(Bloomberg) -- Brookfield Asset Management Inc. is in talks to sell industrial property developer IDI Logistics to Ivanhoe Cambridge Inc., a Canadian real estate investor, according to people familiar with the matter.
The companies are nearing a deal that could Atlanta-based IDI Logistics at more than C$4 billion ($3.05 billion), said the people, who asked to not be identified because the matter isn’t public. The deal hasn’t been finalized and talks could fall through.
Representatives for Brookfield, IDI and Ivanhoe declined to comment.
There have been several large industrial real estate deals this year, as institutional investors pile into the sector. They’re drawn to its growth prospects, which correlate with e-commerce. Blackstone Group LP closed its $7.6 billion purchase in October of Gramercy Property Trust while Prologis Inc. bought DCT Industrial Inc. in August.
"Time to market has become increasingly important in the e-commerce world," Jonathan Woloshin, head of Americas equities research with UBS AG, said in a note to clients in September. "This is leading to a shrinking of the supply chain and the increased need for warehouse and distribution facilities in higher population densities."
IDI Logistics is owned by Brookfield’s real estate arm, Brookfield Property Partners LP, which agreed to buy IDI’s predecessor for $1.1 billion in 2013.
The company owns or has interests in warehouses, distribution facilities and other industrial properties with more than 200-million-square-feet of space throughout North America, according to its website.
The potential sale would follow IDI’s $2.8 billion sale last year of its European warehouse business to Singapore’s Global Logistic Properties.
Ivanhoe Cambridge is the real estate arm of Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, Canada’s second largest pension fund.
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