This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
PROFIT-to-member superannuation funds Rest is diversifying its industrial property allocations with a landmark investment in a real estate climate impact fund.
The super fund has signed on as a cornerstone investor in Fidelity International’s Fidelity Real Estate Logistics Climate Impact Fund (the LOGICs fund).
The LOGICs fund will focus on acquiring logistics property across core Western European markets and redeveloping them into high-quality assets that can be operated at net-zero carbon.
The assets will also be able to generate renewable energy through the installation of solar panels.
“Rest is pleased to join Fidelity to launch the LOGICs fund as its cornerstone investor. We believe its focus on climate impact offers a fantastic opportunity to benefit Rest’s approximately 2 million members, including the more than a million who are younger than 30 and will retire into a post-2050 net-zero world,” said Andrew Lill, chief investment officer at Rest.
“With logistics properties trading at attractive rates and demand for energy efficient facilities growing, we believe the LOGICs fund will drive rental yields and property values that should translate into strong financial returns while helping to speed up the path to a carbon neutral economy.”
The LOGICs fund has been established in response to growing demand for quality, energy efficient assets in key markets including France, Germany, Netherlands and the United Kingdom.
“The LOGICs fund launch is a great example of partnering with our clients to jointly develop solutions to meet their evolving investment needs,” said Andrew McCaffery, global chief investment officer at Fidelity International.
“With approximately €550m [AUD 911.78m] of deployable capital within our real estate climate impact strategies, we are excited by the opportunity to take advantage of current market conditions and deliver strong returns as well as tangible carbon reduction within an accelerated timeframe.”
With the investment also in line with Rest’s target of achieving a 1% allocation to impact investments across its total portfolio by 2026.
“Around 40 per cent of total global carbon emissions come from real estate1. With eighty-five per cent of Europe’s buildings over twenty years old2, improving them provides a valuable solution to growing demand from businesses looking to move quickly towards net zero operations,” added Lill.
“Business demand for high quality logistics facilities is expected to grow as we continue to see the property sector respond to global decarbonisation priorities and other worldwide economic and geopolitical factors.”
