Barings Finalises Purchase of 5 Office Buildings in Madrid from Meridia

27 July 2018 – Eje Prime

The office market in Madrid is just a few days away from seeing the completion of a deal that is shaping up to be the largest operation of the summer. The British fund Barings is finalising the purchase of five office buildings owned by Meridia Capital in the Avalon business park, which have a total surface area of 25,785 m2, according to confirmation provided by sources close to the operation speaking to Eje Prime.

The American fund Starwood Capital was also a finalist in the bid for this portfolio of assets, but in the end, Barings has fought off the competition to seal the deal. The total amount of the operation has not been revealed, but the transaction is expected to be signed within the next few days. The real estate consultancy firm Savills Aguirre Newman is advising Meridia on the sale.

Located in the Julián Camarillo district, the new tech area of the Spanish capital, the Avalon business park comprises nine buildings and spans a total surface area of almost 47,000 m2. The rest of the properties in the complex are owned by GreenOak, which purchased its four assets from Banco Santander in 2015 for €40 million.

That same year, Meridia also completed its entry as an owner of the Avalon properties. In May 2015, the Catalan fund, led by the businessman Javier Faus, acquired the five Madrilenian buildings, as part of its purchase for €60 million of 33 assets from Naropa Capital, the family office owned by the Fernández Fermoselle family. The offices in Julián Camarillo were the main assets in the portfolio, but it also included commercial premises, residential properties and even a plot of land in Valencia.

With this operation, Barings is acquiring five assets that, in addition to a vast office space, have 423 parking spaces in a highly sought-after area of Madrid, close to the Adolfo Suárez-Barajas airport.

Diversification: after logistics and retail come offices

Barings is on fire in the Spanish real estate market. This latest operation that it is on the verge of signing in Madrid follows several others that it has closed over the last year, to take advantage of the new upward cycle in the real estate sector.

Nevertheless, Avalon is the first large portfolio that the British fund has purchased in the Spanish office market. Barings is, therefore, diversifying within the real estate sector, where it has made investments in the logistics and retail segments in recent months (…).

€23 million more for new purchases and to create a Socimi 

In the framework of its new roadmap for the Spanish real estate market, Barings carried out a capital increase amounting to €23.1 million last February for its Spanish subsidiary Barings Core Spain.

The reason for this reinforcement to its financial muscle resulted from the British fund’s interest to convert the company into a Socimi. The group’s intention is to combine all of the assets owned by Barings in Spain in this new vehicle and to list it on the Alternative Investment Market (MAB) over the coming months, as revealed by Eje Prime.

Original story: Eje Prime (by Jabier Izquierdo & Pilar Riaño)

Translation: Carmel Drake