USAA RealCo has bought its first asset in Europe, a logistics property in the Netherlands.

The company bought the Utrecht asset through a wholly owned Dutch subsidiary. 

The property includes a 365,489sqft warehouse, as well as a 43,917sqft office building and land.

Developed in 2012 by Somerset Real Estate for Kuehne + Nagel, the asset will be extended and refurbished.

USAA launched an Amsterdam office in April this year, agreeing a development and investment venture with Mountpark Logistics.

Mountpark was mandated to focus on logistics development across Continental Europe. 

RealCo BV said it expected to announce its first projects with Mountpark soon.   

USAA chief executive Len O’Donnell said logistics had “long been a major part” of its business.

Also in the Netherlands, Norges Bank Investment Management bought a 50% interest in a logistics property in a joint venture with Prologis for €12.4m.

The 42,000sqm building in Born will be asset managed by Prologis.

The logistics specialist this week said it has signed a 25,000sqm build-to-suit agreement in the Netherlands with Benelux online retailer Coolblue.

The new facility, at Prologis Park Tilburg, has additional build-out potential of 807,300sqft and is fully let.

In neighbouring Germany, TIAA Henderson Real Estate and Palmira Capital Partners have been given a new separate institutional mandate to invest in core and premium logistic assets.

The Investoren-Club-Fonds German Logistics venture will focus on regions with gateway functions, with a target volume for each asset above €7m.

The fund will be administered via Kapitalverwaltungsgesellschaft Institutional Investment Partners, with Palmira Industrial Management as property manager.

Thorsten Kiel, TH Real Estate fund manager for German logistics, said Germany was a leading global logistic location.

According to real estate consulting firm Colliers International, investors snapped up industrial and logistics properties totaling almost €2.4bn by the end of Q3 2014. The figure is a 40% increase year-on-year.