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By Patricia Vilas Boas

SÃO PAULO – Cold warehouse logistics operator Emergent Cold LatAm plans to invest about $175 million more in Brazil over the next 12 to 18 months, the company’s CEO and co-founder told Reuters on Thursday , Neal Rider.

Emergent Cold raised $500 million at the end of October, as part of an investment round led by North American manager Stonepeak and advised by JPMorgan, but which had not yet been disclosed. Of that amount, about 35% is expected to go to Brazil, according to Rider.

This amount is in addition to the 65 million dollars in cash already planned to invest in the country during the same period, in addition to the 180 million invested during the years 2021 and 2022.

The refrigerated food storage and transportation service provider had previously raised $450 million in 2021 and $250 million in 2022, in funding rounds also led by Stonepeak, it said.

It is expected that, thanks to the new investments, the company will reach, in the next 12 to 18 months, a total of 1.2 billion dollars invested in Latin America since the start of its operations, including 420 million in Brazil alone.

“So far in 2021 and 2022, much of our investment has been directed toward acquiring the best cold storage companies we could find in each country,” Rider said, referring to the approximately 14 acquisitions made over the past two years.

In Brazil, Emergent Cold acquired storage and logistics companies Martini Meat and DMX, in addition to Reiter’s assets.

“Now that we have this entire management platform and teams, we are much more focused on investing in new facilities and developing capital.”

According to the executive, the investment strategy is to strengthen the company’s expansion and consolidation plan in the region through a combination of acquisitions and development of existing operations.

“We will continue to review all (acquisition) opportunities that arise in Brazil. In the meantime, we will focus on new developments. We have several new developments planned in Brazil,” he said, without further comment. details.

In September, the company purchased a storage area in Guarulhos (SP) from Canadian Brookfield for an undisclosed amount, a project that Rider says is expanding.

“We are optimistic that we can do more with Brookfield in the future,” he added. “We will continue to explore opportunities similar to what we acquired from Brookfield…we will significantly exceed what we purchased from Brookfield, and we would love to do more projects with them.”

The executive also said he was in talks with major food producers in Brazil and Latin America, including major meat processing companies such as JBS and Marfrig, in addition to global expansion plans. “We’ve done business with all of them.”

With nearly 1,000 employees in Brazil and approximately 3,500 in Latin America, Emergent Cold LatAm is present in 11 countries, including Panama, the Dominican Republic, Colombia, Peru, Chile, Uruguay and Paraguay.

Brazilian activity is concentrated in the states of Paraná, Santa Catarina, Rio Grande do Sul, Pernambuco, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, where the head office is located.