Lladó Buys Uría y Menéndez’s Future HQ From Hispania

16 May 2017 – El Confidencial

In the same way that Amancio Ortega is using the juicy dividend that he receives from Inditex to build his real estate empire, another successful home-grown businessman, José Lladó, President and majority shareholder of Técnicas Reunidas, is also investing the bulk of the money that he receives from his infrastructure group into iconic buildings.

Last year, Lladó reportedly received €29 million and he has used those funds to acquire the new headquarters of the law firm Uría y Menéndez. As circumstances would have it, that was the only building that Hispania had left out of the sales mandate that it awarded to CBRE and JLL, when it appointed them to find a buyer for its entire office portfolio. Sources at the Socimi have declined to comment.

According to three sources in the market, the reason is that the Lladó family has put a juicy offer on the table that limits the yield on its investment to 3.5%. It is a classic move by this kind of family office, which tend to prioritise the best assets and tenants possible, even if that means securing lower returns, given that their strategies are typically aimed at acquiring good properties, with stable and guaranteed returns.

Uría y Menéndez is the second largest law firm in Spain by turnover and last October, it signed a 17-year lease contract for the building located on Calle Suero de Quiñones 42 in Madrid, and it is obliged to fulfil at least half of that term.

Currently, Hispania is immersed in the comprehensive renovation of the property, in a project worth €5 million, which is expected to be completed at the end of this year. The law firm will rename the new headquarters, which will be complementary to the property it already owns at nearby Príncipe de Vergara, 187, as the “Aurelio Menéndez Building”: its new design is the handiwork of architect Rafael de la Hoz.

This acquisition follows the pattern applied by Lladó last year, involving investing areas on the rise, where the value of the asset itself promises to increase significantly over the coming years. On that occasion, the owner of Técnicas Reunidas purchased a building on Calle Marqués de la Ensenada 2, located just a few metres from Plaza de Colón, for €6 million.

In the summer of 2014, it made another significant acquisition on Paseo de Recoletos, 15 from Vía Célere, the property that houses Catalunya Caixa’s headquarters in Madrid, for almost €20 million, to join the neighbour at number 33 on the same thoroughfare, which is also owned by Lladó. (…).

Original story: El Confidencial (by Ruth Ugalde)

Translation: Carmel Drake

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