Even though logistics is the real estate sector least affected by the current economic downturn, tenants are still looking to cut costs and this is what landlords need to respond to. Ana Dumitrache, Country Head at CTP Romania, who will be a speaker at our upcoming SEE Property Forum 2020 in Bucharest, talked to us about how COVID-19 has impacted the company’s operations, what tenants are looking for and how an ambitious expansion strategy can be executed.

CTP successfully issued a debut green bond for €650 million on 1 October 2020. CTP’s inaugural green bonds became the largest debut issuance by a CEE real estate company.  The bonds received a strong reception from investors and were several times oversubscribed with a peak order book in excess of €2 billion.

CTP is building Lenovo's first European plant in Üllő, Pest County, in ctPark Budapest East industrial park. As part of the investment worth more than €18 million, CTP is building Lenovo's first high-tech European plant on nearly 35,000 sqm, the delivery of which is scheduled for spring 2021.

CTP Group recorded a profit of €99 million (more than CZK 2.5 billion) in the first half of 2020, while its Portfolio of Class A property under management grew to over 5.8 million sqm. During the first six months of the year, CTP Group added 268,926 sqm of lettable area to its portfolio, and plans to grow by additional 595,000 sqm by year-end. The pandemic has transformed the nature of demand, but rental incomes increased in the second quarter.

CTP has been named the landlord of choice by a joint venture partnership between Maersk and IB Cargo which is going to operate a 75,000 sqm distribution centre for IKEA Supply AG at ctPark Bucharest West.

CTP Invest is commencing construction of a new industrial park in the Poruba district of Ostrava, named ctPark Ostrava Poruba. Groundworks began in the summer and the initial project phase should be completed within six months, with the first companies moving in at the beginning of next year. The developer plans to invest more than €57 million (CZK 1.5 billion) in the project. Four large halls with production facilities and warehousing will be built at the site, which will offer almost 90,000 sqm of lettable area. This is the fifth ctPark in the Moravian-Silesian Region, besides the ctParks at Ostrava Hrabová, Nošovice, Nový Jičín, and Karviná.

Four CTP buildings in Hungary have received the BREEAM In-Use Excellent certification withCTPark Arrabona - GYR1 in Győr having the highest score among the BREEAM In-Use certified buildings in Hungary. As a result of the comprehensive certification process covering the entire portfolio of the company, all of CTP's properties in Hungary have received BREEAM In-Use certification and 4 buildings have earned an Excellent rating.

CTP will modernise the Spielberk office complex near the Brno city centre. The aim is to lower energy consumption and ultimately reduce the carbon footprint of the site. CTP is investing almost €1.5 million (CZK 40 million) into modernising the energy system.

In September 2019, CTP announced its goal to certifiy its entire portfolio of industrial buildings according to the BREEAM standard, and in January began the certification process in six countries with local appraisers. CTP now announced the 80% milestone and the 100% certification of its country portfolios in Romania, Serbia and Poland.

CTP continues its expansion in Romania by developing a new logistics park in the Northern part of Bucharest – CTPark Bucharest North. The park, located in Ștefănești, Ilfov County, has a total area of 21 ha and has a large opening with access to the Bucharest Ring Road, close to the A3 highway. The total value of the investment in the new logistics park amounts to €65 million.