Pick up a principal Ian Worboys has been a bit of an itinerant of late, but he now plans to put down roots with 3P, bringing it into position as a player in Western Europe. Noella Pio Kivlehan reports
Ian Worboys appears to be drawn to companies whose names begin with P. In four years, he has gone from Parkridge – which sold part of its business to ProLogis – to Panattoni and to what was Pinnacle before it changed its name to PointPark Properties earlier this month.
Worboys laughs at the coincidence, saying perhaps it is all to do with his own middle name – Peter. But while the companies have the initial P in common – as well as having, at some stage, all hired the same man – Worboys says it was a different experience working for each.
His progress through the various firms has been a combination of a desire for new challenges, sell-offs, betrayal, and eventual headhunting. It has all led him to his current position as chief executive of PointPark Properties, set up in 2001.
Worboys, who took up his post in April, has big plans for the firm – starting with the name, which will be abbreviated to 3P for use at its PointPark warehouse schemes and other assets in 10 countries in Europe, including the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia. “The name was too generic,” he says. “If you search ‘Pinnacle’ on Google, you don’t find us easily. Instead, you get golf balls and aquatic companies.”
He adds: “We have just opened a Frankfurt office, which has five staff. We thought we needed a name that gives us a proper identity.”
As well as growing on the continent – where 3P has assets totalling 1.4m m2 and 600,000m2 in planning – Worboys wants to take it into the UK, and is keeping an eye on SEGRO’s takeover of Brixton.
“We are actively looking for assets in the UK,” he says. “We, like everyone else, are watching to see what happens [with SEGRO’s buyout of Brixton] and what falls out. SEGRO will have to do something with the assets and sites – and it will be interesting to see what happens with all the stock around Heathrow.”
Worboys also believes that Tim Wheeler – Brixton’s deposed chief executive, who is fighting a legal battle over his dismissal – “did a good job at Brixton” and that “SEGRO is getting a good deal”.
Money for 3P’s expansion is coming from its parent company, Bahrain-based Arcapita Industrial Management, the specialist logistics real estate investment management subsidiary of Arcapita Bank. Worboys says: “Our funding [ability] gives us an advantage in the market.”
Worboys’ journey to 3P started when he left Gazeley in 2005 – where he had spent 10 years, rising to managing director of France, Benelux and Spain – to join Parkridge. But he sounds disappointed when he talks about his eight months there.
Worboys helped Gazeley’s chairman and former chief executive, John Duggan, set up Gazeley in Western Europe. “Part of my skill is a cultural understanding, and you need a network of contacts. I had DHL and Wincanton, among others, and I knew a lot of people and companies in Europe.”
This expertise led to Worboys being approached by Parkridge founder John Cutts. “He came to me personally and asked if would I set up a team [to help them expand into Western Europe],” says Worboys.
“John offered me an exciting challenge and I had admired the way Parkridge had grown.” At the time, Parkridge was privately owned by Cutts, who set it up in 1998. But within months of Worboys joining, Cutts sold the industrial division to ProLogis for a reported £298m.
Worboys says: “I was disappointed, as were most of the team. There was a grey area between when John decided to sell and when I and they came on board.”
Worboys says he was asked to join ProLogis’s European board. “I was impressed with some of the people, but I didn’t want to join ProLogis. If I had, I wouldn’t have gone to Parkridge. The market knew I wasn’t too happy with the deal and, as a consequence, Carl Panattoni rang me and asked if I would set up Western Europe for them [see panel].” US developer Panattoni had originally established itself in Poland in 2005.
“Carl was a very good leader – very honest,” says Worboys. “As a result, I joined Panattoni as managing director of Western Europe. Carl then approached some of the team from Parkridge – six people came, people I knew were upset [about the sale].”
But Worboys’ time at Panattoni ended this year. “At the end of my two years, there were changes,” he says. “They had made redundancies, and, as with many trader developers, there wasn’t much money to fund new developments.” It was then that a headhunter offered Worboys the chief executive post at 3P.
“It’s a different sort of challenge,” he says. “Arcapita is in the Middle East, so it would make sense [to work with its contacts], but there are a lot of places in Central Europe for us to turn to. Ukraine, Hungary and Russia all have huge potential, but there are issues in Eastern Europe.
“We are looking at various opportunities in Europe, and we have a 28,000m2 development under way for Modelix in Bratislava.
“Our intention is to grow sensibly in the next five years, and we will become one of the major players in the warehouse market.”
Panattoni: keeping a weather eye on the UK
The market buzz in the past few years has been about giant Californian development company Panattoni and its arrival in Europe in 2005.
The Sacramento-based firm’s website boasts: “Panattoni develops, leases and owns industrial, office and retail projects in more than 175 cities throughout the United States, Canada and Europe.”
In Europe, where it has built more than 557,400m2 of warehouse space in the past two years, its projects are mainly in Poland, Italy and France – but there are none in the UK.
At the end of last year, Jean Van Hecke, managing director of Panattoni Europe, was quoted as saying his company was considering making the leap across the English Channel this year. But that has yet to happen.
Given that its European arm has suffered a lack of funds and cut its workforce this year – which prompted Western Europe managing director Ian Worboys to leave – market commentators believe that there will not any move to the UK for some time.
But Van Hecke insists Panattoni is not only still keen on the UK, but has the money to expand. “Today, we have no corporate debts, so we are more free to take on new ventures than most,” he says, adding: “So we will see what happens tomorrow.”
He says: “We are always interested in the UK, but to enter the market, we would need to have an opportunity to do so.” Could that be presented by the SEGRO takeover of Brixton (see below)? “Whether it’s an opponent or not, we are used to growing organically, so we are not concerned with what happens with our competitors,” says Van Hecke.
He believes the UK is still a national market, with no new demand. “But the UK is still an interesting market,” he adds. “It is one where you find investors and lenders – that is the plus for the UK, especially now – due to the level of capital available.
“Leases tend to be longer again, whereas before they were shorter, with not too many opportunities. But there is no timescale for a move into the UK.”
Despite already having a central London office – which Van Hecke says “is not really focusing on UK activities; it is a support for the whole group” – any future Panattoni UK headquarters need not be in the capital.
“If we were to actively be in the UK, I am not sure we would put our office in London – we might look to the regions,” he says. “It all depends on the people we find. We need the expertise of the people.”
As for the company’s growth on the continent, Van Hecke says: “We are very happy with our position in Poland, where we still see activity.” He says there is still growth in France, Germany, Spain and Italy, where “there is still a demand and where the industry is still not as far in its transition to sophistication”.
Van Hecke concludes: “We are not looking at being the biggest. We just want to be in the market where we are recognised as a company that provides good solutions for our customers. To be the biggest, we would need good people on the ground in every country.”
