Lineage Logistics grows distribution footprint in Europe

Cold storage real estate investment trust (REIT) Lineage Logistics announced Thursday further expansion of its temperature-controlled supply chain in Europe. The company completed the acquisition of Grupo Fuentes.

Financial terms of the transaction were not provided.

Based in Murcia, Spain, Grupo Fuentes operates a fleet of 500 vehicles, six logistics centers and one warehouse, providing cold storage logistics solutions to its customers. The refrigerated warehouse has 60,000 pallet positions currently but the site will be expanded to accommodate 100,000 in total. The deal adds 850 employees to Lineage’s global network, expanding its distribution offering in Southern and Western Europe, “one of Europe’s main markets for fresh produce.”

“This acquisition will connect the end-to-end supply chain for customers in Southern Europe and beyond, with facilities near food production centers and an extensive transport fleet that will allow us to offer customer solutions that extend throughout the entire value chain,” Harld Peters, president of Lineage’s European operations, stated in a news release.

Grupo Fuentes CEO Rafael Fuentes will work with Lineage to build out the company’s European transportation offering. Other Fuentes family members will take on leadership roles within Lineage’s European operations. The Fuentes family will reinvest an undisclosed amount of the proceeds from the sale into Lineage.

“I am delighted that we could move quickly from announcing the deal to finalizing it,” said Fuentes. “Joining Lineage will allow us to achieve bolder ambitions than we could have achieved as a stand-alone company.”

Novi, Michigan-based Lineage is the largest temperature-controlled REIT in the world, operating a network of more than 400 facilities and 2 billion cubic feet of space. The company’s network expands across 20 countries in North America, Europe and the Asia-Pacific.

Lineage entered Spain a year ago with the acquisition of Frigoríficos de Navarra and its nearly 20 million cubic feet of capacity and a 1 million-cubic-foot site from operator Frioastur.

Deloitte was the financial adviser to Grupo Fuentes on the transaction. Rabobank and Seven Lakes Partners advised Lineage.

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