Lineage, the world's largest temperature-controlled warehouse real estate investment trust (REIT), made a successful debut on the Nasdaq Stock Market on Thursday, closing up over 3% under the ticker symbol "LINE".
The company priced 57 million shares at £62 each on Wednesday, nearing the top of its initial £56 to £66 price range. This raised a substantial £3.5 billion, placing it as the largest public offering since chip designer Arm's £3.8 billion listing in September 2023, and more than double the size of cruise operator Viking Holdings' May IPO.
Lineage, a four-time CNBC Disruptor 50 company, was ranked 46th on this year's list. Their success can be largely attributed to a strategic and aggressive acquisition strategy.
"We started with one warehouse and have completed 116 acquisitions to build Lineage into what it is today," co-founder and co-executive chairman Adam Forste stated on CNBC's "Squawk Box" on Thursday morning, before the shares began trading.
Over the past year alone, Lineage has acquired Grupo Fuentes, Burris Logistics, Kennedy Transportation and Harnes. The Burris acquisition, in particular, added eight new facilities to their portfolio.
"Many families whose companies we've bought have rolled equity into Lineage as part of the transaction, so they're celebrating with us today," Forste explained. He added that the company's name is derived from the network, or "lineage", of family-owned warehouses that he and co-founder Kevin Marchetti have integrated into their fold.
Lineage boasts over 480 facilities, totaling roughly 2.2 billion cubic feet of capacity across North America, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific region. This creates a global network of cold-storage facilities, playing a vital role in reducing food waste and its environmental impact within the supply chain.
Food loss is a significant issue at every stage of the supply chain, with an estimated £480 billion worth of food going to waste during or immediately after harvest. This escalating amount of waste currently accounts for approximately 11% of global emissions, making it one of the most pressing environmental issues contributing to climate change.
Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, J.P. Morgan, and Wells Fargo served as lead underwriters for Lineage's public offering.