THIS PAST SPRING, ProLogis' (NYSE: PLD) European Properties Fund purchased a 1.8 million sq. ft. portfolio of four distribution centers in France from FM Logistics for an undisclosed price. Such transactions are now almost commonplace at Aurora, Colo.-based ProLogis.
The company, which placed No. 1 in NREI's ranking of the largest industrial owners, entered Mexico in 1995 and Europe two years later. Today, by the estimation of Irving F. Lyons, vice chairman and chief investment officer of ProLogis, the REIT now owns approximately 29 million sq. ft. internationally, comprising 16% of its total portfolio. The vast majority of the company's international portfolio is located in Europe.
Precisely how rare ProLogis' international presence is among industrial owners is unclear. Leonard Sahling, a REIT analyst with Merrill Lynch in New York, believes that ProLogis is the only such REIT to own overseas properties.
Owning and operating international facilities is a logical consequence of the company's mission, Lyons says. “If you step back and think about what we're trying to accomplish as a company, which is really to service our customers on a global basis, you can't do that without an international presence,” he says.
One of the benefits of having an international portfolio is that global diversification provides a hedge against a slumping economy in one nation.
“The U.S. economy has slowed considerably and our development activity in the U.S. has slowed, but it's picked up fairly dramatically in Europe,” Lyons adds. “We can deploy our capital where the demand is, rather than tie up our fortunes and business activity strictly in the U.S. economy.”
According to Lyons, the creation of the European Union has fueled much of his company's activity in Europe. With the opening up of the region's borders, distributors no longer have to place a warehouse in each country, he says. “Entities have had to reconfigure their distribution networks,” he says.
The FM Logistics transaction is not the only major European transaction that ProLogis has completed recently. This winter, the company's European Properties Fund completed five separate transactions that netted a more than 2.2 million sq. ft. portfolio of 10 fully leased distribution centers. The total cost of the deals was $135.2 million. The buildings involved are located in France, Italy, The Netherlands and the United Kingdom.
ProLogis, which has a market capitalization of $4.3 billion, also will enter the Japanese market this fall, when the company will complete development of a 196,000 sq. ft. distribution center near Tokyo for DHL International, a package delivery service.
As of June 18, the company's stock price closed at $24.45, down slightly from a 52-week high of $24.52. The stock's 52-week low was $19.35.
Top 25 Industrial Owners
Survey rankings were based on totals provided by the participating companies and listed in square feet. Owners were asked to record the amount of square feet in their portfolios as of Dec. 31, 2001.
1 ProLogis
14100 E. 35th Place, Aurora, CO 80011
Phone: (303) 375-9292
Fax: (303) 375-8581
E-mail: [email protected]
Web site: www.prologis.com
Officers: K. Dane Brooksher, Chairman/CEO; Irving F. Lyons, Vice Chairman/Chief Investment Officer; Walter C. Rakowich, Managing Director/CFO
Total Industrial Portfolio: 145.8 million sq. ft.
2 RREEF
875 N. Michigan Ave., 41st Floor
Chicago, IL 60611
Phone: (312) 266-9300
Fax: (312) 266-9346
E-mail: [email protected]
Web site: www.rreef.com
Officers: Donald A. King Jr., Managing Principal; Charles B. Leitner, Principal in Charge, Acquisitions; Robert J. Cook, Principal in Charge, Portfolio Management
Total Industrial Portfolio: 139.1 million sq. ft.
3 Duke Realty Corp.
600 E. 96th St., Suite 100, Indianapolis, IN 46240
Phone: (317) 808-6000
Fax: (317) 808-6786
E-mail: [email protected]
Web site: www.dukerealty.com
Officers: Thomas Hefner, Chairman/CEO; Gary Burk, Co-COO; Denny Oklak, Co-COO
Total Industrial Portfolio: 81.8 million sq. ft.
4 AMB Property Corp.
Pier 1, Bay 1, San Francisco, CA 94111
Phone: (415) 394-9000
Fax: (415) 394-9001
E-mail: [email protected]
Web site: www.amb.com
Officers: Hamid R. Moghadam, CEO/Chairman; W. Blake Baird, President; Bruce H. Freedman, Exec. VP, Head of Real Estate Operations
Total Industrial Portfolio:
81.6 million sq. ft.
