Plots & Ploys: Warehouse Wager
Brookfield Asset Management is making a big bet on e-tailing.</br></br>The company's $4.4 billion global real-estate fund has agreed to acquire Industrial Developments International Inc., an owner of 27 million square feet of warehouses, distribution centers and other industrial property.</br></br>Much of that space is used to store products sold by online retailers and brick-and-mortar companies that are stepping up their Internet sales.</br></br>Brookfield is paying $1.1 billion to Kajima, a real estate and engineering company.</br></br>With this deal, Brookfield extends an industrial-property shopping spree, which includes the purchase of the real-estate investment trust Verde Realty and U.K.-based EZW Gazeley. It now owns 51 million square feet of industrial space, most of that in the U.S.