Blackstone to launch investment platform for Nordics warehouses

LONDON, Sept 29 (Reuters) - Blackstone said on Tuesday it was launching a new logistics investment platform for the Nordics, giving investors a more direct route to put money into a high-growth sector.

The platform will include over 200, mainly last-mile warehouses to support the e-commerce industry, covering over two million square metres, the company said in a statement.

The Stockholm-based platform - named Norla - will operate across Sweden, Denmark and Finland and is set to be operational next year.

The platform will contain mainly assets already owned by Blackstone funds but could include some third-party assets. The assets will initially be worth about €3 billion euros ($3.41 billion), a source familiar with the matter said.

"As the sector has matured, we are seeing investors increasingly seek more granular exposure by geography and asset type," said James Seppala, head of real estate in Europe for Blackstone.

($1 = 0.8807 euros)

(Reporting by Iain Withers; Editing by Tommy Reggiori Wilkes and Christopher Cushing)