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CTP N.V.: Europe's Industrial Real Estate Titan from the CEE Frontier
How a Dutch Entrepreneur's 1990s Bet on Post-Communist Czechoslovakia Created Europe's Largest Publicly Traded Industrial Property Company
I. Introduction & Episode Roadmap
Picture a rainy autumn morning in 1991. A battered car crosses the border from Germany into what was still called Czechoslovakia, carrying a 20-year-old Dutch adventurer with more ambition than capital. Remon Vos peered through the windshield at a landscape transformedāfactories shuttered, infrastructure crumbling, but opportunity practically shimmering in the air. "In 1991, the intrepid young Dutchman, then just 20 years old, first drove into what was then known as Czechoslovakia and was immediately blown away by the extent of opportunities available."
That drive would plant the seed for what is today CTP N.V.āEurope's largest listed owner, developer, and manager of logistics and industrial real estate by gross lettable area, owning 12.4 million sqm of GLA across 10 countries. From a single business park in a small Czech town, CTP has grown into a ā¬16 billion empire that stretches from the North Sea to the Black Sea, housing operations for DHL, Renault, H&M, and hundreds of other blue-chip tenants.
The numbers tell a remarkable story: In 2024, CTP delivered 1,286,000 sqm at a Yield on Cost ("YoC") of 10.1% with 92% let at completion, bringing the Group's standing portfolio to 13.3 million sqm of GLA, while the Gross Asset Value ("GAV") increased by 17.2% to ā¬16.0 billion. This is a company that has doubled in size since its 2021 IPO and shows no signs of slowing down, with ambitious plans to reach 20 million sqm of GLA and ā¬1.2 billion in annual rental income before the decade ends.
But the CTP story is about more than real estate metrics. It's about how one entrepreneur recognized that the post-communist infrastructure gap would take decades to fillāand positioned himself to fill it. It's about a business model so consistent that the company has barely deviated from its founding strategy in 27 years. And it's about the massive secular trendsāe-commerce, nearshoring, supply chain resilienceāthat are now supercharging demand for exactly the type of full-service industrial parks that CTP pioneered.
This deep-dive will trace CTP's journey through five critical inflection points: the Czech founding, the financial crisis resilience, the CEE geographic expansion, the capital markets transformation, and the Western European push. Along the way, we'll examine the "Parkmaker" business model that delivers industry-leading yields, analyze the competitive dynamics of the European industrial real estate sector, and identify the key metrics that will determine whether CTP can sustain its remarkable growth trajectory.
II. The Post-Communist Opportunity: Context & Macro Backdrop
To understand CTP, you first need to understand the canvas on which Remon Vos painted his vision. The fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989 wasn't just a geopolitical earthquakeāit was an economic Big Bang that created an entirely new investment frontier.
When the Iron Curtain fell, Central and Eastern Europe was a region of 100+ million people with educated workforces, industrial traditions, and strategic locationābut almost no modern infrastructure. The communist system had prioritized heavy industry and collective agriculture, not the distribution networks and logistics facilities that power modern economies. Warehouse space remained in short supply in Central Europe compared with Western Europeāa dearth dating back to the days of communism that had not caught up since.
Consider the arbitrage opportunity this presented: Western European companies were eager to access CEE's lower labor costs and strategic location, but they couldn't find suitable facilities to house their operations. The choice was often between decrepit Soviet-era factories or building from scratchāneither appealing for a multinational looking to establish regional operations quickly.
Travelling with a family friend, Johan Brakema, Vos was struck by the lack of development and infrastructure in the former Eastern bloc. What others saw as chaos, Vos saw as a market waiting to be created. The thesis was elegant: build Class A industrial parks that met Western standards, in countries where land and labor were dramatically cheaper, and lease them to Western multinationals who would pay Western rents (or close to them) because they had no alternative.
The macro timing was impeccable. In the years following 1989, a burst of investment in Central Europe drove massive infrastructure developmentāroad networks, airports, logistics corridorsāall designed to integrate the former Eastern Bloc into the European economy. "There is a number of reasons why our clients are satisfied and bring more business to the Czech Republic; it is strategically located, with well-developed infrastructure, a good road network, international airports, but above all there is a good level of education, with many technical universities and a tradition in manufacturing."
The EU accession process that began in the mid-1990s (with the Czech Republic joining in 2004) only accelerated this integration. Suddenly, a warehouse in Brno wasn't just serving the Czech marketāit was a gateway to 450 million European consumers, with frictionless trade and regulatory harmonization.
Yet the infrastructure gap persisted. Modern warehouse stock remained scarce relative to demand because local developers lacked the capital and expertise to build at scale, while Western developers viewed CEE as too risky or too small to merit serious attention. This created a first-mover advantage for anyone bold enough to bet on the regionāand patient enough to build a presence before competitors arrived.
The opportunity wasn't just about location arbitrage. Vos also saw great opportunity in regional cities that are home to technical universities which tend to attract high-tech industries. "Our clients prefer to have their facilities based in Europe, and we're seeing that more and more." The insight was prescient: CEE wouldn't just be a low-cost manufacturing hub, but a center for R&D, advanced production, and value-added services.
