Lineage Logistics announces $1.9bn equity raise

Lineage Logistics announces $1.9bn equity raise
Image: Courtesy of Lineage Logistics

Lineage Logistics has raised $1.9 billion in equity from an array of institutional investors to fund investment in global network and technology innovations.

Lineage Logistics, the temperature-controlled industrial REIT and logistics solutions provider, said the equity raise is the largest funding round since its founding in 2008 and brings the total equity raised since January 2020 to $4.3 billion.

Participating investors include BentallGreenOak, D1 Capital Partners, Oxford Properties, CenterSquare Investment Management, MS Tactical Value and Conversant Capital, OP Trust, Cohen & Steers, among others.

Lineage plans to use raised equity to fund global greenfield developments, M&A activity, technology innovations and facility expansion projects in its North American, European and Asian-Pacific operating regions.

Lineage represents the largest network of temperature-controlled warehouses globally, with more than 340 strategically located facilities offering over 2.1 billion cubic feet of capacity and spanning 15 countries across North America, Europe, Asia, Australia, New Zealand and South America.

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“We set out to raise capital to support Lineage’s investments in the world’s most state-of-the-art technology and automation, greenfield developments, facility expansions, and continued acquisitions, and we were met with overwhelming demand from some of the most well-respected global institutional investors,” said Greg Lehmkuhl, President and CEO of Lineage.

“This is clear validation of our business model and our consistent, successful strategy to optimize our customers’ temperature-controlled supply chains, which is exactly how we intend to deploy the funds – to bolster our customers’ experiences from every angle and prove ourselves as their most valuable partner,” he added.

In addition to this latest equity raise, Lineage also transformed its capital structure with a new $2.8 billion Revolving Credit Facility and Term Loan A. The new facility aligns closely with traditional REIT financings, has investment-grade pricing, and becomes unsecured upon compliance with investment-grade covenants. Additionally, the new facility enables Lineage’s growth worldwide by offering multicurrency lending across Lineage’s numerous jurisdictions. This transaction represents Lineage’s first sustainability-linked loan with three Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) initiatives.

In connection with the equity raise, the company also announced BentallGreenOak Senior Managing Partner and Co-Founder John Carrafiell will join Lineage’s board of directors. John Carrafiell has 33-years of real estate and capital markets experience in the industry. 

Carrafiell was previously Global Co-Head of Morgan Stanley Real Estate (MSRE), where he was responsible for running the real estate investment banking platform globally as well as the principal investing business with $100 billion in AUM in over 33 countries.

During 2020, Lineage completed 38 acquisitions which added 128 facilities in 11 countries, bringing over 5,000 new employees into the organization.

Also in 2020, Lineage became the first temperature-controlled warehousing provider to offer refrigerated and insulated railcar solutions through the acquisition of Cryo-Trans.