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Lar España Raises Valuation Of Its Asset Portfolio By 20%

10 July 2017 – Expansión

After several years creating large asset portfolios, the Socimis are now immersed in the management of their portfolios. Lar España, the listed real estate investment company created by the real estate company Grupo Lar, was the first of the four largest Socimis to debut on the stock market, in March 2014, and it made its debut without any assets on its balance sheet. Three years later, the company now owns a portfolio worth €1,448.2 million, according to a statement released last week.

That figure is 20% higher than the price that Lar España paid for those assets, in other words, the Socimi has increased the value of its properties by €235 million through its management. “The increase reached at the end of this year is particularly significant – if we compare the figures with those seen at the end of June 2016, the values have risen by 9.3%”, said the company.

Type of assets

The €1,500 million in assets owned by Lar España include, above all, shopping centres, with 16 assets worth more than €1,000 million, up by 15.2% compared to their collective purchase price. In recent months, the Socimi in which the fund manager Pimco holds a stake has invested €255 million in the purchase of two shopping centres, Parque Abadía in Toledo and Gran Vía de Vigo, as well as in 22 other retail premises throughout Spain.

In the case of the office portfolio (the Socimi owns five office buildings), its value has increased by more than 27% to €178.6 million, whilst its logistics properties have appreciated in value by 31.6% to €83.3 million.

Nevertheless, the highest increases in value were recorded by the Socimi’s projects under construction: four in-progress developments are now worth €145.4 million, up by 40%. The most noteworthy of these is the Lagasca 99 development. In January 2015, Lar España decided to make an exception to its strategy of investing in rental assets by acquiring a residential plot in the neighbourhood of Salamanca in Madrid. To this end, it invested €100 million, together with Pimco, on the purchase of a plot of land with a buildability of 26,000 m2. More than half of the 55 homes on that site have already been sold.

Original story: Expansión (by Rocío Ruiz)

Translation: Carmel Drake