News / Game on, as Morrison follows Stonepeak with APAC cold chain platform

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An infrastructure investment race is under way for Asia Pacific’s cold chain market. 

Morrison has become the latest infrastructure investor to stake a claim in Asia-Pacific’s fast-consolidating cold chain sector, launching a regional platform just two months after Stonepeak unveiled a similar strategy. 

Morrison, which manages some $30bn-worth of assets, today announced the creation of Polaris, an APAC cold chain platform established through the acquisition of Singapore-based SuperFreeze.

The deal includes SuperFreeze Tuas, a fully operational automated cold storage facility, and gives Morrison a foothold in one of the region’s most land-constrained and import-dependent markets. 

Morrison said the investment reflected “strong conviction” in Singapore and wider Asia-Pacific demand for highly automated cold storage, citing structural undersupply, rising import reliance and sustained growth in food and pharmaceutical volumes. 

William Smales, partner and chief investment officer, said: “Morrison is committed to investing in the essential infrastructure that underpins resilient, modern economies. With demand for highly automated cold chain capacity continuing to outpace supply across the Asia-Pacific region, our investment in SuperFreeze positions us to help close that gap and establish a scalable, best-in-class platform.” 

Morrison’s move follows closely on the heels of Stonepeak’s December launch of Peregrine Cold Logistics, a Singapore-headquartered platform targeting cold chain assets across Asia Pacific and the GCC. Stonepeak seeded the vehicle with the acquisition of Pinnacle Cold Storage in the Philippines, and signalled ambitions to scale through both M&A and greenfield and brownfield developments. 

Taken together, the two announcements point to intensifying institutional interest in temperature-controlled logistics across Asia. 

Both funds are deploying a similar strategy: acquire a credible operating base, install or back experienced management, and pursue bolt-on acquisitions in a fragmented market. Cold storage in much of Asia remains dominated by local and family-owned operators, creating scope for consolidation.  

Singapore’s prominence in both strategies is notable. The city-state’s heavy reliance on imported food, its role as a transhipment hub and chronic industrial land constraints have driven demand for higher-density, automated facilities. But those constraints raise barriers to entry and cap the availability of new sites, potentially pushing asset valuations higher as capital flows in. 

While Morrison’s initial focus appears firmly Singapore-led, with expansion into APAC through a pipeline of opportunities, Stonepeak’s remit is geographically broader from the outset, spanning ASEAN, North Asia and the Gulf. Stonepeak has also been more explicit about building a regional platform of scale in what it describes as a “highly fragmented” industry. 

The near-simultaneous launches suggest cold chain is emerging as one of infrastructure’s preferred subsectors in Asia, alongside digital infrastructure and energy transition assets. Investors are attracted by long-term demand drivers like urbanisation, rising protein consumption, pharmaceutical logistics growth, and food security concerns, as well as relatively defensive cashflows. 

However, as more capital targets the sector, questions remain over pricing discipline and operational differentiation.

Automation and sustainability credentials are increasingly central to investor messaging, but whether scale alone will deliver margin expansion in markets with rising energy and labour costs is less clear. 

For now, Morrison and Stonepeak have signalled that the race to assemble regional cold chain platforms is under way, and Singapore appears to be the starting line.