Ares, PSP Create $2.4B Logistics Investment Platform

Ares Management has joined forces with Canada’s Public Sector Pension Investment Board to invest up to $2.4 billion in logistics assets across the U.S. The venture’s seed portfolio will comprise 14 properties totaling 5.2 million square feet across key industrial markets, including California, Texas and New Jersey.

Ares Real Estate’s Marq Logistics will lead sourcing and manage the properties. PSP Investments will provide the capital.

Logistics fundamentals continue improving on account of onshoring and reshoring in manufacturing, data center construction and e-commerce’s expansion, according to an Ares company statement. PSP echoed the sentiment, while also underscoring the structural supply scarcity across key submarkets.

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Eastdil Secured Savills and Kirkland & Ellis LLP provided financial and legal advice to Ares, respectively. Cushman & Wakefield issued wealth advisory to PSP, while Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP served as legal counsel.

The U.S. industrial sector’s activity spiked during the second quarter, rising nearly half year-over-year and one-fifth compared to the first three months of 2026, according to a JLL report. Vacancy declined 60 basis points, the first strong contraction since 2023, to 6.8 percent in June. Development also rebounded, up 9.2 percent year-over-year.

Pension funds’ commitment to U.S. industrial

Pension boards noticed the strengthening fundamentals, as PSP was not the only such entity to commit to an industrial partnership this week. Logistics Property Co. closed a value-add joint venture with a large U.S. public pension fund, aiming for infill and bulk locations to leverage rehabilitation and redevelopment opportunities.

In June, another Canadian pension board formed a joint venture targeting core and core-plus U.S. industrial assets throughout key markets. Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan and Equus Capital Partners kicked off their venture with the purchase of Ashton Logistics Park, a two-building campus spanning 523,407 square feet in Chesterfield County, Va.

Last year, Australian pension fund Aware Super purchased a 49 percent stake in a partnership with Goodman Group to invest in a $1.3 billion U.S. logistics platform, which, at the time, already held three properties encompassing 2.8 million square feet in Los Angeles.