AMB Property Corporation has appointed European commercial real estate veteran Arthur Tielens as vice president and regional manager for Europe. He will be responsible for leasing, asset and property management of AMB´s portfolio of cargo and logistics facilities throughout Europe and will also work closely with the company´s global customer network.
Tielens, who has a 14-year record in European commercial real estate, most recently served as senior asset manager of Aberdeen Property Investors´ European logistics fund, Celogix. At Celogix, a €325 million ($390 million) fund of Western European logistics facilities, he was responsible for acquisition, operation and financial performance.
AMB Property Corporation is a San Francisco-based developer and owner of industrial real estate with more than 9.7 million m² (104.5 million square feet) operated in North America, Europe and Asia. Tielens will report to Bruce Freedman, AMB´s executive vice president of real estate operations.
'Europe´s logistics community is becoming more efficient as it grows, driving the need for large, well-located and highly modernized distribution facilities throughout the continent,' Tielens explains. 'Many logistics firms are looking for real estate partners who can provide them with a pan-European exposure on or near major international airports, and at the top seaports and key logistics centers at major expressways.'
He said one of AMB´s competitive advantages is that it can acquire and develop facilities in close partnership with customers, while many European funds that own logistics properties are constrained to acquiring and managing pre-existing facilities.
Tielens has specialized in acquiring and operating logistics facilities and other commercial properties throughout Western Europe. Prior to joining AMB, Tielens served for six years as a senior asset manager for Amsterdam-based Aberdeen Property Investors, an asset management company with €10 billion ($12 billion) in real estate assets. At Aberdeen, and its predecessor firm, Celexa Real Estate Investment Management, Tielens personally sourced and supervised more than €388 million ($468 million) in property transactions.
Before that, he was a founding partner of the Amsterdam-based commercial property investment consultancy, Capital Real Estate, establishing an affiliated office in Cape Town, South Africa. Tielens began his career with Credit Suisse First Boston´s former Winterthur International Insurance Co. unit, managing cross-border liability risk policies for large Europe-based multinationals.
Tielens holds a master´s degree in law from the University of Leiden, The Netherlands, and a master´s degree in real estate from the University of Amsterdam´s SBV School of Real Estate, which is affiliated with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He also holds a license from the UK-based Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and is fluent in four languages.
In the company´s Amsterdam office, Tielens joins fellow officers Mo Barzegar, AMB´s chief investment officer, Europe; Frank E. Wade, senior vice president, international business development; Henk Folmer, vice president, international customer alliances; and Ellen Hall, vice president, international transactions.
Source: AMB
