CANADA - The C$120bn (€83.5bn) Canada Pension Plan Investment Board has invested €400m in European distribution via a fund set up by US logistics firm ProLogis.

The pension scheme's investment will make up 17% of the ProLogis European Properties Fund (PEPF) II - one of four set up to invest in distribution in Europe, the US, Mexico and South Korea. The funds, which have a combined value of €10.2bn, will act as vehicles for ProLogis's assets in those regions.

The investment fits CPP's targeting of stable, long-term assets as ProLogis's distribution assets, once country-specific, have also become more pan-European - a significant pull-factor for the scheme.

It is also in line with CPP board's strategy of of what it describes as partnerships with "world-class" developers of commercial real estate.

At the same time, CPP also said it would make further investments in continental Europe and "selected markets" in Central and Eastern Europe aimed at geographic diversification.

The pension plan, which has €3.8bn invested in real estate, has no target allocation to the asset class but the result has been a series of opportunistic investments.

The majority of its real estate investments, to date, have been indirect and via joint ventures, although the pension fund has not ruled out direct acquisitions.

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