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American Realty Capital Properties acquired American RealtyCapital Trust IV for $3.1 billion, CapLease for $2.2 billion andCole Real Estate Investments for $6.85 billion. Essex PropertyTrust acquired BRE Properties for $4.34 billion. Thomas PropertiesGroup merged with Parkway Properties in a $1.2-billion deal. W. P.Carey forged a $4-billion merger with Corporate PropertyAssociates:16—Global, its non-traded REIT affiliate—and those arejust a few of the megadeals from 2013.

After a flurry of merger and acquisition activity in the lastdays of 2013—Thompson Reuters reports M&A activity rose 69.2%to $65.3 billion in the commercial real estate sector last year—thedealmaking momentum has not slowed. If anything, the deal flow haspicked up.