WDP has acquired 100,000m² of freehold industrial land inside the Port of Antwerp-Bruges with 40MVA of firm grid capacity, creating a brownfield development site whose secured electricity connection is likely to matter at least as much as the land itself. The transaction carries an investment value of approximately €24 million, with WDP planning further development expenditure from 2028.
The ten-hectare site combines one of the remaining large freehold positions inside the port with what WDP describes as zero-flex grid capacity, meaning the full contracted 40MVA is available continuously rather than being subject to flexible curtailment. In an industrial property market increasingly constrained by connection availability, that turns the acquisition into a pre-secured energy position as well as a conventional landbank purchase.
WDP plans to remediate the property and demolish existing industrial infrastructure before developing an approximately 55,000m² campus. Around €35 million of incremental development capital expenditure is currently expected from 2028 onwards, taking total investment towards €60 million on the present concept and targeting an 8.5% net operating income yield.
The eventual value could be higher if the grid connection attracts more power-intensive uses. WDP explicitly identifies additional development potential associated with the electricity capacity, giving the site options beyond a conventional logistics building or light industrial estate. Forty MVA is sufficient to make energy demand a serious factor in tenant selection and campus design, particularly for automated operations, charging infrastructure, temperature-controlled facilities, or manufacturing processes that cannot rely on a modest connection being upgraded later.
The location adds another layer of industrial utility. The site has road access via the E34 and connections to rail and inland waterways inside one of Europe’s largest port complexes. For a manufacturer or logistics operator, that combination addresses two infrastructure questions simultaneously: whether material can move efficiently and whether enough electrical power will be available once the building starts operating.
Grid capacity is becoming a harder constraint on industrial development in several European markets. A warehouse, factory, automated distribution centre, or charging facility can often be designed more quickly than the surrounding electricity network can be reinforced. Recent evidence from UK ports showed operators expecting future power requirements to reach multiples of existing connections as electrification expands. Antwerp is a different electricity market, but WDP’s acquisition illustrates the same commercial point: an existing firm connection can materially change the value of an industrial site.
The completed transaction also gives a precise financial value to that opportunity. The property was contributed to WDP at €23.5 million in exchange for 1,111,141 new shares issued at €21.19 each. WDP says the structure strengthened shareholder equity by the same amount. The financing mechanics are less important editorially than what was acquired, but they show the company securing the site and its power allocation before committing the larger development expenditure.
The deal forms part of a broader European landbank programme. WDP says it has secured approximately €145 million of land positions so far this year, comprising the Antwerp site alongside substantial areas in France, the Netherlands, and Romania. The strategy is intended to maintain visibility over future development opportunities rather than forcing the company to compete only for completed buildings after demand has already been established.
Brownfield status creates its own engineering work. Existing structures must be removed and the site remediated before major new construction can begin, while the eventual layout will need to account for the retained electricity connection and whichever type of occupier is selected. A conventional logistics user will have different requirements from a process plant or power-intensive automated facility, particularly around electrical distribution, cooling, resilience, fire protection, and equipment space.
The timetable from 2028 gives WDP room to shape the campus around actual demand rather than fixing the entire design immediately. That can be particularly valuable when electrical capacity is one of the site’s defining assets, because allocating large loads across several occupiers requires a different design from providing standard warehouse services. The firm connection offers flexibility, but only if the development preserves it through the detailed engineering stage.
Industrial property has traditionally been marketed through location, motorway access, labour availability, plot size, and proximity to customers. None of those factors has disappeared, but grid capacity is increasingly joining them near the top of the specification. WDP now controls 100,000m² in Antwerp with 40MVA already secured. The investment case will ultimately be tested by whether it can turn that scarce electrical capacity into buildings occupied by companies prepared to pay for it.
