Category: Industrial & Logistics

Andalucían Gov’t Sells 39 Industrial Plots In Jaén For €3.8M

13 February 2017 – Europa Press

So far during this parliamentary term, the Ministry of Development and Housing at the Junta de Andalucía has disposed of 55,284 m2 of industrial land in the province of Jaén, spread over 39 plots, worth €3.8 million.

The proceeds received will be used to strengthen the management of land and public housing that the autonomous Government is developing, both in the province, as well as across the whole of Andalucía. In total, the sale of industrial, commercial and residential land during the same period has amounted to 185,774 m2, worth €30.7 million. (…).

The land sold in the province of Jaén is located in Alcalá la Real, Torredonjimeno, Huelma, Villacarrillo, Arjona and Martos. In the latter, the land sold is all located in the Cañada de la Fuente industrial estate, where the Junta invested €13 million on expansion with the aims of: strengthening the local production fabric; favouring commercial exchanges; driving economic development in the city and its surroundings; and generating employment.

“This sale of industrial land is one of the activities that we are promoting in the Andalucían Government to provide companies with land in the best possible conditions to facilitate growth and development, and therefore, the generation of employment”, said Felipe López, councillor at La Junta. (…).

The councillor added that his department will launch a new public tender at the end of February to sell 17 plots of land that have not been sold yet on this industrial estate and which have a surface area of 24,161 m2 and a value of €2.28 million. (…).

Original story: Europa Press

Translation: Carmel Drake

Lar Buys 200,000 m2 Plot In Cheste To Build Logistics Park

13 February 2017 – El Mundo

It has not even been built yet, but the Ciudad Circuito de Cheste industrial estate is already making its name as an important logistics hub in Valencia. Lidl, which has already announced that it is going to build a new logistics platform here, is now going to be joined by Lar España. The Socimi has acquired around 200,000 m2 of land in the municipality of Cheste, next to the A-3 motorway and just 5km from the intersection with the Mediterranean Highway, on which it plans to build a new logistics park, .

The land acquired by Lar España is located just a few metres from the Circuito Ricardo Tormo, a strategic point in the region of Valencia, given that it is the junction where the roads to the centre and south of the Peninsula meet. In addition, it is just 17 km from Manises Airport and around 30 km from the Port of Valencia, which has become the main entry and exit port for goods.

The operation by Lar España is independent of the one already announced by the German retailer although both were signed on Wednesday 25 January 2017, according to confirmations yesterday from a municipal source. Lidl’s logistics platform is going to occupy a surface area covering 120,000 m2 and with Lar’s purchase, one third of the industrial estate, whose total surface area will amount to 900,000 m2, has already been occupied, before the development of the site has even begun. (…).

Original story: El Mundo (by Francisco Álvarez)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Amazon Revolutionises The Logistics Sector

9 February 2017 – Expansión

The boom in e-commerce and the arrival of the large distribution giants, like Amazon, have caused a genuine tsunami in the real estate market and in the way we understand logistics. Logistics assets – which were, until recently, the ugly duckling of the sector – have really blossomed and now represent one of the investment segments with most potential, given their risk-return relationship, according to the experts.

Operators are increasingly looking for more large logistics warehouses on the outskirts of cities, which they combine with distribution centres situated on ring-roads to make deliveries on time and on budget.

“The effect is a reflection of new consumer habits and online purchases, as well as of consumer expectations, which require products to arrive on time and to be easily returnable (inverse logistics)”, explains Antonio Montero, Director of the Industrial-Logistics business at Aguirre Newman.

Alberto Larrazábal, National Director of Industrial and Logistics at CBRE, said that there has been an increase in the e-commerce market. “Operators are increasingly demanding more logistics and distribution space. In Madrid and Barcelona, 400,000 m2 and 700,000 m2 of space was leased, respectively, in 2016 and e-commerce accounted for 25% of those amounts.

Javier García-Mateos, Partner in Financial Advisory at Deloitte said that “retailers are starting to use their own establishments in cities as logistics and distribution points for e-commerce”.

García-Mateos also said that there is greater demand for the development of cross-docking warehouses (which reduce the time needed for logistics operations and which can be adapted to the needs of e-commerce) in the vicinity of the main urban nuclei. (…).

