SÃO PAULO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Emergent Cold Latin America (“Emergent LatAm” or the “Company”), Latin America’s newest temperature-controlled warehousing and logistics provider, today announced the launch of the Company with a $450MM capital raise, which will provide food and beverage customers with access to the region’s highest quality cold storage facilities and fill a growing need for integrated end-to-end logistics solutions within the market. Anchor investors are Lineage Logistics (“Lineage”), the world’s largest temperature-controlled industrial REIT and logistics solutions provider; Stonepeak Partners LP (“Stonepeak”), a leading alternative investment firm specializing in infrastructure and real assets; and D1 Capital Partners, an investment fund founded by Dan Sundheim. The Company also announced the completion of its first strategic acquisition of Perú’s newest and most advanced individually quick-frozen (IQF) fruit processing facility located in Piura, along with its 7,300-pallet-position warehouse which serves Northern Perú’s domestic customers as well as the import/export trade at Paita Port.
Emergent LatAm – based out of São Paulo, Brazil and with a corporate office in Miami, Florida – will invest in existing leading cold storage operators and new greenfield projects throughout Latin America to expand its footprint of modern cold storage facilities and consistently bring the highest quality service to customers across the entire region.
As a part of this strategy, the Company plans to deploy over $450 million of equity capital toward greenfield projects and acquisitions in Latin America over the next two to three years. The Company also plans to buy net-leased cold-storage real estate in key markets and to offer customers the opportunity to monetize cold storage assets within their supply chain portfolios.
Emergent LatAm was founded by Neal Rider and David Palfenier, industry veterans with a track record of successfully executing consolidation strategies across the U.S., Europe and Asia-Pacific. Mr. Rider, who is Chief Executive Officer at Emergent LatAm, has over 17 years of experience in the temperature-controlled logistics industry, notably as the founder and CEO of both AGRO Merchants Group and Emergent Cold. Mr. Palfenier brings to Emergent LatAm decades of experience within the food industry – most recently as the President of Emergent Cold’s Latin America division – and serves as the Company’s President.
“We are thrilled to announce the launch of Emergent Cold Latin America and provide customers in the region with significant technological and modernization opportunities within their cold chains to match those that are leading the industry in the U.S. and Europe,” said Rider. “We’re working towards transforming the temperature-controlled supply chain in Latin America and becoming a one-stop-shop solution for customers to support their growth journeys.”
As an anchor investor in Emergent LatAm, Lineage will provide the Company with key support services related to commercial, project development and technology functions. Additionally, Lineage will advise on operational best practices to accelerate Emergent LatAm’s path to creating a leading continental operator.
“As the global leader in temperature-controlled logistics, Lineage is thrilled to support the development of sophisticated cold chain infrastructure in Latin America with an anchor investment in Emergent LatAm,” said Adam Forste, co-founder and co-executive chairman of Lineage Logistics. “We are confident in Neal and David’s vision, strategy and decades of successful execution, and we look forward to seeing Emergent LatAm deliver the highest quality logistics solutions to customers in the region.”
“Stonepeak has been investing in the cold storage industry for many years, and we’re excited to expand our investments in this sector into Latin America where modernizing food infrastructure is becoming critically important,” said James Wyper, Senior Managing Director at Stonepeak. “We look forward to supporting Emergent LatAm as they establish and grow their business.”
“We’ve long recognized the significant leadership gap in the highly fragmented cold storage industry in the region and are proud to invest in Emergent LatAm’s strategic plan to fill that void,” said David Hobbs, Partner at D1 Capital Partners. “We also know how operationally complex the industry is, and we believe Neal and David are uniquely suited to deliver industry-leading value for Emergent LatAm’s customers.”
Credit Suisse acted as a financial advisor and Latham & Watkins LLP acted as legal advisor to Emergent LatAm.
About Emergent Cold Latin America
Emergent Cold Latin America is building the highest quality cold storage network to provide integrated, end-to-end temperature-controlled logistics solutions to customers throughout Latin America. The Company was founded to fill a need for modern cold-chain solutions within the market and to serve the increasing demand from domestic and global trade customers.