Medical device company Teleflex Inc. has inked a substantial lease in DeSoto County, continuing to reduce the availability of Class A bulk inventory in the local industrial market.

Limerick, Pa.-based Teleflex has signed a 627,294-square-foot lease at Olive Branch Distribution Center, 11244 Distribution Cove.

The deal represents the largest lease since July 2010, when Hamilton Beach Brands Inc. took 1.2 million square feet in the former Pottery Barn space at 11624 S. Distribution Cove, also in Olive Branch Distribution Center.

The Class A warehouse at 11244 Distribution Cove was recently vacated by Excel Logistics. Teleflex’s prompt backfill of the majority of the nearly 1 million-square-foot vacancy in Olive Branch significantly reduces a potentially high negative absorption figure, according to CB Richard Ellis Memphis’ second-quarter MarketView report.

Two additional large leases in DeSoto County – West Coast Novelty Corp.’s 216,320 square feet and StyleCraft Home Collection Inc.’s 167,000 square feet – brought the submarket’s net absorption to a negative 29,440 square feet. That second-quarter absorption was a minor offset to strong leasing activity in the Southeast (899,877 square feet), Southwest (97,141 square feet) and Northwest (95,042 square feet) submarkets.

Total absorption in the Memphis Metropolitan Statistical Area from March to June was more than 1 million square feet, due to almost 2.5 million square feet in new industrial leases. What’s more, vacancy dropped by 0.5 percent – the largest single-quarter decrease in the last six quarters – to 13 percent.

Net absorption for the Memphis MSA industrial market is forecasted to be positive by year end, with up to five “active requirements” exceeding 500,000 square feet, according to CBRE’s report.

Teleflex’s new facility spans 998,884 square feet and includes a total of 18,502 square feet of office space, 32-foot clear height, 137 dock doors and an option to expand by 196,560 square feet.

Listing agents for 11244 Distribution Cove are Brad Kornegay, Tim Mashburn and Al Andrews with Colliers International’s Memphis office. Patrick Burke, senior vice president with CBRE Memphis, represented Teleflex.

Founded in 1943, Teleflex has grown from an operating company focused on engineering to a diversified industrial company to the more recent transition of becoming a pure-play medical device company.

Teleflex, which got its name from a throttle control used in the British Supermarine Spitfire fighter planes during World War II, employs 11,500 people worldwide and serves health care providers in 140 countries. Its 2011 net revenues were $1.5 billion.

Teleflex’s global headquarters is in Limerick, Pa., while its North American headquarters is in Research Triangle Park, N.C.

The company operates 23 manufacturing sites, according to its 2011 Annual Report, with major manufacturing facilities in Czech Republic, Malaysia, Mexico and the U.S. The largest facility Teleflex leases is in Haslet, Texas, at 303,000 square feet.

In addition, Teleflex owns or leases 63 properties consisting of plants, engineering and research centers, distribution warehouses, offices and other facilities.