PARIS, May 15 (Reuters) – French investment firm Novaxia and Canadian conglomerate Oxford Properties jointly plan to invest more than one billion euros by 2024 in real estate infrastructure dedicated to the life sciences sector. He announced on Sunday.

Both groups should announce their first acquisitions in the coming weeks, targeting “development of laboratories and research centers on behalf of biotechnology and medical technology companies,” they specify in a press release.

His investment will initially be focused in le-de-France, which suffers from a lack of dedicated laboratories and sites for the life sciences, but his project also targets the regions of Lyon and Strasbourg, he says.

Present in the life sciences field since 2017, Novaxia, which presents itself as an expert in “urban recycling”, was awarded as part of the tenders launched in 2019 for the transformation of the ‘Htel-Dieu’ landmark was selected as The center of Paris, where he is to set up a start-up incubator.

Oxford Properties, for its part, manages a portfolio of real estate assets worth approximately 80 billion Canadian dollars (58.4 billion euros). The company is controlled by the OMERS, Ontario Municipal Employees Pension Fund.

(Written by Marc Engrand, Edited by Jean-Michel Bellot)