Prologis, Europe’s largest owner of modern distribution facilities, expects to focus on built-to-suit development opportunities for the foreseeable future, Philip Dunne, president and COO of Prologis Europe, told PropertyEU in an interview. ‘In the future we will no doubt return to speculative development and have a greater mix of the two, but I think speculative development is still some way down the line.’
Prologis, Europe’s largest owner of modern distribution facilities, expects to focus on built-to-suit development opportunities for the foreseeable future, Philip Dunne, president and COO of Prologis Europe, told PropertyEU in an interview. ‘In the future we will no doubt return to speculative development and have a greater mix of the two, but I think speculative development is still some way down the line.’
In the past year, the company has focused on deleveraging the business, selling assets and raising equity, Dunne said: ‘In 2009, we used the proceeds to pay down our debts which were maturing between 2009 and 2011. In 2010, we have continued to focus on deleveraging, on leasing the completed development portfolio and filling any vacancy in our funds to bring occupancy above 94%. And we have gone back to development.’
Prologis has a ‘vast’ land bank, Dunne pointed out. ‘We have $2 bn of land on our balance sheet worldwide. We are seeking to put that land to work, with the emphasis today on built-to-suit opportunities. The goal overall is to rebalance our portfolio. The US currently accounts for about 90% of our business. In due course we aim to move to 50% in the US, 30% in Europe and 20% in Japan.’