This macro backdropāthe infrastructure gap, the integration with Western Europe, the skilled workforce, the patient capital requiredācreated the conditions for CTP's founding and shaped the company's DNA for the next quarter-century.
III. Founding Story: Remon Vos and the Czech Bet (1998-2005)
The origin of CTP reads like a parable about entrepreneurial persistence and the power of local knowledge. Born in the Netherlands in 1970, Remon Vos founded Central Trade Park (CTP) in the Czech Republic back in 1998 alongside two business partners, Eddy Maas and Johan Brakema, to develop Class A industrial properties in the country.
But the 1998 founding didn't emerge from nowhere. Vos had spent seven years absorbing the Czech market, learning its rhythms and relationships. With Brakema, he launched a small import business of Dutch products in the Czech Republic, then a steel parts factory. When the two men couldn't find a suitable building or site, they decided "to build a business park ā so that (their business) could become its first tenants and we could attract others."
This is a classic entrepreneurial move: solving your own problem in a way that turns out to be valuable for others. The founding partners brought complementary skills. As Vos later told Forbes: "Johan had the money, Eddy the intelligence and I the energy."
Construction began at CTP's headquarters and first business park in the Czech Republic ā CTPark Humpolec. The location was strategic: Humpolec sits on the D1 motorway connecting Prague and Brno, the country's two largest cities. It was accessible but affordable, with room to expandāa template CTP would repeat across dozens of markets.
The founders' vision went beyond building one building: "the idea was to construct other buildings on the same site in order to create a cluster, an ecosystem of different companies working together." This "park concept" would become CTP's defining characteristicānot standalone warehouses, but integrated business ecosystems with shared infrastructure, amenities, and community.
The early years tested that vision. The early years were tough, but by the 2000s CTP had taken off, becoming the Czech Republic's leading developer with 22 logistics hubs. What enabled this growth was a philosophy that Vos crystallized during this period, one that would prove crucial to CTP's long-term success.
"It was in these early years that Vos learned his biggest lesson, which became his guiding principle: never sell. 'If you build a park, the idea is to keep building it,' he says. 'We build to last, not to trade. We don't sell.'"
This "develop-to-hold" model was contrarian. Most industrial developers in the early 2000s built projects to sell to institutional investors, harvesting development profits quickly and moving on. Vos saw this differently: if you sold a project, you gave up the rental income stream, the tenant relationship, and the expansion potential. You captured one-time gains but surrendered the compounding returns.
CTP's first business park was built in Humpolec, after which several parks followed in ModÅice, Brno and PlzeÅ. Each new park followed the same pattern: identify a strategically located site, secure planning permissions, build first-class facilities, attract anchor tenants, then expand organically as those tenants grew and new tenants arrived.
In 2005, CTP launched construction of its flagship office park Spielberk Office Centre in Brno. This represented a diversification from pure industrial into mixed-use development, reflecting Vos's vision that business parks should be complete ecosystemsānot just warehouses, but offices, R&D facilities, and eventually hotels and amenities.
By the mid-2000s, the founding thesis had been validated. CTP was the clear leader in Czech industrial real estate, with a track record of tenant retention, development expertise, and operational excellence. The question was whether this model could scaleāfirst to survive the coming financial crisis, then to expand across the entire CEE region.
IV. Inflection Point #1: Surviving the Global Financial Crisis (2008-2012)
When Lehman Brothers collapsed in September 2008, real estate markets worldwide cratered. Property developers who had loaded up on debt found themselves unable to refinance; those who had built speculatively watched vacancy rates spike. The global financial crisis was a moment of truth for every real estate companyāand it revealed who had built on solid foundations.
CTP averaged nearly 8% growth per year in 2008ā2011, during the financial crisis. That statistic is remarkable: while competitors retrenched, sold assets, or went bankrupt, CTP expanded. The crisis period cemented the company's position and validated its business model in the harshest possible conditions.
How did CTP thrive when others failed? Several factors proved decisive.
First, the develop-to-hold model meant CTP wasn't dependent on transaction markets. Develop-to-sell competitors needed to sell completed projects to realize profits, but transaction markets froze in 2008-2009. CTP simply continued collecting rent from existing tenants while selectively developing for tenants who needed space. The credit portion of the 2008 financial crisis did not affect the Czech Republic much, mostly due to its stable banking sector which had learned its lessons during a smaller crisis in the late 1990s and became much more cautious.
Second, CTP's tenant relationships proved remarkably stable. Industrial tenantsāmanufacturers, logistics companies, distributorsāhave high switching costs. Moving a production line or distribution center is expensive and disruptive. When the crisis hit, CTP's tenants hunkered down in place rather than relocating. The company's occupancy remained high while others saw vacancies spike.
Third, CTP had been conservative with leverage. Unlike many Western developers who had gorged on cheap debt during the 2005-2007 credit boom, CTP had maintained manageable debt levels. This meant no forced sales, no covenant breaches, and no desperate refinancing negotiations.
"Many of our clients came to the Czech Republic or to Central Europe 10 or 15 years ago for low-cost manufacturing, but what we see today is that these companies have invested greatly in their production facilities. Many of them consolidated and brought more business to the country, which means that during the crisis of 2007-2008, we were able to double the size of the company."
