Fiera Real Estate and USS Announce UK Industrial Development Joint Venture
Fiera Real Estate UK Limited (“Fiera Real Estate”), the European real estate arm of the USD120.0 billion AUM1 global asset management company Fiera Capital Corporation (“Fiera Capital”) (TSX: FSZ), and one of the UK’s largest private pension schemes, the Universities Superannuation Scheme (“USS”), have invested in a joint venture (“JV”) to develop prime small-to-mid-box industrial properties in strategically located urban locations across the UK.
The investment vehicle managed by Chris Button, Head of Investment Management, Europe at Fiera Real Estate, will target brownfield and established employment sites to deliver new multi-let urban industrial schemes of up to 250,000 sq ft. The JV will look to invest in core urban sites with best-in-class sustainability credentials, as the JV seeks to capitalise on the “flight to quality” in UK industrial assets.
The JV has an initial term of 5 years and is targeting individual acquisitions of up to £50 million. The JV is already under offer on two prime sites with a gross development value of over £100 million in the Southeast.
USS will benefit from Fiera Real Estate’s strong track record in the sector, where it has averaged an internal net rate of return of over 40% on projects sold since 20182. Through Fiera’s unique operating partner model, it has developed over 11.8 million sq ft of space over the past five years, with a portfolio gross development value of £2.6 billion.
The operating partner model refers to Fiera Real Estate’s part-ownership of nine specialist property development companies, which provide its institutional investor base with nationwide coverage at a local level and the ability to transact in and scale portfolios at an accelerated rate through access to off-market opportunities.
Charlie Allen, Head of European Real Estate, Fiera Real Estate, said “The joint venture will leverage our unique operating partner model and our strong track record in the delivery of ground-up development projects to assemble a market-leading logistics portfolio that is exemplary from an ESG perspective, and in terms of what today’s occupier prioritise. We are responding to occupier and investor demand for contemporary assets which further sustainability objectives, adding supply chain resilience, enhanced carbon emission profiles and future-proofing benefits to portfolios.
Supply-demand imbalances, favourable pricing conditions and the digitalisation of the economy are some of the beta tailwinds driving the investment case in UK logistics, and we will be combining these with our proven ability in origination and delivery to create alpha for our investors.”
Alex Turner, Head of Property at USS, commented “We are looking forward to working with Fiera on this exciting joint venture. USS has a strong track record in the industrial sector, with deep sector knowledge and a £1.5bn industrial portfolio.
The JV provides USS the opportunity to continue to invest into the sector, which is supported by strong tailwinds, with a partner that provides a unique platform whilst increasing our development activity in the property mandate.”
Fiera Real Estate were advised by Newmark.
1As at 30 September 2025.
2 Past performance is not necessarily indicative of future results. Performance targets are not guaranteed. Inherent in any investment is the potential for loss.