German Auto Component Suppliers Love Birmingham
German carmakers are still interested in leasing Birmingham sheds, despite Brexit.
Global automotive components supplier International Automotive Components Group, or IAC, has signed up for all 310K SF available at Prologis Park Birmingham.
IAC signed an 11-year lease for both buildings on the park, which is close to the Jaguar Land Rover production site. JLR is a long-standing customer of IAC and the units will be used solely to service JLR’s requirements.
The company plans to invest in state-of-the-art, highly automated process manufacturing. The company anticipates full production at the site in 2021 and will create an additional 400 jobs.
“IAC views the UK as a strategic market, and we look forward to continuing our partnership with JLR long into the future,” IAC Group Chief Executive Manfred Gingl said.
Savills and Burbage Realty acted for Prologis UK. IAC was represented by CBRE.
Prologis has been investing in the West Midlands for the past 20 years, ploughing more than £1B into the region. Within the UK Prologis has £3.7B (amounting to 26M SF) of assets under management and a land bank capacity of 4.2M SF and a further 12M SF under option.
The deal with IAC will spur action at IM Properties, which said last year that it will launch a 484K SF speculative first phase at the nearby £350M Peddimore development.
IM Properties won preferred developer status for the 160-acre site in spring 2018.
The scheme could see 2.8M SF of new floorspace at Minworth in a Birmingham industrial market starved of new development.