This is counterintuitive: how can you double during a crisis? The answer is that CTP's clients were consolidating their European operations, choosing their best locations and closing others. The Czech Republicāwith its stable politics, central location, educated workforce, and improving infrastructureāwas where companies chose to keep their operations. And CTP was where those companies wanted to be housed.
CTP became the largest industrial developer in the Czech Republic, developing in, among other locations, PlzeÅ, Brno and Ostrava. This dominance was achieved not despite the crisis but because of it: weaker competitors exited, leaving CTP with less competition for tenants and opportunities to acquire distressed assets at attractive prices.
The crisis years also saw CTP begin its sustainability journey. CTP completed the installation of 6 MWp of solar capacity at various parks in the Czech Republic, installing its first solar plant at its headquarters at CTPark Humpolec. This early move into renewable energy would prove prescient, as ESG considerations became increasingly important to tenants and investors in subsequent years.
The financial crisis taught CTP that resilience comes from tenant relationships, conservative financing, and operational excellenceānot from timing markets or financial engineering. These lessons would inform every subsequent decision the company made.
V. Inflection Point #2: Geographic Expansion Across CEE (2013-2019)
With the Czech Republic dominated and the financial crisis navigated, CTP faced a classic growth company dilemma: how to scale beyond its home market. The answer was a systematic "domino expansion" across Central and Eastern Europe, replicating the Czech playbook in one country after another.
In 2013, CTP entered the Prague market and its portfolio climbed to 2 million sqm. The Prague move was significant: previously, CTP had focused on regional Czech cities where competition was less intense. Entering the capital showed confidence and signaled national dominance.
But the real growth would come from new countries. CTP's expansion followed a deliberate sequence, targeting markets with similar characteristics to the Czech Republic: EU membership (or imminent membership), strategic location, educated workforce, developing infrastructure, and limited modern industrial stock.
Romania came first. The company gradually extended this philosophy to all of Eastern Europe, conquering new markets in Poland, Romania, Hungary, and Serbia. Each new market entry followed the same pattern: establish a local team, acquire strategic land plots, build first-class parks, win anchor tenants, then expand.
By 2018, the company had reached a portfolio of 5 million sqm across CEE. This represented a more than doubling from the 2013 levels, achieved through organic development rather than transformative acquisitions.
The expansion period also saw important changes in ownership structure. Johan Brakema left the company a few years later and Maas passed away in 2016. These departures left Vos as the driving force, and he moved to consolidate control.
In July 2019, Vos, who has been CEO of the company since 1999, became the sole owner of CTP Group. This ownership consolidation was crucial for the next phase: it gave Vos full authority to pursue ambitious growth targets and to eventually take the company public.
The strategy Vos developed during expansion became known as the "permanent citizen" model. Everywhere he establishes himself, Vos applies the same strategy: develop his real estate projects rapidly, even when these are rented only at 30% or 40% of their area; keep adjacent buildable land for future expansions; and, finally, retain and diversify his clients, 87% of whom renew their contract at the expiration of their lease.
This approachābuilding ahead of demand, holding land for expansion, cultivating long-term tenant relationshipsāwas the opposite of the develop-to-sell model. It required patient capital and a long-term orientation, but it built cumulative competitive advantage. Each park became more valuable as it filled up, as adjacent land was developed, and as the tenant ecosystem deepened.
By 2019, CTP had set an audacious target: 10 million sqm of GLA by 2023. In 2020, the company said that it was looking to grow its portfolio to 10 million sqm by 2023. Achieving that goal would require a step-change in capital availabilityāwhich led directly to the company's transformation from private to public.
VI. Inflection Point #3: Green Bonds & IPO (2020-2021)
By 2020, CTP had proven its business model, established market leadership across CEE, and positioned itself to accelerate growth. But scaling from 5 million sqm to 10 million sqm (and beyond) required capital access beyond what bank financing alone could provide. The solution came in two transformative capital markets moves: a debut green bond issuance and Europe's largest real estate IPO in seven years.
CTP B.V. successfully issued a debut Green bond for EUR650m on 1 October 2020. CTP's inaugural Green bonds became the largest debut issuance by a CEE real estate company. The timing was bold: the COVID-19 pandemic was still ravaging global markets, and investor appetite for risk had contracted sharply.
Despite a volatile market backdrop and the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, CTP's green bond issue garnered strong demand, allowing CTP to achieve attractive pricing and upsize the issue by EUR150 million from original guidance. The issuance represents the largest and, with an order book of over ā¬2Bn, one of the most oversubscribed EUR debut bonds by a CEE real estate company.
The decision to issue green bonds was strategic on multiple levels. First, it tapped into the growing pool of ESG-focused capital, expanding CTP's investor base beyond traditional real estate investors. Second, it reinforced CTP's sustainability credentialsāthe company had committed to BREEAM-certifying its entire portfolio to "Very Good" or better. Third, it established CTP's presence in public debt markets, creating a template for future issuances.
CTP B.V. bonds rated Baa3 (Stable) by Moody's and BBB- (Stable) by S&P. Achieving investment-grade ratings was crucial: it gave CTP access to the deep pools of institutional capital that require investment-grade securities, and it validated the company's financial management to prospective investors.