“Logistics spaces are moving increasingly closer to cities, there are even warehouses inside city centres. These are points where companies can serve their customers in the fastest and most effective way”, said Luis Guardia, Director of the Logistics and Industrial Area at JLL.

Guardia also explained that the major department stores are also committed to opening “regional hubs” to get closer to the major urban nuclei.

Development activity

In terms of investment, Larrazábal considers that the logistics and industrial sectors are becoming more fashionable by the day. “Large funds and private investors will end up acquiring these assets”, he said.

Over the last three years, investment volumes have grown considerably, to reach more than €800 million last year.

One example of this investor appetite is Merlin’s purchase of Saba Parques Logísticos – the company that groups together Saba’s stakes in five parks – for €115 million.

“The logistics market is interesting as it allows the Socimis to diversify and add new assets to their portfolio that generate returns not afforded by the other assets at the moment”, said García-Mateos. Other operators that are committed to this market include Logicor (Blackstone), Zaphir, Prologis, Rockspring, GreenOak and the joint venture between Colony and Neinver.

In the same way, experts indicate that development activity has resumed. “Developers and investors know that there is latent demand in high quality logistics assets and this is encouraging them to buy land and build assets”, said Montero

Original story: Expansión (by Rebeca Arroyo)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Torre Rioja Builds Large Office In Julián Camarillo Area (Madrid)

7 February 2017 – Cinco Días

Madrid is going to have a new large building in the Julián Camarillo area of the capital, where many cutting edge companies and technology divisions of large businesses are choosing to concentrate their operations. “The neighbourhood is becoming an area similar to the 22@ district in Barcelona, full of innovative companies” said José Miguel Setién, Director of Offices at the consultancy firm JLL. (…).

The new building, on Calle Julián Camarillo (number 31) is being constructed by the property developer Torre Rioja, which is led by the businessman Ángel Soria. The property, which is currently in the initial phases of construction, will have a surface area of 36,000 m2 spread over six open-plan floors, measuring 8,000 m2 each. The property is expected to house around 3,500 employees. (…).

Now that Torre Rioja has started the initial phases of construction, the search has begun to find a company to move into the property. JLL and possibly one other agent have been engaged to this end. (…). The design may be modified slightly to suit the needs of the future tenant. (…). In any case, the property developer expects construction to be completed within two years. Moreover, the building will have a retail area, with more than 1,000 parking spaces, as well as service areas. (…).

The JLL Director believes that this property in the Julián Camarillo area will primarily be of interest to technology, engineering and communications companies, as well as to back office divisions of large companies and banks.

The Julián Camarillo industrial estate was created between the 1950s and the 1970s as a base for industrial companies. (…). But, it has gradually transformed into an area for offices and even homes. Certain divisions of firms such as IBM, Tecnocom, Atos, the German firm ABB, the engineering firm Eptisa and the University Alfonso X el Sabio have their offices there.

In recent months, Torre Rioja been overseeing renovation work at two of its major office buildings in an area adjoining the A-2 motorway. The insurance company Axa will move into a 23,600 m2 property and the bank BNP will move into an adjoining 20,000 m2 building, now owned by the real estate company, which previously housed the R&D division of Telefónica. Meanwhile, the property developer has seen its sales decrease in recent years, from €27.8 million in 2010, compared with €18.7 million in 2014 (the most recent accounts filed in the registry).

The main drawback for the property developer in this operation in attracting a high profile tenant to the area, given that the building is located relatively far away from the city centre and the industrial estate lacks the services on offer in the centre. Nevertheless, tenants pay considerably lower rents here. Whilst along Paseo de la Castellana, rents in the best buildings can be as high as €25/m2/month, they cost less than €10/m2/month on this industrial estate.

Original story: Cinco Días (by Alfonso Simón Ruiz)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Banks Have Put €2,000M In RE Assets Up For Sale In 2017

6 February 2017 – Idealista

Real estate assets are still treated like a hot potato in the banking sector. In order to reduce the default rate (which still exceeds 25% in the case of loans to property developers) and avoid more provisions, entities such as Bankia, BBVA and Liberbank are continuing in their efforts to accelerate the sale of portfolios of unpaid secured loans, as well as packages of real estate assets. 2017 has started with almost €2,000 million in properties up for auction. (…). They include homes, premises, offices, industrial warehouses and land.

