Dutch pension fund asset manager PGGM is investing in cold storage facilities in the US via a partnership with UBS Asset Management’s Real Estate & Private Markets (REPM) arm.

UBS Asset Management’s REPM has joined forces with PGGM, and a select group of family offices to initially invest $700m (€678m) to build large food cold storage facilities across major food and transportation centres across the US.

Darren Rabenou, the head of food and agriculture, and Matt Johnson, head of US real estate at UBS Asset Management, said: “By bringing together our firm’s expertise and capabilities in both perishable agriculture and real estate, we believe we are uniquely positioned to execute this cold storage strategy, offering investors access to opportunities early in the replacement cycle of dated facilities and providing tenants with the latest technologies in state-of-the-art facilities.”

“We are excited to collaborate with UBS on this strategy to develop modern, efficient and sustainable cold storage facilities across the US, which fits well with PGGM’s focus on sustainable investment initiatives,” said PGGM’s private real estate business.

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