The green bond success set the stage for an even more ambitious move: an initial public offering on Euronext Amsterdam.
CTP NV, which owns and operates logistics parks in Central and Eastern Europe, said on Thursday it had priced shares in its initial public offering at 14 euros each, valuing the group at 5.6 billion euros ($6.62 billion) in its debut on the Euronext stock exchange in Amsterdam.
The listing of CTP in March 2021 was the largest real estate IPO in Europe since 2014. The scale of investor interest validated the CTP story: a dominant CEE industrial platform, benefiting from powerful secular trends, with a proven management team and a long growth runway.
Issued at a share price of ā¬14 per share, the listing comprised 61 million shares. With a free float of 17%, the share register included a long list of international institutional investors. The limited free float reflected Vos's desire to maintain controlāCEO Vos holds an 83% stake after the listingāwhile still accessing public market capital and liquidity.
The proceeds will be used by CTP N.V. for financing development projects and related construction activities, for potential property acquisitions and for debt repayment. In other words, the IPO was a growth capital event, not a founder liquidity event. Vos kept his stake and reinvested the proceeds into expanding the business.
Following the IPO, CTP continued to access green bond markets aggressively. In June 2021, CTP raised ā¬1 billion by issuing dual-tranche green bonds. The results were repeated in September 2021, when another ā¬1 billion was raised through dual-tranche green bonds.
By the end of 2021, CTP is Europe's largest real estate issuer of green bonds for the year, with a total of ā¬2.5 billion. This wasn't just about accessing capitalāit was about establishing CTP as a benchmark issuer that institutional investors wanted to own.
CTP raised ā¬4.25 billion through eight Green Bond issuances from October 2020 to January 2022, significantly decreasing CTP's overall financing costs. The strategy worked: by accessing public markets at scale, CTP lowered its cost of capital, extended its debt maturities, and gained the financial flexibility to pursue aggressive growth.
VII. Inflection Point #4: COVID E-commerce Boom & Nearshoring Wave (2020-Present)
While the IPO transformed CTP's capital structure, equally important were the demand trends that COVID-19 accelerated. The pandemic supercharged two secular forcesāe-commerce and supply chain resilienceāthat played directly into CTP's strengths.
The demand for warehouses is driven by the e-commerce sector as more Europeans are shopping online for food, gadgets and other items used at home. When lockdowns shuttered physical retail, online shopping surged. That required warehouse spaceālots of it. Fulfillment centers, distribution hubs, last-mile delivery depots: the entire logistics infrastructure for e-commerce needed to expand rapidly.
The demand is also reflected in CTP's portfolio as more than half of the total space is occupied by tenants doing logistics and e-commerce. CTP was perfectly positioned: its parks were located in strategic logistics corridors, near major population centers, with the infrastructure and amenities that e-commerce operators require.
But the longer-lasting trend may be nearshoringāthe movement of manufacturing closer to end markets. COVID-19 exposed the vulnerabilities of stretched global supply chains: when Chinese factories shut down or shipping containers became unavailable, Western companies couldn't get product. The solution? Produce closer to home.
More than half of CTP's business comes from existing clients who require additional space as their businesses grow. Trends such as nearshoring and friendshoring ā essentially manufacturing closer to home to avoid supply chain disruptions ā are behind the shift toward Europe.
Central and Eastern Europe is the natural beneficiary of European nearshoring. Demand for industrial and logistics real estate in the CEE region is driven by structural demand drivers, such as the professionalisation of supply chains by 3PLs, ongoing growth in e-commerce, and occupiers nearshoring and friend-shoring. As the CEE region offers the best-cost location in Europe, CTP benefits particularly from the nearshoring trend, which is shown by the growth with Asian manufacturing tenants producing in Europe for Europe, who made up around 20% of our overall leasing activity in 2024, compared to a 10% share of our overall portfolio.
This Asian tenant growth is particularly striking. Over 10% of portfolio leases to Asian clients producing in Europe for Europe. These are companiesāoften in automotive, electronics, and consumer goodsāwho previously served Europe from Asian factories but now see the logic of local production. CTP provides the facilities; CEE provides the cost advantage; Europe provides the market access.
The US trade tariffs drive further nearshoring, with companies producing in Europe for Europe, while export from the CEE region to the US is limited. The 2024-2025 wave of tariff uncertainty has only accelerated this trend. For manufacturers who need to serve European customers, producing in CEE makes even more sense when trade barriers make long-distance supply chains riskier.
"The long term trend for nearshoring is going to remain intact. It's very clear now that we are in a world with higher trade barriers, which will mean less global trade, more local production. And as Europe represents 25% of the world's GDP, manufacturers will need to produce their products in Europe to sell competitively in Europe."
This is the bull case for CTP in a nutshell: structural demand drivers that will persist for years, accelerating toward the geographic region where CTP has dominant market share.
VIII. Inflection Point #5: Western European Expansion & Germany Entry (2023-Present)
Having dominated CEE, CTP faced a strategic question: should it stay focused on its core region, or expand into Western Europe where markets are larger but competition is fiercer? The answer came in 2022 with a bold move into Germany.
