Small-bay warehouse investments are paying off for Fiera Capital.

Fiera’s industrial real estate fund has reached $1 billion in assets under management, the company said in a news release. The fund is managed by Toronto-based Fiera Real Estate (FRE), the company’s global property investment platform.

“The FRE Industrial Fund continues to grow and provide stable quarterly income by being in the highly coveted small-bay industrial segment,” said Michael O’Sullivan, Fiera Real Estate’s senior vice-president and fund manager.

Although 2023 was a challenging year in a difficult macroeconomic environment, the fund completed more than $100 million worth of transactions in 2023, said Fiera.

The deals involved nine industrial assets across the Greater Toronto Area, Ottawa, London, Ont.; and Halifax, adding 560,000 square feet to the fund’s property portfolio.

The fund earned a gross total return of 8.5% and ranked first in the MSCI/REALPAC Canada Quarterly Property Fund Index.

The Canadian performance index comprises nine unlisted open–ended real estate funds. The Fiera fund’s strong gain contrasted sharply with a negative 2% benchmark gross total return for the index.

An undersupply of buildings and high tenant demand position the fund for strong growth in 2024, said O’Sullivan.

Fiera Real Estate manages $10.3 billion of assets through a range of funds globally and has offices in North America, Europe and Asia.

Montreal-based Fiera Capital is an independent asset manager that also operates globally and provides multi-asset solutions across public and private market asset classes.

Photo: Fiera Real Estate