€1bn pan‑EU logistics fund

Europe still has plenty of consumers and factories, but it does not have enough modern warehouses in the right places. On April 9, La Caisse and Prologis said they are putting a €1 billion seed portfolio into a new vehicle called Prologis Logistics Investment Venture Europe, or PLIVE, to buy, build, and run logistics sites across five countries. (prologis.com) This is not one giant shed in one city. The starting portfolio spans about 844,000 square metres, or more than 9 million square feet, across France, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. (prologis.com) (estatesgazette.co.uk) The structure tells you what each side wants. La Caisse, the Canadian institutional investor formerly known as Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, will own 70%, while Prologis will own 30% and run the assets as operating partner. (prologis.com) That split matters because warehouses produce two different kinds of returns. A leased building throws off rent today, while a development site is a promise of higher value later if permits, power, and construction all line up. (prologis.com) Europe has become a hard place to add logistics space quickly. Prologis said in March that Europe’s logistics market is worth about €500 billion and is becoming more constrained by supply barriers, while its December outlook said planning limits and power shortages could push vacancy below 5% in 2026. (prologis.com) (realassetinsight.com) That is why investors care about location more than square footage. A warehouse near Rotterdam, the Ruhr, Paris, or the English Midlands can cut delivery times by hours and reduce trucking costs every single day, which makes older industrial land in the right corridor unusually valuable. (prologis.com) (cbre.com) The demand side has not disappeared even after the post-pandemic comedown. Cushman & Wakefield says e-commerce, nearshoring, and supply-chain resilience are still reshaping the sector, and Savills says logistics accounted for 22% of all capital deployed into European real estate in 2025, up from 13% in 2018. (cushmanwakefield.com) (savills.com) PLIVE is also a bet that big institutions want exposure without doing the day-to-day work themselves. La Caisse brings long-duration capital, while Prologis brings leasing, construction, and site-selection expertise that the two firms have already tested together since a 2019 Brazil logistics venture. (prologis.com) (estatesgazette.co.uk) The timing is also deliberate. Estates Gazette reported that the partners expect the initial transaction to close later in the second quarter of 2026, subject to approvals, which means they are trying to scale before competition for prime European logistics land gets tighter again. (estatesgazette.co.uk) So the real story is not just a €1 billion fund. It is that one of the world’s biggest warehouse operators and one of the world’s biggest pension-style investors are treating European distribution space like scarce infrastructure, not just commercial property. (prologis.com) (savills.com)