Month: October 2014

Cerberus, Apollo & TPG Clash Over Preferable Contract of Sareb

Three large international funds, Cerberus, Apollo and TPG, are competing for one of the four asset management contracts awarded by the bad bank, Sareb. This juicy portfolio includes loans of Bankia and real-estate-backed credits of Banco de Valencia.

Project Ibero, as the bidding process was named, targets at granting management of Sareb’s €50 billion load of REO assets to specialized companies. Recently, the administative board of the bad bank has decided that due to high complexity of the operation each contract will be signed in phases.

As no concrete issues have been discussed, the meeting could be attended by executives with some interest conflict: Remigio Iglesias, Santander’s CEO, allied with Apollo; Antonio Massanell (vice-president of CaixaBank) teamed up with TPG; nor Miguel Montes, general director at Banco Sabadell, whose real estate arm Solvia takes part in the bidding.

The project consists of four portfolios including: first, mentioned above €20.23 billion worth of Bankia’s loans and Banco de Valencia’s assets, second containing REO properties of Catalunya Banc, BMN and Caja 3 valued at €14.65 billion in total, third €8.01 billion in assets proceeding from NCG Banco and Liberbank, and the last carrying along collaterals of Bankia and assets and loans of Ceiss and Banco Gallego amounting to almost €7.8 billion.

The Competition

The first and most desired portfolio (as it encompasses 40% of all assets) is very likely to fall into hands of Cerberus and its Spanish spin-off Haya Real Estate. The reason is that the fund has purchased Bankia Habitat, servicer of Bankia, and outsourcing the management now would mean an enormous cost. Moreover, for Cerberus it would be equal to losing large market share in Spain. Still, Apollo with its 85% stake in Altamira and TPG with its 51% in Servihabitat could submit interesting counter-bids.

According to sources close to the task, negotiations are no walk in the park for two reasons. On one side, Sareb demands an upfront payment and on the other, if the business plan is not accomplished, management fees will be lower.

Apart from Cerberus, Apollo and TPG, other three funds strive at getting one of the contracts: Centerbridge, Solvia and Abanca.

 
Original article: Expansión (by Jorge Zuloaga)
Translation: AURA REE

Cerberus, Apollo & TPG Clash Over Preferable Contract of Sareb

30/10/2014 – Expansion

Three large international funds, Cerberus, Apollo and TPG, are competing for one of the four asset management contracts awarded by the bad bank, Sareb. This juicy portfolio includes loans of Bankia and real-estate-backed credits of Banco de Valencia.

Project Ibero, as the bidding process was named, targets at granting management of Sareb’s €50 billion load of REO assets to specialized companies. Recently, the administative board of the bad bank has decided that due to high complexity of the operation each contract will be signed in phases.

As no concrete issues have been discussed, the meeting could be attended by executives with some interest conflict: Remigio Iglesias, Santander’s CEO, allied with Apollo; Antonio Massanell (vice-president of CaixaBank) teamed up with TPG; nor Miguel Montes, general director at Banco Sabadell, whose real estate arm Solvia takes part in the bidding.

The project consists of four portfolios including: first, mentioned above €20.23 billion worth of Bankia’s loans and Banco de Valencia’s assets, second containing REO properties of Catalunya Banc, BMN and Caja 3 valued at €14.65 billion in total, third €8.01 billion in assets proceeding from NCG Banco and Liberbank, and the last carrying along collaterals of Bankia and assets and loans of Ceiss and Banco Gallego amounting to almost €7.8 billion.

The Competition

The first and most desired portfolio (as it encompasses 40% of all assets) is very likely to fall into hands of Cerberus and its Spanish spin-off Haya Real Estate. The reason is that the fund has purchased Bankia Habitat, servicer of Bankia, and outsourcing the management now would mean an enormous cost. Moreover, for Cerberus it would be equal to losing large market share in Spain. Still, Apollo with its 85% stake in Altamira and TPG with its 51% in Servihabitat could submit interesting counter-bids.

According to sources close to the task, negotiations are no walk in the park for two reasons. On one side, Sareb demands an upfront payment and on the other, if the business plan is not accomplished, management fees will be lower.

Apart from Cerberus, Apollo and TPG, other three funds strive at getting one of the contracts: Centerbridge, Solvia and Abanca.

