SEGRO has secured a 72,000 m2 prelet agreement with sportswear giant ASICS, the largest single deal the developer has ever signed.
The company will build the new facility at its European distribution centre Krefeld, near Düsselforf, Germany, which ASICS has agreed to lease for 10 years.
It will be built in two phases of roughly equal size scheduled to complete in the second half of 2014 and 2015.
ASICS has an option on a further 23,968 m2 phase.
The deal was one of six new agreements announced by SEGRO alongside its interim management statement.
The company has also agreed a deal with GeoPost UK to develop a 3,3444 m2 facility at Radlett Business Park, St Albans, Hertfordshire, on a 20-year lease.
Construction at Radlett will start in December 2013, with completion scheduled for August 2014.
And it has signed a 5,666 m2 with CWS-boco in Poland, agreeing a 10-year deal for a new facility at Lodz.
The deals crowned a busy period for SEGRO in which it has disposed of £405m (€475m) of property at an average net initial yield of 5.9%.
It has also bought £82m of new logistics property since 1 July, at an average net initial yield of 6.9%.
The company signed a new joint venture with PSP Investments, seeded with property valued at €1bn.
Adjusting for the partnership, new debt fell from £2.4bn to £1.9bn during the period.
Chief executive David Sleath said: “We have made further progress during the third quarter, following a strong first half, and our expectations for the full year remain unchanged.
“Our continental European logistics joint venture has been completed and this will allow us to expand our platform in this growth sector. We have seen very encouraging activity in our development pipeline, including a major prelet with ASICS Europe BV in Germany, our biggest prelet to date.
“Investor interest in logistics assets continues to grow but we have been able to acquire some high-quality assets at attractive yields, predominantly via off-market transactions. Our disposal programme is running ahead of target, reducing our financial leverage and providing us with the flexibility to take advantage of development and acquisition opportunities as they arise.”