CTP entered the German market in 2022 with the acquisition of Deutsche Industrie REIT-AG, which had a 1.6 million sqm portfolio, for about ā¬800m. The acquisition was transformative: it gave CTP immediate scale in Europe's largest economy and connected the "CTPark Network" from the North Sea to the Black Sea.
CTP entered the next phase of growth in Germany, following the acquisition of Deutsche Industrie REIT-AG ("DIR") nearly two years ago. After building up the organization during 2022 and 2023, CTP has been able to achieve strong operational and financial results in 2023 across its German portfolio.
The German entry represented a bet on several trends. First, German industrial real estate is agingāmuch of the stock was built decades ago and doesn't meet modern standards. In 2023, CTP relet 155,000 sqm within the former DIR portfolio, with an average monthly rent of ā¬5.1 per sqm, 57% above the average monthly rent that was in place at the FY-2022. The FY-2023 average monthly rent of ā¬3.5 per sqm continues to offer a very significant reversion opportunity.
Second, German manufacturing is evolving. Traditional industries are giving way to high-tech, life sciences, and sustainable productionāall of which require modern facilities. CTP is developing a major new high tech business park in MĆ¼lheim, Germany, following the acquisition of a 335,000 sqm site from French multinational manufacturing business, Vallourec. CTP will transform the brownfield site that housed an industrial rolling mill, into an innovative new modern business park.
The move forms part of CTP's wider strategy to double the size of its pan-European network of business parks by the end of the decade. The Germany investment isn't just about Germanyāit's about creating a truly pan-European platform that can serve multinational tenants wherever they need space.
Beyond Germany, CTP has expanded in other Western markets. CTP launches in Western Europe, opens offices in the Netherlands. The Netherlands office is symbolic: a return to CTP's Dutch roots, even as its operational heart remains in the Czech Republic.
At the beginning of 2023, CTP announced that it would invest 300 million euros in the coming years to expand its portfolio in Germany. The company's goal is to double the size of the Europe-wide network of CTParks by the end of the decade. CTP is focusing, among other things, on land development in the high-tech segment.
This Western European expansion comes with risks. Competition is fiercer in mature markets; development yields are lower; local expertise is harder to build. But it also diversifies CTP's geographic exposure and positions the company to capture the high-value end of the nearshoring trendāwhere advanced manufacturing and R&D operations locate in Germany while production-scale facilities stay in CEE.
IX. The "Parkmaker" Business Model Deep-Dive
What makes CTP different from other industrial real estate developers? The answer lies in an integrated model that the company calls "Parkmaking"āa full-service approach that spans the entire property lifecycle.
CTP N.V. is Europe's largest listed owner, developer, and manager of logistics and industrial real estate by gross lettable area. The company operates on an end-to-end, 'build-to-own' model, creating and managing a network of full-service business parks across multiple European countries. CTP provides turn-key solutions that encompass the entire property lifecycle, including site selection, permitting, in-house design, construction, and long-term facility management.
This vertical integration delivers several competitive advantages.
First: In-house construction capability. Unlike developers who outsource to third-party contractors, CTP acts in most markets as general contractor, it is fully in control of the process and timing of deliveries, allowing the Company to speed-up or slow-down depending on tenant demand, while also offering tenants flexibility in terms of building requirements. This control translates into faster delivery times, lower costs, and better quality.
While average construction costs in 2022 were around ā¬550 per sqm, in 2023 they came to ā¬500 per sqm, in part thanks to CTP's in-house construction and procurement teams. CTP expects them to stay around this level through 2024. The ability to control construction costs is crucial for maintaining the industry-leading Yield on Cost that drives CTP's value creation.
Second: The landbank strategy. CTP's landbank amounted to 26.4 million sqm as at 31 December 2024, which allows the Company to reach its target of 20 million sqm GLA by the end of the decade. The Group is focusing on mobilising the existing landbank, while maintaining disciplined capital allocation in landbank replenishment.
This landbank is extraordinarily valuable. Assuming a build-up ratio of 2 sqm of land to 1 sqm of GLA, CTP can build over 13 million sqm of GLA on its secured landbank. CTP's land is held on balance sheet at around ā¬60 per sqm and construction costs amount on average to approximately ā¬500 per sqm, bringing total investment costs to approximately ā¬620 per sqm. The Group's standing portfolio is valued around ā¬1,030 per sqm.
The math is compelling: total investment cost of ā¬620/sqm for assets valued at ā¬1,030/sqm implies roughly ā¬400/sqm of value creation per square meter built. With 13 million sqm of potential development, that's over ā¬5 billion in embedded development profit.
Third: Tenant relationships and retention. The Company's occupancy came to 93%. The Group's client retention rate remains strong at 87% and demonstrates CTP's ability to leverage long-standing client relationships. High retention means lower leasing costs, reduced vacancy risk, and stable cash flows.
More than half of CTP's business comes from existing clients who require additional space as their businesses grow. This is the flywheel in action: tenants join a CTPark, their business grows, they need more space, CTP builds them expansion facilities within the same park, the tenant relationship deepens, retention stays high. Two-thirds of new leases are with existing tenants.
