Meyer Bergman has created a European last-mile logistics platform to invest in €2bn worth of single-tenant assets.
The newly launched Crossbay platform, headed by Marco Riva, has already secured over €500m of assets under management, with properties in Italy, France, Germany, Spain, Belgium and the Netherlands.
Riva joined Meyer Bergman in August 2018 from Logicor, as senior vice president for Southern Europe with responsibility for future investments in logistic properties across Europe. He was one of three senior members hired at the time as part of the manager’s plan to broaden its investment strategy to include last-mile logistics.
The London-based real estate manager said the Crossbay platform is on track to double its managed assets to €1bn over the next 12 months.
While being a separate platform, Crossbay is an extension of Meyer Bergman’s urban mixed-use strategy which has managed more than €8bn of assets across Europe, the company said.
Marcus Meijer, chief executive of Meyer Bergman, said: “We are creating a long-term institutional platform that will work in parallel to our traditional value-add strategy. For the first time, pension funds will be able to access high-quality assets, with grade A occupiers managed by an institutional-grade operator.
“Although we began our last-mile journey in 2018, COVID-19 has highlighted how integral urban logistics are to all aspects of life. As companies look to reassess their supply chains, we will see significantly enhanced investment targeting this area.”
Marco Riva, head of logistics at Meyer Bergman, said: “More than ever, retailers need to be close to their customers, so that is why tenants are willing to sign up to longer leases and pay competitive rents for well-located space.
”Last-mile deliveries make up a significant proportion of retailers’ costs, and every mile and every minute’s delivery time creates expense.”
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