As real estate logistics is now playing a growing role in investor portfolios, MIPIM is devoting a vast program to this key sector. Hundreds of investment companies involved in real estate logistics, along with cities and local authorities, developers and corporate end-users from around the world, will come together at MIPIM this year.
Organized by Reed MIDEM, a subsidiary of Reed Exhibitions, MIPIM is being held in Cannes from 12 to 15 March 2013.
According to Jones Lang LaSalle research, investment in industrial and logistics assets increased by €2.9 billion in the last quarter of 2012, reflecting growing investor appetite for this sector. It will represent a major potential in 2013 due to the expansion of property portfolios. Logistics is a safe asset, much sought-after by risk-averse investors, with premium assets as the most popular target. According to a Prologis survey: 'opportunities in the European industrial property market ,' real-estate logistics is proving a strong asset with a good return on investment. Over the past ten years, real estate logistics was the second best performing segment in the real estate market after retail real estate. Against this background, the German Investment Company IVG and Garbe have created a €120 million logistics fund, emphasizing the importance of this sector.
There are many challenges facing real-estate logistics: it involves responding to the growth of e-commerce, ensuring faster deliveries, reducing distances and rotations, rethinking channels, limiting the number of warehouses and logistics platforms and addressing all environmental protection requirements. According to the Jones Lang LaSalle 'Logistics and Industrial Survey 2012 ,' industry professionals are always looking for new opportunities, which have to meet three major criteria: a favorable geographical location, good economic growth, and political stability. At MIPIM on Tuesday, 12 March, Rémy Vertupier, Fund Manager for LOGISITICS AEW Europe, Christopher Garbe, CEO Garbe Logistic AG, and Philip Dunne, President Europe Prologis, will share their insight into the prospects for the real estate logistics market. This conference will enable participants to explore opportunities in Europe, Asia, and America, and assess the sector's challenges in terms of innovation, sustainability and flexibility.
Real estate logistics is also making a comeback in the urban landscape with the aim of reducing delivery times and responding to a growing demand for facilities that are closer to their final destinations. Current consumer trends are strongly influencing logistics, with the growth of e-commerce, and fast-growing demand for home deliveries of consumer goods. This trend is largely driven by a combination of the ageing population, decrease in car use in city centers a growing interest in fun purchasing, and an increasing need for stricter time management. It is therefore essential to reinvent the nature of logistics real estate in city centers "MIPIM can help develop synergies with retail policies and city planning. Run-down areas near or on railway or river sites are well-suited to the needs of urban logistics. They should be inventoried and monitored for availability. MIPIM helps the entire stakeholder chain to meet together," said Filippo Rean, Director of MIPIM.
François Cangardel, Real Estate Director, Aéroports de Paris, will speak on Wednesday, 13 March at MIPIM in a conference on logistics platforms and transport infrastructure systems. The same day, Kasim Reed, Mayor of Atlanta, will share his expertise on airports as economic drivers. And Jean-Paul Rival, Executive Vice President, Concerto European Developer, will talk about XXL warehouses, pooling and resource optimization on Thursday, 14 March.
To accompany these conferences, there will be a 200 m² pavilion dedicated to the logistics industry on Level 01 of the Palais des Festivals. Twenty sessions of daily presentations of projects will raise visibility about current business in the sector, while power meetings will provide an opportunity for professionals to meet and share common concerns. There is already significant interest from cities and ports in the presentation sessions, with the ports of Barcelona, Oslo, Tallinn and Gdansk presenting their activities. In addition, Amsterdam and Montreal airports, the cities of Stockholm and Copenhagen, and the region of Silesia in Poland will also talk in detail about their logistics clusters. And AEW Europe , the investment advisory and real estate asset manager, will showcase LOGITIS, a new one billion euro fund created from the merger of its three logistics funds. These sessions will also enable SOGARIS to present its hotel logistics project as part of the development of the new "Chapelle International" area in Paris, designed to allow goods to enter Paris by rail, and then be distributed inside the city by road.
Finally, two sessions of 'Power Meetings,' featuring brief targeted get-togethers between potential partners to kick-start actionable ideas, will also be held in the logistics pavilion. The first session will involve investors, developers and local authorities, while the second session will focus on meetings between end-users, real estate logistics owners and developers. Major investment companies such as AXA Real Estate, Blackstone, AEW Europe and GOODMAN will be attending the 'Power meetings.'
Source: MIPIM
