Prologis

Prologis, Inc.

Company type	Public
Industry	Real estate investment trust
Predecessor	AMB Property Corporation, Prologis
Founded	2011 (2011) (merger of AMB Property Corporation and Prologis)
Headquarters	San Francisco , United States
Area served	North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia
Key people	Hamid R. Moghadam (CEO)
Products	Logistics properties, warehouse spaces, solar energy solutions, racking equipment, forklifts, generators, electric vehicle charging stations, logistics technologies
Website	www.prologis.com

Prologis, Inc. is a real estate investment trust based in San Francisco, California that focuses on logistics properties. Established in 2011 through the merger of AMB Property Corporation and Prologis, it emerged as the world's largest industrial real estate firm. By 2025, the company oversees more than 15,000 acres of land and approximately 6,000 buildings, covering around 1.3 billion square feet across 20 countries spanning North America, Latin America, Europe, and Asia. Its core strategy emphasizes acquiring warehouse spaces close to major metropolitan areas where land is scarce. Prologis serves roughly 6,600 tenants and has broadened its portfolio beyond real estate with the Essentials division launched in 2018, which provides offerings such as solar energy solutions, racking equipment, forklifts, generators, electric vehicle charging stations, and additional logistics technologies available for purchase.

History

The foundation of Prologis traces back to AMB, its earliest predecessor founded in 1984. The current entity was formed in 2011 when AMB merged with ProLogis, both U.S.-based multinational real estate enterprises.

Formation in 1983 and Initial Development

Hamid Moghadam and Doug Abbey established Abbey, Moghadam and Company in 1983, positioning it as an investment management firm catering to institutional clients. The following year, T. Robert Burke joined, leading to the creation of AMB Property Corporation, which concentrated on office, industrial, and retail real estate investments for major institutional investors. Amid the savings and loan crisis, AMB strategically avoided significant losses by focusing on industrial parks and shopping centers, while divesting from office properties by 1987. In 1989, the company introduced its inaugural private equity fund aimed at industrial and retail assets.

AMB transitioned to a public company in late 1997 through an initial public offering, managing assets exceeding $2.8 billion at that time. By 1999, it divested its retail holdings to concentrate exclusively on industrial properties. Beginning in 2002, AMB expanded its international footprint by developing distribution centers for clients such as Procter & Gamble near critical global trade locations across Latin America, Asia, and Europe. The company established an internal development division in 2004 and further extended its operations into China and Brazil by 2011.

Security Capital Industrial Trust (SCI) Origins and Global Growth

Security Capital Industrial Trust (SCI), founded by entrepreneur William Sanders in 1991, went public in 1994 and is recognized as a predecessor to Prologis.

ProLogis, Inc. was officially incorporated in November 1997 under the leadership of K. Dane Brooksher, a former executive from KPMG.

In July 1998, SCI rebranded as ProLogis Trust and operated across 84 markets within 12 countries, boasting a market capitalization close to $5 billion. Later that year, in November 1998, it acquired Meridian Industrial Trust through a stock transaction valued at $862.5 million, thereby becoming the largest industrial property owner in the United States. ProLogis launched its first property funds in 1999 and entered the Japanese market in 2001, simultaneously shortening its corporate name to ProLogis. The company made its entry into China in 2003 via a joint venture with Suzhou Logistics Center Co. Ltd and was included in the S&P 500 Index that same year. In 2004, ProLogis acquired Keystone Industrial Trust for $1.6 billion. Brooksher stepped down as CEO at the end of 2004.

By 2005, ProLogis was headquartered in Aurora, Colorado, and acquired Catellus Development Corporation for $3.6 billion; it later sold a portion of those assets along with Catellus naming rights to TPG Capital for $505 million in 2011.

ProLogis had become a Fortune 1000 company by 2006; its European Properties Fund also went public during this period. After a phase of rapid expansion coupled with significant leverage, CEO Jeffrey Schwartz was succeeded by Walter Rakowich in 2008. Rakowich focused on cost reduction measures, capital raising initiatives, and asset divestitures. In December of that year, ProLogis sold assets to Singapore's GIC Private Limited, which led to the formation of Global Logistic Properties.

