Real Estate, a publicly traded finance REIT created from the merger of two non-traded entities, is one example. The deal consisted of the merger of NorthStar Real Estate Income Trust (NorthStar I) and NorthStar Real Estate Income II (NorthStar II), which also entailed the contribution of $1.6 billion of assets and liabilities from Colony Northstar.

The transaction resulted in a commercial real estate credit REIT with approximately $5.1 billion in assets under management and $3.3 billion, or approximately $25 per share, of book value. It became the second largest publicly listed commercial mortgage REIT after Starwood Property Trust. For the NYSE listing, J.P. Morgan and Barclays acted as CLNC's advisors. Hogan Lovells US acted as the company's counsel and Clifford Chance US LLP acted as the listing advisors' counsel.

Real estate brokerages also were active in M&As last year. One example was The Shopping Center Group's $2 billion acquisition of Hart Realty Advisors, a significant transaction in which the largest, privately owned retail real estate advisory firm in the US scooped up one of the top, privately owned real estate investment management firms to expand its real estate advisory services. Hart Realty Advisers included David Hart and David Huntley. The investment banker for the deal was June Munshi, partner, CenterCap Group LLC and SCG's legal counsel was Chason Harrison, partner, James-Bates-Brannan-Groover LLP.

Another deal of note was Madison Marquette and PMRG's merger. The combined companies have a total of approximately $7.5 billion assets under management and 600 employees.

Colliers International took a 75% stake in Harrison Street Real Estate Capital for a total of $550 million. Marcus & Millichap acquired Pinnacle Financial Group, a mortgage brokerage and servicing firm in Cleveland. CBRE continued its flurry of acquisitions with two strategic investments: Noveen Consulting and CB Richard Ellis-N.E. Partners, a long-standing New England joint venture with Whittier Partners Group and the largest full-service commercial real estate services operation in New England.

Fresh off of closing its IPO in 2017, Newmark Knight Frank continued its growth plan in 2018 with the acquisition of Integra Realty Resources, Jackson Cooksey and RKF Retail Holdings. Cushman & Wakefield acquired Integrity Consulting Group last year, but its biggest play for 2018 was its IPO, which raised $765 million.

Moving over to non-entity-level deals, the Northeast markets were among the most active regions for CRE transactions in 2018. Investment activity alone exceeded $10 billion, as per RCA data, and the region—the Big Apple in particular—is the home of a number of new developments. The financing activity behind those deals kept origination volumes high, and tenants shook up the field with countless new lease announcements, be they relocations, expansions or new commitments.

The end of the year brought a flurry of activity in Boston. Its biggest lease in years and its top two property trades all closed in December. Pharmaceutical giant Sanofi chose the Kendall Square neighborhood to house its Massachusetts headquarters when it signed on to anchor a 45-acre mixed-use under way in East Cambridge. The 900,000-sf lease will bring together some 2,700 employees currently scattered throughout Boston into two buildings at Cambridge Crossing, being developed by DivcoWest.

Pier 4

In Boston's urban core, the landmark Exchange Place shifted from one institution owner to another. A joint venture of Allianz Real Estate of America, Beacon Capital Partners and the Pension Reserves Investment Management Board paid $845 million for the property at 53 State St. A fund managed by UBS Asset Management sold the 40-story tower, which includes more than 1.2 million sf of space that is 93% leased to a blue-chip rent roll.