 

Original article: Expansión (by Jorge Zuloaga)

Translation: AURA REE

Pontegadea, GMP & Insurers Vie For Old Saint Gobain Premises

The sale of the old headquarters of Saint Gobain (pictured in the center), situated at 77 Paseo de la Castellana street in Madrid, has become a special focus of international funds and Spanish companies.

BBVA’s 16-storey property is located in the downtown and within the Azca zone has 16.000 square meter area. It stands just next to the Torre Picasso tower, owned by Pontegadea, and the Torre BBVA, unit of Gmp. In fact, the two neighbors expressed their interest in buying the property, said sources close to the process.

When it comes to Gmp, the real estate firm and its partner Singapore Sovereign Fund (GIC) has recently presented its new strategic plan.

In turn, Pontegadea, owner of the abovementioned Torre Picasso and the 79 Castellana building, has been doing shopping in markets of London and New York. If the firm of Amancio Ortega purchases the property, it will be able to create synergies as ‘the current tenants of its units want to grow and have no available space for that’, the sources assure.

Other potential bidders for the Saint Gobain tower are insurers like Mapfre or Generali, unable to resist an office building on the Castellana street.

The Price

In 2003, BBVA acquired the unit for €87.5 million from Saint-Gobain that have been renting it until last year, when it moved to 4.300 square meter office space at 132 Principe de Vergara street.

It is expected the entity will ask for a similar amount, in spite of the need of an overall renovation of the property, estimated to require an up to €10 million expense. In any way, until now BBVA has preferred to see the bids before setting any price.

 
Original article: Expansión (by R. Ruiz)
Translation: AURA REE

Pontegadea, GMP & Insurers Vie For Old Saint Gobain Premises

30/10/2014 – Expansion

The sale of the old headquarters of Saint Gobain (pictured in the center), situated at 77 Paseo de la Castellana street in Madrid, has become a special focus of international funds and Spanish companies.

BBVA’s 16-storey property is located in the downtown and within the Azca zone has 16.000 square meter area. It stands just next to the Torre Picasso tower, owned by Pontegadea, and the Torre BBVA, unit of Gmp. In fact, the two neighbors expressed their interest in buying the property, said sources close to the process.

When it comes to Gmp, the real estate firm and its partner Singapore Sovereign Fund (GIC) has recently presented its new strategic plan.

In turn, Pontegadea, owner of the abovementioned Torre Picasso and the 79 Castellana building, has been doing shopping in markets of London and New York. If the firm of Amancio Ortega purchases the property, it will be able to create synergies as ‘the current tenants of its units want to grow and have no available space for that’, the sources assure.

Other potential bidders for the Saint Gobain tower are insurers like Mapfre or Generali, unable to resist an office building on the Castellana street.

The Price

In 2003, BBVA acquired the unit for €87.5 million from Saint-Gobain that have been renting it until last year, when it moved to 4.300 square meter office space at 132 Principe de Vergara street.

It is expected the entity will ask for a similar amount, in spite of the need of an overall renovation of the property, estimated to require an up to €10 million expense. In any way, until now BBVA has preferred to see the bids before setting any price.

 

Original article: Expansión (by R. Ruiz)

Translation: AURA REE

Triangle, First Socimi From the Logistics Sector

Spanish companies TPF Consultora Inmobiliaria, Ética Patrimonios and La Nave Consulting are giving the finishing touch to the IPO of Triangle, innovative Socimi (REIT in Spain) whose activity will focus on the logisitics sector.

The freshly established firm foresees investments of €100 million in the execution phase and then of €150 million in the subsquent realization phase.

Year-to-date, Triangle, advised by the Garrigues lawyer office, could count on equity of a large U.S. fund and still it looks for a partner or two to team-up in short-term.

Fernando Ibáñez, CEO at Ética Patrimonios, informed  that ‘the mandate and the committed funds from a big-name foreign fund that did some business in Spain are already there. We would fancy welcome some other investor, though’.

The expert put emphasis on the fact that Triangle will be ‘the first and only Socimi specialized not solely in retail and offices but also in logistics assets, a segment with a huge potential’ as its returns post higher than 7% annually and if financial leverage added, the product’s ROI may bring up to 15%‘.

Triangle’s team has already localized and identified 400.000 square meters of logistics parks, mostly found in Barcelona, Madrid, Valencia, Zaragoza and Murcia bound to make the portfolio of the Socimi up.

‘We aim at floating Triangle within 12 months‘, the executive assured.

