Swiss Life Asset Managers is investing €125m via its value-add infrastructure fund into a newly created partnership with Planet Farms to construct indoor farming facilities.
Planet Farms, a controlled environment agriculture (CEA) infrastructure developer and operator, will contribute a 20,000sqm vertical indoor farm in Italy, existing customer relationships and a project pipeline to the newly formed venture with the Swiss Life Global Infrastructure Opportunities Growth II fund.
The fund will hold a controlling stake in the industrial joint venture, with Planet Farms as a minority investor in the partnership.
Carlo Forattini, senior investment manager, value-add infrastructure at Swiss Life Asset Managers, said: “CEA infrastructure is establishing itself as the essential modality to produce essential food, becoming mission-critical for its direct and indirect customers.
“This is validated by strong infrastructure characteristics, such as strong cash flow stability, long-term agreements, asset heaviness and increasing regulation. We are excited to work with the management to continue capitalising on the business’ strong growth potential and to be the architect of this new infrastructure sub-vertical.”
Daniele Benatoff, CEO at Planet Farms, said: ”We are thrilled to form this industrial joint venture with Swiss Life Asset Managers. This partnership represents a significant milestone in our journey, which began in 2018, and has led us to become a leading CEA infrastructure operator.
“The strength and scale of Swiss Life Asset Managers further underscore the appeal of our CEA business model and the attractiveness of the industry to infrastructure investors. Their support will be instrumental in driving the next phase of growth and will enable the company to become an established European platform.”
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