In 2009, ProLogis divested its China operations along with certain Japanese assets to GIC for $1.3 billion while securing financing from Deutsche Pfandbriefbank and another German financial institution. Subsequently, The Blackstone Group acquired approximately $1 billion worth of assets from ProLogis toward the end of 2010.

2011 merger to present

In March 2011, AMB Property partnered with Allianz Real Estate to establish a €470 million joint venture. Earlier that same year, AMB agreed to acquire ProLogis for $8.7 billion, resulting in the formation of the world's largest industrial real estate firm operating under the Prologis brand. The combined company, headquartered in San Francisco with an additional office in Denver, managed assets totaling $46 billion across North America, Europe, Asia, and South America, with a market capitalization near $24 billion. Initially, AMB CEO Hamid R. Moghadam and Prologis CEO Walter Rakowich served jointly as co-CEOs, with Moghadam assuming sole leadership in 2013.

In February 2012, Prologis divested a UK portfolio encompassing 3.5 million square feet to The Blackstone Group for $335 million. On February 14, 2013, Nippon Prologis REIT launched a $1 billion initial public offering on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. That year also saw Prologis form a $3.1 billion European joint venture with Norges Bank Investment Management and collaborate with Blackstone to acquire a 17 million square foot portfolio from Lehman Brothers for $960 million. Japan emerged as Prologis' second-largest market after the United States, supporting its global growth strategy.

In 2014, Prologis executed a spin-off of FIBRA Prologis in Mexico, raising approximately US$541 million, and sold a U.S. portfolio of 59 properties to TPG for $375 million. By early 2015, the company managed $29 billion across eleven funds and sold an industrial park located in Silicon Valley to Facebook. Plans were announced to relocate Denver operations downtown by 2017. In June 2015, Prologis and Norges Bank acquired KTR Capital Partners for $5.9 billion, broadening their U.S. industrial presence via the Prologis U.S. Logistics Venture. Later that year, Prologis purchased Morris Realty Associates' logistics and retail assets for $820 million while divesting retail properties to Blackstone for $374 million.

Prologis introduced its venture capital division, Prologis Ventures, in March 2016 and by 2024 had invested over $250 million in roughly 50 early- and growth-stage enterprises. By late 2016, the company had developed multi-level warehouses in Japan, Singapore, and China and commenced construction of the first multi-story warehouse in the United States located in Seattle.

Noteworthy acquisitions include DCT Industrial Trust for $8.5 billion in 2018; Liberty Property Trust for $13 billion in January 2020; and Industrial Property Trust for $4 billion in February 2020. In April 2021, Prologis purchased Hilltop Mall in Richmond, California for $117 million; by June 2022 it acquired the land beneath California’s Great America amusement park with plans for closure by 2033. The October 2022 acquisition of Duke Realty for $23 billion represented the largest commercial real estate transaction in the U.S. since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. In June 2023, Prologis expanded its portfolio by acquiring an additional 14 million square feet of industrial space from Blackstone for $3.1 billion.

Prologis was the first logistics REIT to establish an approved science-based target for carbon emissions reduction in 2018 and pledged to achieve net-zero emissions by 2040. The company completed the world’s first industrial building awarded Zero Carbon Certification in Eindhoven, Netherlands (2020) and constructed North America’s largest heavy-duty truck charging facility powered by a microgrid in Torrance, California (2024). That same year, it ranked second nationally for on-site solar energy generation according to the Solar Energy Industries Association.

In 2024, Prologis placed 39th on the Drucker Institute and The Wall Street Journal’s Management Top 250 list for employee engagement and development efforts. It also received accolades from Corporate Knights Global 100, Fast Company, and Time magazine recognizing its sustainability and innovation achievements. The firm is listed at #465 on the Fortune 500 ranking.

Market research

Since 2016, the firm has released exclusive market research reports, such as the quarterly Industrial Business Indicator and the yearly Prologis Logistics Rent Index. Partnering with Oxford Economic Papers, the company revealed that in 2022, $2.7 trillion worth of goods—representing 2.8% of worldwide GDP—moved through Prologis properties, resulting in an economic contribution of $300 billion. These findings highlight the company's substantial influence and extensive operations within the logistics real estate sector.