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Lar Negotiates the Sale of Two Office Buildings in Madrid to Colonial

 

23 August 2017

 The Egeo office building, on Parthenon Avenue in Madrid

The buildings are in the north of Madrid and have a gross leasable area of almost 27,000 square meters.

The turnover of assets between socimis (Spanish REITs) is picking up pace and boosting the real estate sector. Lar España is in negotiations with Colonial for the sale of two office buildings, both located in the north of Madrid, which together have a current market valuation of more than 100 million euros, Expansión learned from market sources.

The socimi, which is owned by the U.S. investment manager Pimco, is negotiating the sale of a building located at 336 Calle Arturo Soria in Madrid. This asset has a gross rentable area of 8,663 square meters distributed over nine floors and has 193 parking spaces. The building is occupied by, among other tenants, Clear Channel, Banco Santander and Segurcaixa Adeslas.

Lar España bought the building in July 2014 from the German real estate fund manager IVG Institutional Funds (now Triuva) for €24.2 million. According to the latest available information, on July 30, this asset had a market valuation of 28.9 million euros.

The other building under negotiation is located on Parthenon Avenue in Campo de las Naciones. The property, known by the name Egeo, has an area of 18,252 square meters distributed on six floors above ground level and has 350 parking spaces. The socimi acquired the building in December 2014 from the German company MEAG for €64.9 million. Currently, the asset is valued at €76.1 million.

Shopping Centres

These divestments are part of Lar España’s strategic plan, which aims to focus on shopping centres and take advantage of the favourable moment the sector is experiencing to divest non-strategic assets such as offices. Currently, Lar España has 31 real estate assets worth 1.448 billion euros. The company has four office buildings in Madrid and one in Barcelona with a total value of €179 million.

Meanwhile, Colonial, whose board in June approved the company’s conversion to a socimi tax structure, with retroactive effect to January, has increased the gross value of its assets by nearly 15% in the last twelve months, to €8.666 billion. This deal will allow the group to strengthen its presence in Madrid. The real estate company has 23 properties in the capital, valued at €1.445 billion.

Madrid is the company’s second largest market, behind Paris, where it has 21 properties valued at €6.144 billion, and Barcelona, where it has 19 assets valued at 908 million. In addition, the group’s stake in Axiare was valued at €169 million at the end of the half year.

Original Story: Expansión – Rebeca Arroyo

Translation: Richard Turner