Park North at Monroe is an industrial park in Monroe, Ohio, owned by IDI Logistics. (Image courtesy IDI, Ivanhoe Cambridge & Oxford Properties)

Ivanhoé Cambridge and Oxford Properties have created a 50-50 joint venture partnership to invest in recently acquired U.S. logistics company IDI Logistics and all of its assets.

Financial terms have not been disclosed, but IDI has been valued in excess of $4 billion (all figures Canadian unless otherwise stated). The initial acquisition of IDI by Ivanhoé Cambridge, from Brookfield Property Partners, was completed on Nov. 30.

“We are delighted to be working with Oxford on this venture for the future success of IDI Logistics, a company which consistently builds, operates and leases some of the best bulk-and-big-box logistics real estate in the United States,” said Mario D. Morroni, executive vice-president of industrial, North America at Ivanhoe Cambridge, in a release. 

“This transaction perfectly illustrates our plan to capture the growth in demand for logistics globally, which includes a meaningful increase of our investments in that sector across four continents.

IDI a development and operating company

“In just over two years, we have grown our overall committed investments in the industrial and logistics sector from more than $2 billion to more than $9 billion.”

IDI is based in Atlanta and represents Oxford’s first venture into the sector in the U.S.

The joint venture will own the operating and development company, a portfolio of 111 operating assets covering 31 million square feet, 35 development projects covering 16 million square feet and IDI’s landbank of 33 land parcels allowing for an additional build-out potential of 17 million square feet.

Kevin Egan, head of New York and U.S. investments at Oxford, said the acquisition is, “complementary to our Canadian industrial portfolio and is consistent with our investment strategy to establish and grow a portfolio of best-in-class logistics assets across the globe.

“Furthermore, it highlights the evolution and growth of our US business which now actively invests and manages across the office, retail, multi-family, logistics and credit sectors with approximately US$15.1 billion of assets under management.”

IDI has developed more than 750 warehouses

IDI Logistics is one of the leading developers and managers of logistics real estate in the U.S., and is a fully integrated logistics platform. In its 30-year history, IDI Logistics has developed more than 100 business parks and 750 warehouses totalling over 200 million square feet throughout North America.

The company said it has developed properties for more than 700 clients. Included among its lists of customers are Walmart, Porsche Cars North America, UPS and eBay.

“IDI is excited to welcome Ivanhoé Cambridge and Oxford Properties as new owners. Ivanhoé Cambridge and Oxford Properties bring both management expertise and capital that will support IDIL’s growth and continue its thirty-year track record of success,” said Mark Saturno, CEO of IDI Logistics in the release.

The Ivanhoé Cambridge and Oxford partnership “will benefit from the strong support of IDI’s national management team,” the release states. IDI has more than 70 employees in six regional offices in the United States (in addition to Atlanta, it has offices in Chicago, Cincinnati, Dallas, Los Angeles and Memphis).

Ivanhoé Cambridge was advised by Goldman, Sachs & Co. LLC as financial advisor and by Cushman & Wakefield as real estate advisor. Oxford was advised by Morgan Stanley as financial advisor with real estate advisory services provided by CBRE National Partners.  

About Ivanhoé Cambridge, Oxford Properties

Vertically integrated in Canada, Ivanhoé Cambridge invests internationally alongside strategic partners and major real estate funds. Through subsidiaries and partnerships, the company holds interests in more than 1,000 buildings, primarily in the residential, office, retail, industrial and logistics sectors.

Ivanhoé Cambridge held more than $60 billion in assets as at June 30, 2018, and is a real estate subsidiary of the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (cdpq.com), one of Canada’s leading institutional fund managers.

Established in 1960, Oxford Properties manages over $58 billion of assets across the globe on behalf of its co-owners and investment partners. Oxford’s portfolio encompasses office, retail, industrial, hotels and multi-family residential and spans 100 million square feet in global gateway cities across four continents.

Oxford invests in properties, portfolios, development sites, debt, securities and platform opportunities across the risk-reward spectrum.

The firm has regional head offices in Toronto, New York, London, Luxembourg, Singapore and Sydney.

Oxford is the global real estate arm of OMERS, the defined benefit pension plan for Ontario’s municipal employees. 

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