The European arm of US logistics developer Panattoni is eyeing the UK for further expansion, the company's CEO Robert Dobrzycki told PropertyEU in an interview.
‘Until now we have had a very full plate of things to do, first in CEE and more recently Germany. We are trying to figure out what’s next and the UK is potentially our next target. We would love to be active there and we think this is the right time.’
The UK is a very large market, Dobrzycki pointed out. ‘Ecommerce continues to play a major role in terms of demand, especially in the UK. Given our expertise in this segment and our good access to ecommerce clients, we would be keen to start developments there as well.’
For the time being, there are no concrete plans, he said, but added that this might change within the next 12 months. In terms of target destinations, Dobrzycki said he was ‘pretty open’. ‘We would not necessarily focus on London or the southeast, we have no specific targets in terms of location.’
Market conditions
The UK is ‘definitely’ the most expensive logistics market in Europe, but also the most lucrative, Dobrzycki said. ‘We are very comfortable with the fundamentals in the UK market. The UK market is also interesting because of the depth of the capital markets and its level of sophistication. Planning rules, for example, are much stricter there. Despite the Brexit, we don’t think much will change.’
Market conditions are very strong, Dobrzycki said. ‘It’s an exciting time for us now. We haven’t seen a better market since we started in Europe. The sector in general continues to improve, also in terms of its perception. Ecommerce remains a key driver and there’s still a long way to go to catch up with the US. And the US hasn’t stopped either!’
As announced previously, Panattoni claimed the top spot in PropertyEU's top logistics developers ranking this year with 2.7 million m2, followed by Sydney-listed Goodman Group with 2.2 million m2.
Prologis Europe lifted its total volume of completed projects in the period under review by more than 70% year-on-year to 2.1 million m2, earning it a third place in the ranking. The ranking is based on projects completed between 2014-16.
