Barings Finalises Purchase of 4 Office Buildings from GreenOak

2 December 2018 – Eje Prime

Barings is on the verge of acquiring 100% of Avalon. The British fund manager is finalising the purchase from GreenOak of the four office buildings that it owns in the Madrilenian business park. If the operation goes ahead, the British company will become the owner of the nine properties that make up the complex.

Avalon Business Park is an enclosed business park, with a total surface area of 47,000 m2 and 1,000 parking spaces, located in the Julián Camarillo area of Madrid. Barings has been present in the complex since the end of the summer when it purchased five office buildings, with a combined surface area of 25,785 m2, from Meridia Capital for €73 million.

Now, the fund manager wants to advance with its growth plan in Spain by acquiring the four remaining properties, owned by GreenOak, which have a combined surface area of 21,170 m2. The US fund has owned the assets since 2015 when it purchased them from Banco Santander for €40 million. Almost four years later, the price of the properties amounts to around €60 million, according to reports from Expansión.

Barings arrived in the Spanish market three years ago and has already undertaken several investments in other real estate segments. In November 2017, the company purchased a logistics centre in Plaza (Zaragoza) from Deka, which it added to another logistics asset that it acquired in Madrid in April last year for €35 million.

The fund manager also has a portfolio of retail assets, which includes the Berceo shopping centre in Logroño (La Rioja). The British group acquired that complex, which has a gross leasable area (GLA) of more than 34,000 m2 at the beginning of 2018, after reaching an agreement with CBRE Global Investors, the former owner.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake