Prologis Inc. will add nearly 10 million square feet to its New Jersey portfolio after agreeing to acquire Duke Realty Corp., in an all-stock, $26 billion transaction that spans more than 150 million square feet of combined industrial space in 19 major U.S. markets.

The blockbuster merger, announced Monday morning, will grow Prologis’ footprint in the state by 21 percent and strengthen its presence in what is already one of its top locations. The overall deal also includes 11 million square feet of in-progress development valued at some $1.6 billion and 1,228 acres of land owned and under option with a build-out of roughly 21 million square feet, although it was not immediately clear how much of that pipeline is in New Jersey.

Duke Realty, which is based in Indianapolis, has become a key player in the booming industrial sector, having shed a sprawling office portfolio to focus purely on logistics space. The company made its entrance to New Jersey in 2013, purchasing three buildings in Cranbury and Logan Township with a combined 1.3 million square feet, while developing a three-building, 1.1 million-square-foot industrial park in Linden as its first ground-up project in the state.

Read the full article here.