Listed Belgian logistics developer WDP plans to issue around €200 mln in new shares to finance a €120 mln investment and development drive in the Netherlands.
The company plans to build several new logistics warehouses as well as redevelop and extend existing facilities in the eastern and southern Netherlands which will bring the value of its investments in the country to €330 mln. WDP expects to realise an initial gross rental yield on the latest investments of 6.50% to 6.75%.
In the eastern city of Heerlen, WDP will build a 33,000 m2 extension to a facility for medical aid company Medtronic, together with pharmaceuticals distributor Ceva Logistics. The extension will cost around €32 mln.
In Venlo, WDP will invest around €30 mln in a 50,000 m2 multi-user warehouse for logistics services provider DB Schenker, which is due for completion in spring 2017.
In the southern town of Bleiswijk, WDP bought a 7-hectare plot at the beginning of the year to build a 40,000 m2 multi-tenant facility and has since purchased an additional 11,000 m2 site via a sale-and-leaseback deal. Around €25 mln has been invested in the two deals.
In De Lier in the southern Netherlands, WDP has purchased a 45,000 m2 site with buildings from grocery auction The Greenery, let to packaging producer De Jong. WDP plans to redevelop the complex at a cost of €9 mln.
In the eastern town of Veghel, the Belgian company is redeveloping 28,000 m2 of storage space into a new distribution centre for logistics company Kuhne + Nagel comprising a total of around 48,000 m2. The project is expected to cost around €22 mln and is due for completion in the second quarter of 2018.
WDP expects to post a net profit of €5.30 per share in 2016, up 9% on the year-earlier result.
