ISquared plans $350m infrastructure in Europe

In Europe, I Squared Capital has established a $350 million (€302 million) cold storage infrastructure investment platform.

Cube Cold Europe was established by the global infrastructure manager through its ISQ Global Infrastructure Fund III fund to target cold storage facilities in “strategic places, such as ports and transportation hubs.”

The platform was launched with a portfolio of two assets in the Benelux region, serving consumers near the ports of Antwerp, Bruges, Ghent, and Rotterdam, according to the manager.

Cube Cold Europe has completed its second acquisition, Northfreeze, a Belgian provider of cold storage and temperature-controlled transportation, according to I Squared, who also stated that the platform has a pipeline of “high-quality acquisition targets.”

Mohamed El Gazzar, partner of I Squared Capital in London, said: “We see strong growth potential for cold storage from the globalisation of trade, secular shifts in consumer behaviours, and the growing complexity of global food supply chains. In Europe in particular, the sector is highly fragmented, and we see an opportunity to employ our expertise in building complex and versatile infrastructure platforms.