BOSTON, June 27,
2024 /PRNewswire/ - Manulife Investment Management
(Manulife IM) has announced a strategic partnership with Foundry
Commercial to acquire, develop, and lease industrial outdoor
storage (IOS) sites in key infill industrial markets throughout the
Southeast. The portfolio consists of 10 sites located
in Atlanta, Nashville, Dallas-Fort Worth, and Jacksonville. Three of the sites have
completed construction and were acquired by Manulife IM directly;
the remaining will be developed in partnership with Foundry.
"Our investment in IOS is part of a larger alternatives strategy
to invest in industrial and residential adjacent sectors with
significant tailwinds. Partnering with Foundry was a logical choice
given their extensive expertise as a top tier industrial developer
and considerable knowledge in IOS," said Jessica Harrison, Head of Transactions &
Capital Markets, Real Estate Equity, U.S., Manulife IM. "Today's
market is undeniably challenging – we continue to source and
structure interesting opportunities which seek to generate outsized
risk adjusted returns on behalf of our clients, which we believe is
a key differentiator of our real estate business."
"We are thrilled to form this new strategic partnership with
Manulife IM. Together we seek to drive compelling investment
performance for investors as early entrants into this growing and
exciting alternative property type of IOS," said Pryse Elam, Foundry Commercial's Chief
Investment Officer.
Manulife IM's real estate platform, with $19.2 billion in assets under management as of
March 31, 2024, provides investment
solutions globally as part of its comprehensive private market's
capabilities. Its platform offers core, core-plus, value-add, and
opportunistic strategies spanning over 84.6 million square feet of
commercial real estate across the U.S., Canada, and Asia
Pacific. The real estate investment team leverages its
global platform, regional market knowledge, and deep relationships
to identify opportunities that drive results for its clients.
"Expanding our real estate equity platform and our core plus
strategy with exposure to high conviction sectors such as
industrial outdoor storage and access to this well positioned
portfolio with Foundry is a natural extension of our broader,
global investment strategy. Niche strategies increasingly align
with long-term structural shifts, evolving demand-side drivers, and
institutional capital's appetite for diversification into rapidly
institutionalizing alternative investments," said Maggie Coleman, Chief Investment Officer, Real
Estate Equity, North America and
Co-Head Portfolio Management, Manulife IM.
Headquartered in Orlando,
Foundry Commercial is a full-service commercial real estate company
with an integrated development and investments platform leveraging
the insight of local knowledge, brokerage teams, property and
construction managers. Since 2014, Foundry has deployed over
$4.4 billion across 30 million square
feet of projects and currently has $2.7
billion in assets under management.
"Targeting IOS, which shares the same drivers as industrial with
a fraction of the capital costs, we continue to see the benefits of
our vertically integrated platform with leading local execution
capabilities in today's environment by unlocking investment
opportunities that are unavailable to the general marketplace,"
said Principal Rick Coe, who leads
IOS investments for Foundry.
Additional information about Manulife Investment
Management's real estate capabilities can be found
at manulifeim.com/institutional.
Additional information about Foundry Commercial can be found at
foundrycommercial.com.
About Manulife Investment Management
Manulife Investment Management is the brand for the global
wealth and asset management segment of Manulife Financial
Corporation. Our mission is to make decisions easier and lives
better by empowering investors for a better tomorrow. Serving more
than 17 million individuals, institutions, and retirement plan
members, we believe our global reach, complementary businesses, and
the strength of our parent company position us to help investors
capitalize on today's emerging global trends. We provide our
clients access to public and private investment solutions across
equities, fixed income, multi-asset, alternative, and
sustainability-linked strategies, such as natural capital, to help
them make more informed financial decisions and achieve their
investment objectives. Not all offerings are available in all
jurisdictions. For additional information, please visit
manulifeim.com.
About Foundry Commercial
Foundry Commercial is a full-service commercial real estate
services and investment company operating across the office,
industrial, retail, multi-family, healthcare, religious, and
not-for- profit asset classes and clients. Focused on the Sun Belt
markets, Foundry is sustained by 2,900 associates operating from 12
markets, providing leasing and management on more that 68 million
square feet and over 3,000 seniors housing units, typically
executing over $2 billion in leasing,
tenant rep, and investment sale transactions annually. Foundry's
development and investment platform is fully integrated with its
services business and is currently invested in over $4.4 billion in joint ventures with many of the
best-known institutional investors in the country. For more
information, visit www.foundrycommercial.com.
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SOURCE Manulife Investment Management