Fourth: The sustainability edge. CTP BREEAM certified 100% of its standing portfolio. This wasn't just a box-ticking exerciseāit created differentiated product that commands premium rents and attracts ESG-focused tenants.
In 2024 the revenues from renewable energy came to ā¬7.6 million, up 22% y-o-y. CTP's solar installations generate revenue while reducing tenant energy costs and carbon footprints. With an average cost of ~ā¬750,000 per MWp, the Group targets a YoC of 15% for these investments. Solar delivers even higher returns than core real estate developmentāand creates stickier tenant relationships.
X. Financial Performance & Current State
CTP's 2024 results represent a high-water mark in company history, validating the growth strategy pursued since the IPO.
Net Profit: Over EUR1 billion in 2024. Leases Signed: 2.1 million square meters, a 7% increase from 2023. Gross Rental Income: EUR664.1 million, a 16% year-on-year increase.
EPRA NTA per share increased by 13.6% to ā¬18.08. This growth in net tangible assets per shareāthe key metric for real estate companiesādemonstrates value creation for shareholders.
The post-IPO track record is impressive. The subsequent three years from CTP's listing in March 2021 have been a time of accelerated growth for the company, highlighted by a 103% increase in GLA from 5.9 million sqm to 12.0 million sqm across CTP's European portfolio and 162% growth in its landbank, from 8.8 million sqm to 23.1 million sqm.
Since March 2021, CTP's EPRA Net Tangible Asset ("NTA") per share has increased by 98% (from ā¬8.32 to ā¬16.50), while Company Specific Adjusted EPRA earnings per share ("EPS") has grown by 66% (from ā¬0.44 to ā¬0.81). Near-doubling of NTA per share in three years is exceptional performance, especially considering the challenging interest rate environment that weighed on real estate valuations globally.
The Yield on Cost metric deserves particular attention. CTP continued its disciplined investment in its highly profitable pipeline. In 2024, the Group completed a record number of 1.3 million sqm of GLA. The developments were delivered at a YoC of 10.1%, 92% let and will generate contracted annual rental income of ā¬83.4 million.
A 10%+ Yield on Cost means CTP creates ā¬10 of annual rental income for every ā¬100 invested in development. This is significantly above the valuation yields on the standing portfolio (around 7%), meaning development creates value immediately upon completion.
Looking ahead, guidance is positive. CTP expects to reach ā¬1.0 billion rental income in 2027, driven by development completions, indexation and reversion, and is on track to reach 20 million sqm of GLA and ā¬1.2 billion rental income before the end of the decade. The Group sets a guidance of ā¬0.86 - ā¬0.88 Company-specific adjusted EPRA EPS for 2025.
The company has updated its ambitions even further. CTP is well positioned to benefit from these trends and reach our ambition of 30 million sqm of GLA in year 2030. This would represent more than doubling from current levelsāan extraordinary growth target for a company already at significant scale.
XI. The Competitive Landscape
CTP operates in a competitive market, but the CEE region remains relatively consolidated compared to Western European industrial real estate.
The lion's share in the total industrial space in the five CEE countries belongs to CTP (13%), Prologis (10%), Panattoni (8%), P3 Logistic Parks (7%) and SEGRO (4%), totalling approximately 42% of the entire market.
CTP's market leadership is clear: it holds the #1 position by a meaningful margin. CTP's average market share in the Czech Republic, Romania, Hungary, and Slovakia came to 28.6% as at 31 March 2025 and it remains the largest owner and developer of industrial and logistics real estate assets in those markets. The Group is also the market leader in Serbia and Bulgaria.
The global comparison is instructive. As of 2025, Prologis operates more than 15,000 land acres and over 6,000 buildings comprising about 1.3 billion square feet in 20 countries across North America, Latin America, Europe, and Asia. Prologis is roughly 10 times CTP's sizeābut Prologis is global while CTP is concentrated in Europe, specifically CEE.
This focus is CTP's differentiation. "We build to last or we build to own," Vos stresses. "We don't trade, we don't sell. We don't build standalone buildings. We only do buildings in a park concept." Most competitors are willing to build and sell; CTP builds and holds. Most competitors build individual warehouses; CTP builds integrated parks.
The CEE market is quite consolidated with just a few major companies covering a considerable part of it. This consolidation benefits incumbents like CTP: fewer competitors means less pressure on rents, easier tenant acquisition, and better bargaining power with suppliers.
Yet competition is intensifying. Panattoni has been aggressive in CEE construction. P3 (owned by GIC Singapore) is well-capitalized. Global players like Prologis and SEGRO continue investing in the region. CTP's advantagesālocal knowledge, tenant relationships, integrated operationsāmust be maintained through continued execution.
XII. Porter's Five Forces Analysis
1. Threat of New Entrants: LOW-MEDIUM
Industrial real estate has meaningful barriers to entry. Capital requirements are substantialābuilding a portfolio of CTP's scale would require billions in investment. Land acquisition in strategic locations requires local relationships and permitting expertise that takes years to develop. Tenant relationships are sticky and hard to replicate.