5 First Industrial Realty Trust Inc.
311 S. Wacker Dr., Suite 4000, Chicago, IL 60606
Phone: (312) 344-4300
Fax: (312) 922-6320
E-mail: [email protected]
Web site: www.firstindustrial.com
Officers: Michael W. Brennan, CEO/President; Johannson L. Yap, Chief Investment Officer; Michael J. Havala, CFO
Total Industrial Portfolio: 69.1 million sq. ft.
6 Crow Holdings Industrial Trust
2100 McKinney Ave., Suite 700
Dallas, TX 75201
Phone: (214) 661-8190
Fax: (214) 661-8034
Web site: www.chindustrial.com
Officers: James C. Hendricks, President/CEO; John E. Thomas, Chief Investment Officer; John R. Killian, CFO
Total Industrial Portfolio: 34.7 million sq. ft.
7 Liberty Property Trust
65 Valley Stream Pkwy., Malvern, PA 19355
Phone: (610) 648-1700
Fax: (610) 644-4129
E-mail: [email protected]
Web site: www.libertyproperty.com
Officers: Willard G. Rouse III, Chairman/CEO; William P. Hankowsky, President/Chief Investment Officer; Robert E. Fenza, Exec. VP/COO
Total Industrial Portfolio: 33.8 million sq. ft.
8 CenterPoint Properties Trust
1808 Swift Dr., Oak Brook, IL 60523
Phone: (630) 586-8000
Fax: (630) 586-8010
Web site: www.centerpoint-prop.com
Officers: John S. Gates Jr., Co-Chairman/CEO; Michael M. Mullen, President/COO; Paul S. Fisher, CFO/General Counsel, President/CEO of all company subsidiaries
Total Industrial Portfolio: 29.3 million sq. ft.
9 Panattoni Development Co.
8401 Jackson Rd., Sacramento, CA 95826
Phone: (916) 381-1561
Fax: (916) 381-7639
E-mail: [email protected]
Web site: www.panattoni.com
Officers: Carl Panattoni, CEO; Dudley Mitchell, President; Tom McCormick, COO
Total Industrial Portfolio: 28.7 million sq. ft.
10 Heitman
180 North LaSalle St., Chicago, IL 60101
Phone: (312) 855-5700
Fax: (312) 855-5803
Web site: www.heitman.com
Officers: Jerome J. Claeys III, Chairman; Maury Tognarelli, President/CEO
Total Industrial Portfolio: 23.5 million sq. ft.
11 IDI
Suite 1500, Monarch Tower
3424 Peachtree Rd. N.E., Atlanta, GA 30326
Phone: (404) 479-4000
Fax: (404) 479-4115
E-mail: [email protected]
Web site: www.idi.com
Officers: Henry D. “Greg” Gregory Jr., President/CEO; Tim Gunter, Sr. VP/COO; David Birdwell, Sr. VP/CFO
Total Industrial Portfolio: 22.3 million sq. ft.
12 Hartz Mountain Industries, Inc.
400 Plaza Dr., Secaucus, NJ 07096
Phone: (201) 348-1200
Fax: (201) 348-4358
Web site: www.hartzmountain.com
Officers: Emanuel Stern, President/COO; Constantino T. Milano, Exec. VP, Financing & Leasing; Irwin Horowitz, Exec. VP/General Counsel
Total Industrial Portfolio: 20.7 million sq. ft.
13 DP Partners
1200 Financial Blvd., Reno, NV 89502
Phone: (775) 858-8080
Fax: (775) 856-0831
E-mail: [email protected]
Web site: www.partnerwithdp.com
Officers: Michael C. Dermody, President/CEO; Bruce D. Storey, Exec. VP/CFO; Aaron H. Paris, Exec. VP/COO
Total Industrial Portfolio: 19.3 million sq. ft.
14 Opus Group
10350 Bren Rd. W., Minnetonka, MN 55343
Phone: (952) 656-4444
Fax: (952) 656-4750
E-mail: [email protected]
Web site: www.opuscorp.com
Officers: Gerald Rauenhorst, Founding Chairman; Keith Bednarowski, Chairman; Mark Rauenhorst, President/CEO
Total Industrial Portfolio: 18.5 million sq. ft.
