NEW YORK CITY—Singapore's sovereign wealth fund, which is stepping up its US commercial real estate presence, confirmed Monday that it will partner with Global Logistics Properties Ltd. on the acquisition of IndCor Properties from the Blackstone Group. The 117-million-square-foot, $8.1-billion industrial deal was first announced last week and is expected to close in the first quarter of 2015.

When it does, GLP will initially hold a 55% stake and GIC, Singapore's SWF, will control the remaining 45%. By the middle of next summer, Singapore-based GLP will reduce its stake to 10% as part of its strategy to expand its fund management platform, syndicating the balance of its stake to like-minded investors.

“We are acquiring IndCor because it is one of the largest industrial platforms in the US and it is at an attractive point in the recovering US industrial market cycle,” says Tia Miyamoto, regional head, Americas, GIC Real Estate, based in New York City and San Francisco. “As a long-term investor, we believe this investment will achieve stable income growth and will allow us to add value over the long run. We are pleased to partner with GLP, a market leader in the logistics sector.”

The IndCor portfolio was assembled by Blackstone via its Blackstone Real Estate Partners VI and VII funds beginning in 2010. It spans key markets across the US with access to domestic and global transportation hubs.

When Blackstone announced the sale late last Monday, Tim Beaudin, IndCor's CEO, commeneted that “We built IndCor through 18 acquisitions to be one of the largest industrial real estate companies in the United States. We are excited about the company's future prospects under new long-term ownership with GIC.”

As it branches out from the US office sector—for example, taking a stake in Time Warner's 1.1 million square feet of office space at the Time Warner Center this past January—GIC likes what it sees in industrial. “The US industrial real estate market has been experiencing solid growth recently, with the last 18 consecutive quarters yielding positive net absorption,” GIC says in a release. “Lack of construction over the past five years has led to limited new supply of 0.4% of total stock per year. There is stable demand for logistics infrastructure driven by continued growth in retail and e-commerce sales which are growing faster than GDP.”