UPDATED WITH NEW DETAILS: CPP Investments is forging a joint venture to acquire up to $3 billion in Canadian last-mile industrial properties with Dream Industrial REIT (DIR-UN-T) and Dream Asset Management Corp., the firms announced Wednesday.

The venture is to have an equity allocation of $1.1 billion and be seeded with an $805-million portfolio of 12 properties from Dream Industrial. The seed properties comprise approximately 3.6 million square feet of space in four major markets, following the investment thesis for the venture.

“The Canadian industrial sector continues to demonstrate resilient demand and meaningful long-term growth drivers, supported by a structurally high need for well-located space as supply chains and logistics continue to evolve,” said Sophie van Oosterom, managing director, head of real estate at CPP Investments, in its announcement.

“By partnering with Dream, a leading institutional asset manager and operating platform, we can efficiently scale our exposure in the Canadian market to capture this growth and drive long-term value for the benefit of CPP contributors and beneficiaries.”

Properties in the seed portfolio comprise a total of 27 buildings in the Greater Toronto Area, Montreal, Calgary, and London, Ont. 

CPP invests $1 billion in the JV

CPP Investments is supplying approximately $1 billion of the capital and will own 90 per cent of the venture, with approximately $100 million from Dream Industrial. This will allow for the expected acquisition of approximately $3 billion of industrial assets including leverage.

The venture will seek properties in Canada’s major markets “offering excellent connectivity to population clusters and arterial transport routes.” It intends to pursue a value-add strategy acquiring assets with material existing vacancy, near-term lease-rollover, larger capital investments, intensification and redevelopment opportunities.

Dream subsidiaries will be the asset manager, and provide property management and leasing services.

“We are excited to partner with CPP Investments to continue to expand our presence in the Canadian industrial market,” said Alex Sannikov, chief executive officer of Dream Industrial, in the release. “This new joint venture is highly complementary to the strategic direction of Dream Industrial and our existing private capital partnerships. We look forward to growing this partnership with CPP Investments.”

The industrial market has been one of Canada's most robust commercial real estate investment sectors in recent years, and although absorption has slowed somewhat over the past few quarters, well-located and modern facilities have continued to lease up and perform well. 

This also offers CPP Investments another major Canadian venture, as pressure has mounted on institutional investors to further support home-grown business in the wake of increased cross-border trade tensions and tariffs with the U.S.

Partnership to lift Dream above $30B in AUM

In its own release, Dream noted average in-place and committed base rent for properties in the initial portfolio was approximately $11 per square foot as at the end of Q3, with a weighted average lease term of approximately three years.

The properties will be sold into the venture unencumbered, in two tranches during the first six months of 2026.

“This new venture with one of the largest and most respected institutional investors globally is a testament to the strength of our platform, our reputation in the sector, and our asset and property management capabilities,” Dream’s founder and chief responsible officer Michael Cooper said in the announcement. 

“With this partnership, we expect to surpass $30 billion of assets under management and increase our growth rate as we continue to build out our institutional asset management business.”

The partners were advised by TD Securities, RBC Capital Markets, Colliers Capital Markets and CBRE. Stikeman Elliott LLP and King & Spalding LLP provided legal advice.

This is not Dream's first major partnership, including within the industrial sector where it is also involved in the Dream Summit Industrial LP, with Singapore's sovereign wealth manager GIC. 

About CPP Investments, Dream Industrial and Dream

CPP Investments manages the Canada Pension Plan Fund for over 22 million contributors and beneficiaries. It invests globally in public equities, private equities, real estate, infrastructure, fixed income and alternative strategies including in partnership with funds. 

Headquartered in Toronto, with offices in Hong Kong, London, Mumbai, New York City, San Francisco, São Paulo and Sydney, CPP Investments is governed and managed independently of the Canada Pension Plan and at arm’s length from governments. As of Sept. 30, the fund totalled $777.5 billion.

Dream Industrial is an owner, manager, and operator of a global portfolio, with interests in 340 industrial assets (552 buildings) totalling approximately 73.2 million square feet of gross leasable area in markets across Canada, Europe and the U.S.

Dream Asset Management is the institutional asset management arm of Dream Unlimited Corp. (DRM-T), providing investment and asset management services to its publicly listed trusts and institutional partners. As of Sept. 30, Dream managed $28 billion of assets across four TSX-listed entities, private funds and numerous private partnerships.

Dream provides real estate development, management, investment and operational services across North America and Europe.