15 Hillwood
12377 Merit Dr., Dallas, TX 75251
Phone: (972) 788-3000
Fax: (972) 383-1616
E-mail: [email protected]
Web site: www.hillwood.com
Officers: Ross Perot Jr., Chairman; Mike Berry, President, Hillwood Properties; Todd Platt, CEO, Hillwood Investments
Total Industrial Portfolio: 14.5 million sq. ft.
16 Heller Industrial Parks Inc.
205 Mill Rd., Edison, NJ 08837
Phone: (732) 287-4880
Fax: (732) 287-5033
Web site: www.hellerpark.com
Officers: Isaac Heller, CEO; Jeffrey Milanaik, President; Ellen Carpenter, Exec. VP
Total Industrial Portfolio: 14.1 million sq. ft.
17 CB Richard Ellis Investors LLC
865 S. Figueroa St., Suite 3500
Los Angeles, CA 90017
Phone: (213) 683-4200
Fax: (213) 683-4301
E-mail: [email protected]
Web site: www.cbreinvestors.com
Officers: Robert H. Zerbst, President; William M. Harris, COO; Laurie E. Romanak, Chief Financial and Administrative Officer
Total Industrial Portfolio: 13.8 million sq. ft.
17 Ashley Capital
675 Third Ave., Suite 1600, New York, NY 10017
Phone: (212) 755-1900
Fax: (212) 750-1850
Web site: www.ashleycapital.com
Officers: Paul Rubacha, Principal; Rick Morton, Principal
Total Industrial Portfolio: 13.8 million sq. ft.
19 Watson Land Co.
22010 S. Wilmington Ave., Carson, CA 90745
Phone: (310) 952-6400
Fax: (310) 522-8788
Web site: www.watsonlandcompany.com
Officers: William T. Huston, Chairman; Richard M. Cannon, President/CEO; Bruce A. Choate, CFO/Sr. VP
Total Industrial Portfolio: 10.8 million sq. ft.
20 HSA Commercial
180 N. Wacker Dr., Chicago, IL 60606
Phone: (312) 332-3555
Fax: (312) 332-4122
E-mail: [email protected]
Web site: www.hsacommercial.com
Officers: Jack Shaffer, Chairman; Bob Smietana, President
Total Industrial Portfolio: 10.2 million sq. ft.
21 Weingarten Realty Investors
2600 Citadel Plaza Dr., Houston, TX 77008
Phone: (713) 866-6000
Fax: (713) 866-6049
E-mail: [email protected]
Web site: www.weingarten.com
Officers: Stanford Alexander, Chairman; Drew Alexander, President/CEO; Martin Debrovner, Vice Chairman
Total Industrial Portfolio: 8.3 million sq. ft.
22 Robert Pattillo Properties
2987 Clairmont Rd., Suite 550
Atlanta, GA 30329
Phone: (800) 713-2021
Fax: (404) 235-3541
Web site: www.pattillo.com
Officers: John Atwell, VP; Jim Topple, VP; James Gaddy, VP
Total Industrial Portfolio: 7.9 million sq. ft.
23 Miller-Valentine Group
4000 Miller-Valentine Ct., Dayton, OH 45439
Phone: (937) 293-0900
Fax: (939) 299-1564
E-mail: [email protected]
Web site: www.mvg.com
Officers: William Krul, Sr. Partner/CEO; William Schneider, Sr. Partner/COO; Edward Blake, Partner/CFO
Total Industrial Portfolio: 7.7 million sq. ft.
24 Lincoln Property Co.
500 N. Akard, Suite 3300, Dallas, TX 75201
Phone: (214) 740-3300
Fax: (214) 740-3441
Web site: www.lincolnproperty.com
Officers: Mack Pogue, Chairman; Tim Byrne, President/CEO, Residential Division; Bill Duvall, President/CEO, Commercial Division
Total Industrial Portfolio: 7.5 million sq. ft.
25 Reckson Associates Realty Corp.
225 Broadhollow Rd.
Melville, NY 11747
Phone: (631) 694-6900
Fax: (631) 622-6790
E-mail: [email protected]
Web site: www.reckson.com
Officers: Donald Rechler, Co-CEO; Scott Rechler, Co-CEO; Michael Maturo, CFO
Total Industrial Portfolio: 6.8 million sq. ft.