Prologis Europe had a strong 2017 and ended the year with a high occupancy of 96.6%.
The company signed 4m sq ft of new leases and 7m sq ft of renewals in the fourth quarter.
President Ben Bannatyne said: “2017 was yet another historic year for Prologis Europe. Strong demand on the continent has seen healthy supply increases and notable leasing activity, we were one of the most active developers of 2017. Our development pipeline meets the high demand for new space and the growing expansion needs of our customers.”
Accelerated demand on the continent and sustained demand in the UK led to the strongest year of net absorption on record: 8.6m sq m, an increase of 27% over 2016.
Supply of Class-A distribution facilities picked up, notably through supply in Poland and resurging development activity in the UK.
In the fourth quarter, Prologis Europe started 15 developments in the Czech Republic, Italy, Spain, Slovakia and the UK totalling 2.6m sq ft; 22% was build-to-suit and 78% speculative with 25% preleased. Over 2017, Prologis started 40 developments, totalling 9.8m sq ft.
In the fourth quarter, Prologis acquired €37.5m of buildings totalling 55,000 sq ft and three land plots totalling 59,000 sq ft in Italy, Sweden and the UK.
Full year 2017 saw a total of €116.9m of building acquisitions spanning 1.4m sq ft. During the year, Prologis sold assets in the Austria, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, the UK and Slovakia for a total of €545.7m.
Prologis streamlined and strengthened its European fund business in 2017. The formation of UK Logistics Venture (UKLV), resulted in it’s first fund dedicated to the UK market. UKLV has a total expected value of approximately £1bn GB.
The company also closed the combination of Prologis Targeted Europe Logistics Fund (PTELF) and Prologis European Properties Fund II (PEPF II) to create Prologis European Logistics Fund (PELF), an €8.2bn sector-leading open-ended fund.
Bannatyne added: “A key component of our business strategy in Europe is to hold our properties in a series of differentiated funds. UKLV and PELF are an extension of this strategy to meet the capital needs of today’s growth markets across Europe.”
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