The Socimis do not pay the Corporate Tax, currently standing at 30%. In order to enjoy the relief, the company must give out dividends on 80% of proceeds from renting, 50% of capital gains obtained from asset sales (not applicable to re-investment) and 100% of profits from investing in other REITs.

Fernando Ibáñez maintains that ‘although the first Socimis were listed with view to taking advantage of the market circumstances and diversification, currently there are more and more investors who demand specific specialization, like in offices, industrial, commercial or logistics. These vehicles are the so-called Socimis 2.0′.

 
Original article: Expansión (by A. Antón)
Translation: AURA REE

Torreal in Talks With FCC & Bankia on Purchase of Realia Patrimonio

30/10/2014 – Expansion

Investment vehicle of the Abello family, Torreal, has started negotiations with FCC and Bankia, two majority stakeholders of Realia, on possible acquisition of the property arm of the listed company, Patrimonio.

Torreal’s bid arrived at the moment when the sale of the 55.95% controlling stake held by the builder and the bank was in the deadlock. At the end of 2013, Goldman Sachs was named to coordinate the process and it received offers from Orion, AEW , Cerberus and even from Pontegadea, the real estate firm of Amancio Ortega.

The Bids

Finally, only three offers have been accepted. On one hand, the one submitted by funds King Street and Fortress that, after buying 60% of Realia’s debt from Santander and Sareb, seek swapping the liabilities for a stake in the firm.

Next bid arrived from another large real estate company listed on the stock exchange market: Colonial, which offered €650 million for Realia Patrimonio only, excluding the housing and land business and setting several conditions and a deadline for negotiation: July 31. Colonial claims the bid has not been refused but the process ceased.

Few days ago, Torreal joined the auction. Alike the Colonial’s offer, the bid of the Abellos targets only the offices of Realia Patrimonio (more than 70 units), including company Hermanos Revilla. However, sources close to the family office suggest the offer might be extended to the entire firm.

Portfolio of the property manager includes such gems as the Torre Kio skyscraper in Madrid, as well as several shopping malls, finished residential products and developable land.

Last year, Torreal submitted another bid for Colonial itself. Eventually, it was Juan Miguel Villar Mir who bought the company from hands of banks and injected more than €300 million in it.

At the end of 2013, Realia’s assets were worth €3.38 billion in total with 45% proceeding from France. In May, the Spanish property manager sold its share in Siic de París and thereby cut its debt half.

In the first half of the year, Realia earned €53.9 million and lost €18.5 million. Its shares trade at 1.05 Euros each.

 

Original article: Expansión (by Rocío Ruiz)

Translation: AURA REE

Husa Group Shown at Least €153.3 Mn in the Red

30/10/2014 – Cinco Dias

Six companies of the Husa group that are currently undergoing the brankruptcy process jointly show a €153.3 million financial deficit, states a report by the insolvency authorities of Barcelona.

The remainder proceeds from €68.5 million in assets and €221.8 million in accrued liabilities of the firms. Another €50 million shall be taken into consideration, deriving from pending lawsuits and claims. If all added up, the total debt of the group could amount to €202.6 million.

The group chaired by Joan Gaspart (pictured) shows a €221.8 million in the red, 40.2% owed to the Treasury and the Social Security, 26.4% to principal lenders: CaixaBank and Banco Sabadell, and the remaining 31.3% to general creditors.

Both the judge and other official receivers believe the debt may increase as more companies from the group are very likely to voluntarily present bankruptcy petitions.

Hosteleria Unida fell into insolvency in February this year and as a result several hotels were sold. Among them, the iconic Palace de Barcelona. Moreover, 300 employees lost their jobs.

The firm accrues the biggest deficit, €115.7 million, as it owns a €34.7 million worth of assets – initially declared to be worth €145 million – and €150.4 million in liabilities.

The other companies from the group that face tough financial situation are: CCIB Catering with €2.2 million in the red, Cadena Menta with €6.3 million, Banquetes Reunidos with €17.6 million, Hosteleria Unida Dos with €2.8 million and Jardines de Albia with €8.7 million. The penultimate one operates on normal basis, holding the Imperial Tarraco hotel.

The court foresees closing the Bankruptcy Order stage before the Christmas break and opening the creditors’ meeting just after that.

 

Original article: Cinco Días

Translation: AURA REE

Investment in Non-Residential RE Reaches €5 Bn, Up 34% Over Entire 2013

30/10/2014 – Expansion

During the first nine months of 2014, a nearly €5.04 billion amount was spent on the Spanish real estate. The score beats the 2013 figures by 34%, reports BNP Paribas Real Estate.

