PEPR completes 127,400 m[sup]2[/sup] of new leasings in Q1

Improving market conditions across Europe helped sustain a high level of leasing activity in the Prologis European Properties (PEPR) portfolio, pushing the total for the first three months of the year to 388,500 m². In a statement on Thursday to announce its first-quarter results, PEPR said it concluded 48 lease transactions in Q1, including 127,400m² of new or expanded leases.

'Leasing activity has carried on at the high levels seen in 2010 and portfolio occupancy at 93.2% is in line with our forecasts and remains well above the market average,' CEO Peter Cassells said. 'We continue to expect average occupancy for 2011 to be in the 93% to 94% range, in line with 2010 levels.'

EPRA net asset value stood at EUR 6.37 per ordinary unit at end-March, up slightly from EUR 6.32 at year-end 2010.

Loan-to-value reduced to 52.6% at March 2011 from 53.0% at the end of December 2010. Cassells: 'Post quarter end, we have reduced this further to 51.5% following the early repayment of one of our more expensive debt facilities, a EUR 51 mln secured loan originally due to mature in October 2014.'

The repayment is in line with PEPR's strategy to further improve its capital structure as the fund pursues a return to an investment grade credit rating, Cassells added.