Patrizia Immobilien has launched a logistics business.
The investment manager said the new division, based in Amsterdam, would target both conventional and e-commerce assets.
Patrizia said the decision to create a logistics platform was based on changes in the supply chain caused by new consumer behaviour, reflected in the growth of e-commerce, new infrastructures and the transformation of retail by digital technologies.
Roger Peters, who has worked for Goodman and Prologis, and Arthur Tielens, who joins from Valad, will run the department, along with Octavian Cristea.
Patrizia COO Klaus Schmitt said: “Changed consumer behaviour is having a major impact on the way in which retailers and logistics service providers handle product services, making the combination of the location and the building a key factor for business success.”
The platform will conduct sale-and-lease-back transactions with logistics customers, as well as acquisitions and new developments through local partnerships.
E-commerce grew by 16% in Europe last year alone, and this trend is set to continue, Patrizia said, with a whole new class of use-specific logistics facilities.