The company estimates that the data ‘reflects sustainable interest of investors, both domestic and foreign, in a market offering prices close to the bottom levels’.

BNP says Socimis (Spanish REITs) contributed to the numbers significantly as they have spent €2 billion on residential and commercial real estate in Spain.

The firm claims that beyond these vehicles stands the ‘unsatisfied appetite of international investors who invested the equity throught various formulas’.

Most 2014 active so far have been the Northern American, the British, the Asian and the Latin American investors. Speaking of the asset types, prime retail parks are considered the engine of this year’s bumper investment as they account for 32% of the total, although behind the office sector (34%). Hotels repesented 20%, while logistics units 9% of the whole investment volume.

The Investment director at BNP Paribas Real Estate España, Francisco Manchon, stated that ‘2014 is exceptional in terms of real estate spending. The market has stayed at its lows when it comes to return and capital value since the end of 90s and this drew attention of those who found out that Europe alternative markets are worn-out’, the executive highlighted.

 

Original article: Expansión

Translation: AURA REE

Inditex Seals €39 Mn Deal on Building Leased to Zara on Born St., Palma

30/10/2014 – Cinco Dias

Inditex bought another building occupied by one of its brands. This time the clothing giant acquired a property leased to Zara found on Born, Palma de Mallorca’s ‘golden mile’, for €39 million.

Usually renting, Inditex assured it had not changed its strategy and the transaction was included in recent group’s results.

Two years ago, Inditex purchased another building occupied by a Zara store in London, UK, from Deka for €192 million. Moreover, the tycoon snapped up a huge property in Milan for €103 million and another 3.600 square meter shop on the Fifth Avenue, New York, for €257 million.

The building acquired in Palma de Mallorca has 3.000 square meters. Its facade is protected. As a matter of fact, Inditex bought Born, company founded in 1930 which manages the property.

As per July 31 2014, Inditex owned 6.460 stores all over the globe (1.839 in Spain, 2.840 in the rest of Europe, 570 in America and 1.211 in the rest of the world).

Out of the total of shops, 843 units are franchises. Zara trades clothes in 1.863 stores, Pull & Bear in 872, Massimo Dutti in 681, Bershka in 973, Stradivarius in 877, Oysho in 556, Zara Home in 408 and finally, Uterqüe in 67.

In the first half of the year, the firm chaired by Pablo Isla invested €802.7 million in new openings and renovations. Amancio Ortega controls a 59.29% share in Inditex through Gartler (50%), and Partler 2006 (9.2%).

Real estate company of the magnate, Pontegadea Inmobiliaria, earned €93.3 million in 2013. Its most noteworthy assets are the Torre Picasso skyscraper in Madrid, the Devonshire House, London, and a building in Manhattan.

In 2014, Pontegadea purchased the old premises of Banesto on the Plaza Catalunya square, Barcelona, for €44 million from Sareb and the property let to Apple in Valencia for €23.5 million.

 

Original article: Cinco Días (Alberto Ortín Ramón)

Translation: AURA REE

Ibosa & Pryconsa Submit Bids For Metro’s Best Plot

30/10/2014 – Cinco Dias

Real estate companies Ibosa and Pryconsa have been the only to submit bids for the Cuatro Caminos plot auctioned by Madrid’s Metro. The Ibosa group attended the tender as a cooperative. Asking price was set at €81.8 million.

The four-hectare piece of land is situated between the Cuatro Caminos, the Avenida Pablo Iglesias and the Bravo Murillo streets. Its buildable area exceeds 62.000 square meters. The winner will have to award 27.560 square meters for a public building and intend 10.026 square meters for green areas.

If it is Ibosa, the firm is going to construct 450 dwellings inside an over-25-storey tower with three terraces and hanging gardens.

Now, Metro will view the offers and check if the bidders meet the administrative requirements set for the tender. If they don’t, they will have three days to rectify it. If they do, the process will take the next stages, involving a possibility of raising the bid.

The name of the winner will be revealed in November and the plot will be conveyed in December.

This auction is just a part of the large-scale venture of Metro, aiming at shedding real estate assets for at least €120 million. In total, 95.000 square meter areas occupied depots and other facilities will be developed.

 

Original article: Cinco Días (by Alberto Ortín Ramón)

Translation: AURA REE