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Amenabar Will Complete 4,000 Homes In 3 Years

12 June 2017 – Expansión

With more than three decades of experience under its belt, the Basque property developer Amenabar is now immersed in a new growth phase, which includes a review of its strategic plan to update it with more ambitious numbers. “At the moment, we have more than 2,500 homes under construction, at various stages. Furthermore, we have made a commitment to our clients to sell 4,117 units between 2017 and 2020”, explained Enaut Saiz, CEO of Amenabar Promociones (pictured above) in an interview with Expansión.

Headquartered in San Sebastián, Amenabar is currently focusing the majority of its development efforts in Madrid, where it owns land to build 2,000 homes, and Euskadi, where it is working on around 1,700 units across several developments. “Since 1981, we have developed and built more than 223,000 homes (…)”.

Over the last 18 months, the Donosti-based property developer has spent more than €200 million buying up land. “(…). These investments have taken place in Madrid, País Vasco, Cataluña, Navarra and the Costa del Sol, but we are now also looking at investment opportunities in other provincial capitals”, said the CEO, who added that the firm is likely to continue to invest over the next few months.

Objectives

“We have exceeded the objectives set in our strategic plan, and so we are currently reviewing it since it is likely that our objectives will increase in line with our new investments. In any case, we are very prudent in terms of our investment policy and we prioritise land in good locations with buildable status”, explained the CEO. According to the company, its portfolio of land, which spans 570,000 m2, is worth €900 million.

Last year (2016), Amenabar recorded turnover of more than €380.34 million, up by 13% compared to the previous year and that figure will only rise with the completion of all of the homes it now has under development. (…).

The property developer’s commitment to build 4,117 homes between 2017 and 2020….represents a figure that exceeds the plans even of Neinor Homes, owned by the US fund Lone Star, which debuted on the stock market at the end of March and which is currently building 4,000 homes. (…).

Amenabar’s ambitious growth plan coincides with the emergence of several new property developers that are not being led by Spanish families and businesspeople, like during the previous cycle, but rather by overseas funds.

“Nowadays, there are new real estate operators, in particular, property developers owned by international investment funds or managers who finance one-off projects through this type of entity. Although we cannot generalise (about our competitors), we are committed to a totally different kind of model. Our focus is on the construction of homes using our own means and with our commitment to the concept of customised housing, which we have been developing for more than 30 years”, said Saiz.

Unlike its competitors, Amenabar is not planning to debut on the stock market to raise more funds. “A stock market debut is not on the cards for us. We are in an excellent financial position to fulfil our annual investment budget and we don’t need to go down that route. Moreover, we are fortunate that our shareholders are committed to a long-standing tradition of reinvesting profits in the development of the business itself”, he said.

Original story: Expansión (by Rocío Ruiz)

Translation: Carmel Drake