This landbank secures substantial future growth potential for CTP, mostly around the existing business parks. Combined with its industry-leading YoC, CTP expects to continue to generate double-digit NTA growth in the years to come. CTP's landbank creates a particularly durable barrier: you can't build a competing park if CTP already controls the best development sites adjacent to existing infrastructure.
2. Bargaining Power of Suppliers: LOW-MEDIUM
CTP's in-house construction capability reduces dependency on external contractors. While average construction costs in 2022 were around ā¬550 per sqm, in 2023 and 2024 they came to ā¬500 per sqm and remained stable in Q1-2025. This allows the Group to continue to deliver its industry-leading YoC above 10%. The ability to bring construction in-house gives CTP bargaining power with suppliers and protects margins.
Land acquisition remains an ongoing challenge, but CTP's extensive landbank (already acquired) provides years of development runway without requiring new land purchases.
3. Bargaining Power of Buyers (Tenants): MEDIUM
Large multinational tenants have negotiating leverage, particularly for large build-to-suit projects. However, several factors limit tenant power: CEE rental levels remain affordable; despite the strong growth seen as they have started from significantly lower absolute levels than in Western European countries. In real terms, rents in many Central and Eastern European ("CEE") markets are still below 2010 levels.
This affordability means tenants get value even as rents rise. Additionally, switching costs are highārelocating operations is expensive and disruptive. The Group's client retention rate remains strong at 87% precisely because tenants prefer staying in place to moving.
4. Threat of Substitutes: LOW
There are limited alternatives to modern, Class A industrial space. Companies can't run e-commerce fulfillment from obsolete warehouses; they can't manufacture precision products in facilities without proper climate control and infrastructure. The YoC for CTP's pipeline increased to 10.3%, thanks to decreasing construction costs and rental growth. The next stage of growth is built in and financed, with 1.8 million sqm under construction.
Strong demand for modern facilities reflects limited substitution options.
5. Competitive Rivalry: MEDIUM-HIGH
Competition for prime tenants and development sites is real. But the consolidated market structure and differentiated business models (CTP's develop-to-hold vs. competitors' develop-to-sell) reduces direct head-to-head rivalry. CTP has a long track record of delivering sustainable growth through its tenant-led development in its existing parks. This tenant-led approach means CTP often isn't competing for tenants at allāexisting tenants request expansion space that CTP builds for them.
XIII. Hamilton's 7 Powers Framework Analysis
1. Scale Economies: STRONG
CTP's scale creates meaningful cost advantages. In-house construction teams, bulk procurement, shared property management functions, and corporate overhead spread across a large portfolio all reduce per-unit costs. Born in the Netherlands in 1970, Remon Vos founded CTP in 1998 with two investors to develop A-class industrial properties in the Czech Republic. Over the next 20 years Remon grew the CTPark Network to become the largest integrated system of full-service business parks in Central and Eastern Europe.
The 13+ million sqm standing portfolio, combined with 26+ million sqm landbank, provides operating leverage that smaller competitors cannot match.
2. Network Economies: MODERATE
The CTPark Network creates value through shared infrastructure and tenant ecosystems. "The idea was to construct other buildings on the same site in order to create a cluster, an ecosystem of different companies working together." Tenants benefit from shared amenities, infrastructure, and even energy systems.
However, industrial real estate has weaker network effects than software or marketplace businesses. A warehouse doesn't become more valuable because other tenants use CTP warehouses. The network benefit is real but moderate.
3. Counter-Positioning: STRONG
This is perhaps CTP's most powerful advantage. The develop-to-hold model is genuinely different from competitors' develop-to-sell approach. The IPO in 2021 did not change CTP's strategy, which has been consistent since it began in 1998: to develop, own and operate state-of-the-art business parks in strategic locations, creating eco-systems, leveraging its strong client relationships and driving sustainable, long-term value creation.
Competitors cannot easily copy this model because it requires different capital structures, different investor bases, and different organizational capabilities. A develop-to-sell company cannot simply decide to hold assetsāit would need to completely restructure its business and investor relationships.
4. Switching Costs: MODERATE-HIGH
Tenant switching costs are significant. Relocating a distribution center or manufacturing facility involves months of planning, substantial capital investment, and operational disruption. The portfolio WAULT stood at 6.4 years, in line with the Company's target of >6 years. The long average lease term (WAULT = Weighted Average Unexpired Lease Term) reflects tenants' commitment to their locations.
5. Branding: MODERATE
CTP has built brand recognition as the CEE industrial leader, particularly for sustainability credentials. CTP has earned a 'Negligible Risk' ESG rating and is ranked inside the top 2% of companies globally by Sustainalytics. This brand matters when tenants are choosing between otherwise similar options.
6. Cornered Resource: MODERATE-HIGH
CTP's landbank constitutes a cornered resourceāland that is already owned, zoned, permitted, and ready for development. 57% of the landbank is located within CTP's existing parks, while 33% is in, or is adjacent to, new parks which have the potential to grow to more than 100,000 sqm. Competitors cannot access this land; it belongs to CTP.
7. Process Power: STRONG
CTP has developed proprietary processes for every stage of the property lifecycleāfrom site selection to tenant management to construction execution. CTP provides turn-key solutions that encompass the entire property lifecycle, including site selection, permitting, in-house design, construction, and long-term facility management. These processes have been refined over 27 years and represent embedded organizational knowledge that competitors cannot easily replicate.
