Tag: logistics operators

Funds, Socimis, El Corte Inglés & Seur Compete in the Urban Logistics Segment

9 March 2019 – Expansión

Investors and logistics operators alike are setting their sights on urban hubs to benefit from the boom in e-commerce. According to data from CBRE, investment in the logistics sector is thriving – it amounted to €2 billion in 2017, €1.5 billion in 2018 and is forecast to reach €1.2 billion in 2019. Active players in the sector include the Singapore sovereign fund through its Socimi P3, Blackstone, Prologis, Logicor, CBRE GI and Montepino, and Merlin, amongst others.

Urban hubs are gaining significant weight in the sector thanks to their ability to reduce transport costs, avoid the new traffic restrictions and resolve the problem of product returns.

According to the CNMC, Correos and Correos Express currently deliver 44% of all packages in Spain, followed by MRW and Seur (14% each) and DHL (4.5%).

In terms of retailers operating in this space, Amazon set the ball rolling by opening a logistics centre in the heart of the Eixample district of Barcelona and in the Méndez Álvaro area of Madrid. Other large retailers are following suit by opening distribution centres inside major cities, such as Decathlon, MediaMarkt, Ikea, Aki, Carrefour and Worten.

The investment firm Azora has also announced its intention to invest €250 million in logistics hubs in urban centres, which it will lease to delivery specialists such as Seur, DHL and MRW. Seur already has eleven urban logistics centres and plans to open another nine this year. Meanwhile, DHL already has ten such hubs and plans to open two more this year.

In the same vein, the department store giant El Corte Inglés has also launched an ambitious omnichannel logistics strategy, which will convert its 94 shopping centres into storage points for the management of online purchases.

Original story: Expansión (by I. de las Heras & R. Arroyo)

Translation/Summary: Carmel Drake

Mountpark to Build its 4th XXL Warehouse in Madrid

21 November 2018 – Eje Prime

Mountpark is getting a taste for the Iberian Peninsula. The logistics vehicle, specialising in the development of XXL assets, is going to start work on its fourth warehouse in Madrid in the middle of 2020, on a site spanning 100,000 m2, located in the south of the Spanish capital.

Including that plot, the company currently has a portfolio of land in the country that exceeds 330,000 m2, which it expects to expand very soon with new purchases in Barcelona and Valencia, according to explanations provided by John Derweduwe, the Director General of Mountpark for Spain and Portugal, to Eje Prime.

The group does not want to delay its entry into Portugal any longer. “We are on the verge of closing the purchase of a new plot in Lisbon”, said the Director, who added that his firm has been preparing its debut in the Portuguese market for some time. The delay has been due to the difficulty in finding the right plot to develop warehouses measuring between 80,000 m2 and 100,000 m2, which has been Mountpark’s main objective since its creation in 2017.

Whilst it continues to identify new plots on the Peninsula, the company is focusing its efforts on the development of three of the assets that it already owns in Madrid: two spaces in the Iberum Central Platform in Illescas (Toledo), which span almost 135,000 m2 and a third site in Alcalá de Henares, measuring 100,000 m2.

In fact, yesterday, the first brick was laid in Mountpark II, the e-commerce logistics platform measuring 44,000 m2 that the group is building for the logistics operator XPO, with an investment of €30 million.

The space will be leased to the Swedish fashion retail giant H&M from June 2019 and represents a “great opportunity for economic growth in the region”, according to the President of Castilla-La Mancha, Emiliano García-Page, on the first day of construction at the complex (…).

In search of the giants of the future

Mountpark is on the hunt for buyers for its projects in Spain. After signing its first contract with XPO Logistics, the company now has several firms interested in Mountpark I, the second logistics platform that it owns in Illescas, measuring 90,000 m2, as well as the complex that it is planning to construct in Alcalá de Henares.

“Our potential clients fit one of three profiles: logistics operators, large companies in the world of technology and the automotive industry, and retail giants who want to commit heavily to e-commerce”, explained John Derweduwe (…).

The parent company of the Iberian subsidiary led by Derweduwe is Mountpark Logistics, a joint venture between Usaa Realco-Europe Holdco, the Dutch subsidiary of Usaa Real Estate and Mountpark Finco Sarl (Mountpark). The joint venture promotes large logistics buildings across Europe, but with the focus placed primarily on the United Kingdom, Western Europe and Central Europe. Mountpark owns a portfolio comprising 16 assets with the potential to offer more than 1.85 million m2 of logistics facilities in the continental market.

Original story: Eje Prime (by B. Seijo)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Metrovacesa Sells 16 Logistics Warehouses To CBRE GI

11 April 2016 – Expansión

The company has decided to focus its activity on the operation of its portfolio of commercial and office buildings.

Metrovacesa has sold a batch of 16 logistics warehouses located in one of the country’s main hubs, next to the A-2 Madrid-Barcelona motorway, to the real estate asset manager, CBRE Global Investors.

The real estate company, controlled by Santander, has described the operation as the divestment of assets from its real estate portfolio that it considers are non-strategic.

The batch contains 16 logistics warehouses with a combined surface area of 250,000 m2, which are leased to a dozen logistics operators, including FM Logistics and Luis Simoes.

The asset manager CBRE Global Investors said that it has acquired this batch of real estate assets on behalf of one of its main clients, which is investing in logistics warehouses across Europe.

Metrovacesa is currently focusing its business on operating its portfolio of commercial and office buildings, which it recently expanded through a non-monetary capital increase in which Santander and the real estate company’s other shareholder banks contributed a batch of office buildings worth around €1,000 million.

Original story: Expansión

Translation: Carmel Drake