São Paulo, Brazil-based Emergent Cold Latin America (Emergent LatAm), Latin America’s newest temperature-controlled warehousing and logistics provider, on September 1 announced the purchase of the Panama-based Galores Group. This is its second acquisition and first investment in the Central America region.
Founded in 2011, Galores is the largest 3PL cold storage facility in Central America and the Caribbean. Headquartered in Panama City near two of the region’s largest volume ports, it operates a logistics complex with a warehouse capacity of 21,000 pallets, and has additional land available for expansion. The business offers a wide range of value-added services including bonded storage, blast freezing, cross-docking and order picking. In addition, Galores owns a fleet of trucks and other transportation assets to handle both port drayage and last mile distribution for its customers.
“We are thrilled to welcome Galores Group to our growing Latin American network,” said Neal Rider, chief executive officer of Emergent LatAm. “Panama is an important strategic location for the global food trade, which makes it key to our regional investment strategy. Galores is the ideal anchor asset to grow our Central America operations. In addition, our relationship with Lineage Logistics allows us to broaden the network connectivity between our companies and create additional supply chain efficiencies for our customers.”
In August Emergent LatAm acquired Perú’s most advanced IQF fruit processing facility in Piura, along with its 7,300-pallet-position warehouse which serves Northern Perú’s domestic customers as well as the import/export trade at Paita Port.
The company recently announced the completion of a $450 million capital raise, led by Lineage Logistics, Stonepeak Infrastructure Partners LP and D1 Capital Partners. The company is investing in existing leading cold storage operators and new greenfield projects throughout Latin America to expand its footprint of modern cold storage facilities across the entire region.