XIV. Key Risks and Investment Considerations
Bear Case Considerations
Interest Rate Sensitivity: Real estate valuations are inversely correlated with interest rates. While CTP's operational metrics remain strong, higher-for-longer rates could pressure property valuations and increase financing costs. The company has mitigated this through long-dated fixed-rate debt, but refinancing maturing obligations at higher rates will increase the average cost of debt.
CEE Concentration Risk: Despite Western European expansion, CTP remains heavily exposed to CEE markets. Political instability, currency volatility, or economic recession in the Czech Republic, Romania, or Hungary would disproportionately impact the business.
Founder Dependency: CEO Vos holds an 83% stake after the listing. While founder-led companies can execute with conviction, concentration of control creates succession risk. The company's culture, strategy, and relationships are deeply tied to Vos personally.
Construction Cost Inflation: CTP's value creation depends on delivering development at ~10% Yield on Cost. If construction costs rise faster than rents, margins compress. While construction costs have been stable recently, materials and labor inflation remain persistent risks.
Oversupply Risk: Strong development activity across CEE could eventually create oversupply, pressuring occupancy and rents. The Company's occupancy remains at 93% (FY-2024: 93%). The Group's client retention rate remains strong at 82% (FY-2024: 87%). Occupancy and retention remain healthy, but these metrics bear monitoring.
Bull Case Considerations
Nearshoring Acceleration: The structural shift toward European production is a multi-decade trend that's still in early innings. "Structural trends such as nearshoring are accelerating, illustrated by the continuous growth of Asian manufacturing tenants in our portfolio. In the CEE region we continue to see strong growth in domestic consumption, while in Germany we benefit from the modernisation of the economy."
Embedded Development Profit: The landbank contains over ā¬5 billion of embedded development profitāvalue that will be realized as CTP builds out its pipeline. This provides visibility into future NAV growth.
E-commerce Secular Growth: Online retail penetration in CEE remains below Western European levels, providing runway for continued logistics demand growth.
Valuation Discount: CEE assets trade at higher cap rates than Western European equivalents. As the region integrates further into the European economy and investors become more comfortable, yield compression could drive additional valuation gains.
XV. Key Metrics for Investors to Monitor
For investors tracking CTP, three metrics deserve particular attention:
1. Yield on Cost (YoC): This measures CTP's value creation efficiency. The YoC for CTP's pipeline increased to 10.3%, thanks to decreasing construction costs and rental growth. A YoC above 10% means CTP creates significant value with each development; if YoC declines toward valuation yields (~7%), the development machine becomes less profitable. Track YoC for new completions quarterly.
2. Tenant Retention Rate: This measures the stickiness of tenant relationshipsāthe core of CTP's competitive advantage. The Group's client retention rate remains strong at 85% (FY-2024: 87%). Retention above 85% indicates healthy tenant relationships; meaningful declines could signal competitive pressure or tenant distress.
3. Like-for-Like Rental Growth: This measures CTP's pricing power in its existing portfolio. On a like-for-like basis, rental income grew 4.0%, mainly driven by indexation and reversion on renegotiations and expiring leases. Like-for-like growth above inflation indicates real pricing power; growth below inflation would suggest weakening fundamentals.
These three metricsāYoC, retention, and like-for-like growthāprovide a dashboard for assessing whether CTP's competitive position is strengthening or eroding.
XVI. Conclusion: The Long Road from Humpolec
Twenty-seven years ago, a young Dutchman drove into a newly free Czechoslovakia and saw opportunity where others saw chaos. He founded a company to build the industrial infrastructure that the region lacked, held onto every asset he developed, and patiently expanded across an entire continent.
Today, CTP stands as Europe's largest publicly traded industrial real estate company by gross lettable areaāa ā¬16 billion platform stretching from the North Sea to the Black Sea. The company has survived a global financial crisis, navigated a pandemic, and positioned itself to benefit from the most powerful secular trends shaping global logistics: e-commerce growth and supply chain nearshoring.
The path ahead is not without risks. Interest rates, construction costs, and geopolitical uncertainties all bear watching. The competitive landscape continues to evolve, with well-capitalized global players eyeing CTP's territory. Execution at scaleāmaintaining the operational excellence that defined CTP as a smaller companyāwill be tested as the portfolio grows toward 20 million sqm and beyond.
But the fundamental thesis remains compelling: CEE industrial real estate occupies a sweet spot of demand, with lower costs than Western Europe, strategic access to European markets, and powerful tailwinds from the reconfiguration of global supply chains. CTP's integrated business model, dominant market positions, and extensive landbank provide competitive advantages that will be difficult for newcomers to replicate.
"If you build a park, the idea is to keep building it," Vos says. "We build to last, not to trade. We don't sell."
That philosophyāpatient capital, long-term ownership, cumulative competitive advantageāhas served CTP well for nearly three decades. Whether it can continue to generate the exceptional returns of the post-IPO period remains to be seen, but the foundation laid in Humpolec all those years ago appears more solid than ever.
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