New York-based GreenPoint Partners looks to be a new name to watch in alternative investing.
On Wednesday, the company said it had closed an inaugural technology fund aimed at the ‘intersection of real assets, technology and sustainability’. At the same time it revealed it had made a first investment via a newly launched real estate private equity platform that has provided capital to European final mile logistics company, Infinium Logistics.
Not only is GreenPoint backing Infinium’s operating platform, it is also acting as an investor in Infinium’s debut real estate fund, also announced on Wednesday.
GreenPoint was founded in 2019 by Chris Green, a New York-based property professional best known as the former global head of real estate at Macquarie Group, where he worked for 16 years from February 2002 until July 2018.
He then joined the board of directors at logistics and industrial company, Goodman, before launching GreenPoint.
GreenPoint tech fund
GreenPoint has just closed its inaugural Technology Fund I at $134 mln, bumped up to $200 mln including co-investment capital opportunities provided to the investors. Investors include Canada’s Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSP Investments), Goodman Group, Ivanhoé Cambridge, Lendlease, Greystar, Berkshire Residential Investments, Charter Hall, Kloof Capital, Gandel Group, and the George Krupp Family Office.
The vehicle targets high-growth companies underpinning the digital transformation of the multitrillion-dollar real assets industry.
Green said: ‘The increasing pervasiveness of technology and ESG trends is pressuring real asset digitization and technology adoption to catch up to other industries.’
‘Whilst the opportunities from this transition are vast, the knowledge gap and lack of integration makes this a challenging process. We believe that the winners from this transition will be digitally and sustainability-aware real asset owners/developers as well as the technology companies that can effectively deliver requisite solutions.’
‘We are excited to announce these firm milestones as we continue building the ecosystem that can facilitate success for both the real asset and technology participants.'
To date, GreenPoint has invested in 16 companies including Built Technologies, OpenSpace, Envizi, ility, Fetch Package, Snapdocs and Relay Payments.
It has even made its first exit in the form of Envizi. Ryan Shmeizer, general partner at GreenPoint said: ‘Earlier this year we achieved our first exit with the acquisition of Envision by IBM, highlighting the deep market interest in the sector. We have successfully acted as a conduit between our portfolio companies and senior real asset stakeholders, supporting continued growth for the former and the adoption of these technology solutions for the latter.'
Green and Shmeizer are joined at GreenPoint by former JLL professionals, Eric Boothe, Rick Michaux and John Forrest.
For the firm’s new real estate private equity platform, former Blackstone professional, Alexander Çakir, is working alongside Green as general partner. Çakir is also New York-based. He was a real estate private equity analyst at Blackstone from 2011 to 2013 before joining Monarch Alternative Capital as VP of real estate. At GreenPoint he is responsible for US and European acquisitions of real estate as well as select investments into companies that are at the intersection of real estate and technology.
Infinium Logistics Fleethubs
Infinium Logistics that GreenPoint has invested in was founded in 2019 by James Lee, who has a background in logistics, technology and start ups.
Its CEO is Phil Bayliss, the former L&G real estate professional, who joined last year.
The company manages around 30 sites across Europe. It is targeting a portfolio of £500 mln across Europe with ‘full electrification infrastructure’. Billing itself as a European final mile logistics platform at the ‘forefront of decarbonization, advanced fulfillment, delivery and parking solutions’, the company has launched GreenPoint Infinium Holdings, a fund that has attracted around £200 mln in equity commitments.
It expects to deploy this capital into the market over the next two years, with a ten-year fund life.
According to the company, it will invest in “FleetHubs”, a new ‘sustainability-focused asset class’ which combines commercial real estate and low carbon energy infrastructure to drive efficiencies, create a better working environment for last mile delivery service providers and combat climate change.
The fund has made its first major investment in Swindon, UK, with a further six sites under offer. Its strategy is to acquire and develop a portfolio of electrified FleetHubs in key industrial locations across Europe by acquiring brownfield sites of over 1.5 acres within ten minutes drivetime of clients’ major occupational requirements and with excellent grid connection.
According to Infinium, the fund was oversubscribed against its equity cap, with further investors interested to invest beyond the initial fund and into new geographies.
GreenPoint Partners has partnered with GCM Grosvenor on behalf of two large US public pension plans, to make investments in the debut fund, along with Kloof Capital and affiliates.
A final close is scheduled for Q3 this year with further investment expected from other global institutional investors.
Lee said: 'Nowhere is the intersection of technology, real estate and sustainability more pronounced than in final mile logistics and the transition of delivery vans and trucks to new, low carbon energy sources. GreenPoint Partners is a business that understands and shares this unique cross section of expertise and is the perfect partner to support the rapid growth of our platform.’
Bayliss added: ‘As a major interface between customers and retailers, the last mile continues to come under growing scrutiny and pressure, producing a disproportionate volume of carbon emissions in the areas that people live.’
‘Our FleetHubs strategy supports our customers in responding to rapid e-commerce growth and climate change whilst retaining a happy, hyper-productive workforce. The future of transportation is zero emissions. We are repurposing existing real estate to enable zero carbon, technology enabled, modern logistics facilities that allow ecommerce operators to reach customers faster in a cleaner and greener, more efficient way.’
