VGP NV (‘VGP’ or ‘the Company’), a leading European provider of high-quality logistics and commercial real estate, appointed Jon Watkins as COO Western Europe.
Jon was most recently EME Head of Real Estate at Amazon in which capacity he was responsible for Amazon’s warehouse and logistics buildings throughout the European Union and the Middle East, with a special focus on the two biggest markets of Germany and the UK. For Amazon, he secured over 3 million m2 of warehouse and logistics space. Originally from Wales, he lived in Germany, Scandinavia and Luxembourg.
As from 1 December, Jon is part of VGP’s management team as COO Western Europe. In this role he will support the country teams in Germany, the Benelux, Portugal, Spain and Italy as well as leading potential expansion of the Company into other Western European countries.
Jon says: “Having worked with VGP as a partner in the past, I’ve seen the culture and make-up of the VGP team. I’m very excited to be joining this team and helping to support the expansion of the Company throughout Europe.’
Jan van Geet, CEO of VGP, said: “We are very pleased to have Jon Watkins join us as our COO Western Europe. His personal values are a perfect match with the family DNA of our organization. His expertise in identifying prime logistics location for e-commerce throughout Europe forms a good base to help secure the future growth of our company. I am confident that he will fit seamlessly into our senior management team.”
Matthias Sander will continue to support the management of the Eastern European countries in his capacity as COO Eastern Europe.
ABOUT VGP
VGP is a leading pan-European developer, manager and owner of high-quality logistics and semi-industrial real estate. VGP operates a fully integrated business model with capabilities and longstanding expertise across the value chain. The company has a well-advanced development land bank of 7.0 million m² and the strategic focus is on the development of business parks. Founded in 1998 as a family-owned real estate developer in the Czech Republic, VGP with a staff of over 200 employees today owns and operates assets in 12 European countries directly and through VGP European Logistics and VGP European Logistics 2, both joint ventures with Allianz Real Estate. As of June 2019, the Gross Asset Value of VGP, including the joint venture at 100%, amounted to €2.2 billion and the company had a Net Asset Value (EPRA NAV) of €604 million. VGP is listed on Euronext Brussels and on the Prague Stock Exchange (ISIN: BE0003878957).