Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC has teamed up with European urban logistics investment manager Melcombe Partners to invest in Europe.
The pair have formed a joint venture to buy and develop last-mile distribution centres and urban logistics assets in cities across the UK, France, Germany, Spain and the Netherlands.
Melcombe will be in charge of sourcing, operating and managing the assets on behalf of the newly formed venture.
Lee Kok Sun, GIC real estate CIO, said: “The urban logistics sub-market will benefit from positive fundamentals, reinforced by increasing occupier demand due to accelerating e-commerce adoption and changing supply chain management strategies.
“We believe the venture’s focused strategy, with the management of a skilled partner such as Melcombe, will generate resilient returns in the long run.”
Ludovic Bernard, partner, Melcombe Partners, said the partnership with GIC will allow the venture to unlock the full potential of the ”fragmented European urban logistics markets and capture the sustained growth of the sector underpinned by spiking e-commerce activity, tightening supply of logistics space in large European cities, restrictive land planning rules and increased focus on global supply chain resilience”.
“The venture will benefit from Melcombe’s strong expertise within the sector and our on-the-ground local presence which will allow us to successfully source, manage, add value to the assets and end-customers.”
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