Scotiabank’s U.S. corporate and investment banking teams are attracting considerable notice as they lead landmark cross-border transactions. Most recently, helping Lineage Logistics – the world’s leading temperature-controlled industrial REIT and logistics provider – achieve ambitious asset growth in Canada and Latin America.
With Scotiabank serving as Financial Advisor, in April 2022, Michigan-based Lineage Logistics reached an agreement to acquire VersaCold, among Canada’s premier supply chain solutions companies, fortifying Lineage’s position as one of the world’s largest providers in the temperature-controlled supply chain. With a global network across 19 countries, this transaction complements Lineage’s leadership position across the U.S., Europe and Asia.
Scotiabank also supported Lineage Logistics’ expansion in Latin America through a joint venture platform in which Lineage is an anchor investor, Emergent Cold Latin America. In fact, most recently in spring 2022, Scotiabank served as Financial Advisor to Emergent Cold Latin America, when it acquired Colombia’s Frigorifico Metropolitan, a cold storage leader in Latin America’s fourth largest economy, which complements Emergent Latam’s regional investment strategy.
“Through their next-generation business model, which applies best-in-class technology to reimagine and transform essential food supply chains for their customers, Lineage is on an impressive growth path,” observes Ross Nussbaum, Scotiabank’s Managing Director and Head of U.S. Real Estate Corporate and Investment Banking. “We’ve been proud to support their mission to feed the world and help enable their incredible growth over a very short time span, across North and South America.”
Scotiabank’s relationship with Lineage began just over two years ago, as this private company was winning accolades on Fast Company’s 2019 list of The World’s Most Innovative Companies and Fortune’s 2020 Change The World ranking. Building solid relationships with Lineage, the Bank proved its real estate capabilities and expertise in delivering both corporate lending solutions and strategic advice, as Lineage sought acquisition targets in Canada and Latin America. In 2021, Scotiabank provided advisory and financing support when Emergent Cold Latin America, acquired Friopacifico, Chile’s leading cold storage business.
“Lineage appreciated Scotiabank’s ability to fully serve them in their U.S. home market and also deliver on-the-ground corporate and investment banking capabilities and specialized sector expertise throughout South America,” recalls Nussbaum. “Then, when they were ready to expand into Canada, they again trusted us to provide in-depth real estate experience, local transactional support and seamless cross-border execution in another international market.”
He notes that collaboration among Scotiabank’s U.S. investment banking, M&A, real estate, consumer, industrial and retail sector teams, and the Bank’s Canadian real estate property brokerage, supported Lineage in critical on-site asset valuation and positioned them to provide a combination of corporate financing and Canadian asset-level financing solutions that U.S. investment banks seldom provide.
“Our team has experienced a remarkable growth journey in just over a decade, growing from a single property to more than 400 facilities in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific,” remarks Adam Forste, Co-Founder and Co-Executive Chairman of Lineage Logistics. “Also in a short time frame, Scotiabank has really delivered its entire platform to us, to support our expansion priorities in the U.S., Latin America and Canada, and earning their place as a core relationship bank to us, as we continue to build our global operations.”
Reflecting on Scotiabank’s bold expansion of its U.S. Global Banking and Markets business, including its corporate and investment banking coverage of sectors ranging from real estate to technology and healthcare, Nussbaum concludes that, “Through the deep client relationships we build with admired, growth-oriented companies and investors, we offer an invaluable mix of financial commitment, specialized expertise and the full range of capabilities across the Americas to help them achieve their growth visions.”
For more information about Scotiabank’s Wholesale Banking solutions and opportunities across the Americas, please contact:
Ross Nussbaum
Managing Director and Head, U.S. Real Estate Corporate & Investment Banking
Phone: 212-225-5071