Most of the operations have been on the market for several months, since no buyers have yet been found. Some are well known, such as BBVA’s Project Vermont, a portfolio of loans to property developers secured primarily by newly built homes and worth almost €100 million. Several funds were interested in acquired this lot: Oak Hill, Fortress and AnaCap.

And it is BBVA that has the most packages on the market, including: Project Buffalo, which contains homes worth €400 million; and Project Boston, which comprises 16 office buildings located in Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia, worth €200 million. (…).

Liberbank has put Project Fox on the market. It is a portfolio of real estate debt worth around €200 million and is the entity’s first (but not its last) portfolio of unpaid mortgages.

Other operations have also made their debuts in 2017. Such is the case of Project Tour, a package being sold by Bankia, one of the most active players in the sale of real estate portfolios. It comprises 1,800 properties (…) and is worth €166 million.

Funds start to divest their purchases

The market has also started to see how some of the international funds that have invested in our country in recent years are starting to sell some of the assets they have purchased. Last year, Lone Star made its debut as a vendor (…) when it put Project McLaren on the market. It comprises two portfolios: one containing more than 1,000 mortgage loans worth €102 million and secured primarily by homes, although there are also some commercial assets in the mix. The other portfolio, comprising more than 600 homes, has a combined appraisal value of €51 million. The firm Cabot, which specialises in managing bank loans, has expressed its interest in that portfolio.

Another fund that wants to divest some of its real estate investments in Spain is the US firm Ares Management, which has put Project Firefox onto the market: real estate debt worth around €160 million.

Bankia, Caixabank and Sareb were the most active at divesting real estate in 2016 (…).

Sareb has been one of the key players in the market (in recent times), having managed to place €1,565 million of real estate debt of all kinds with international investment funds (during its three year life). Its largest non-performing loan portfolio (Project Eloise) had a nominal value of €553.3 million and it was purchased by Goldman Sachs. (…).

In 2016, Bankia had several portfolios up for sale, including Project Ocean, Project Tizona and Project Lane.

Caixabank become one of the most proactive entities in the sale of Spanish property last year. Its most high profile sales included Project Sun, with hotel debt worth around €1,000 million; Project Carlit, with around €750 million of real estate debt; and Project More 2, containing €200 million of owned properties (REOs). (…).

Other players with more limited activity included Abanca (formerly Novagalicia) and Cajamar.

Original story: Idealista (by P. Martínez-Almeida)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Neinver & Colony Buy 2 Logistics Warehouses For c. €9M

6 February 2017 – Expansión

The joint venture created by the Spanish real estate company Neinver and Colony Logistics – which is owned by severa investment vehicles that are managed by subsidiaries of Colony Capital – has strengthened its portfolio of logistics assets in Spain, with the purchase of two new warehouses in Barcelona and Pamplona.

Market sources have indicated that these two logistics warehouses, which have a combined constructed surface area of 15,000 m2, have been sold for around €9 million.

The warehouse in Pamplona is located in the Arazuri-Orcoyen industrial area, three kilometres from the city centre, and has a surface area of 10,000 m2. The asset, acquired from Corpfin, is leased to the logistics operator Logiters.

Meanwhile, the logistics warehouse in Barcelona has a surface area of 5,000 m2.

The real estate consultancy firm CBRE advised the vendor in both cases.

Following these two new acquisitions, the joint venture that Neinver and Colony created at the beginning of 2015, with the aim of investing €200 million, now has a portfolio comprising 39 logistics and industrial centres, covering a surface area of more than 276,500 m2.

Original story: Expansión (by Rebeca Arroyo)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Bouygues Relaunches Its RE Business In Spain

3 February 2017 – El Independiente

Bouygues, the French industrial giant that operates in the construction, public works and telecommunications sectors, wants to reactivate its real estate division in Spain. Its Spanish subsidiary was created in 1989, but following the burst of the real estate bubble, its activity in the sector was paralysed. Now, it is returning to property: at the end of 2016, it completed the construction of a hotel in Barcelona, the Ibis Bogatell, located next to the Olympic Park, and it wants to increase the number of projects in its portfolio in 2017.

That is according to Bouygues’ Spanish subsidiary. “We are not going to promote residential properties”, specified the Director General of Bouygues Inmobiliaria, Ana Vidal. “We are going to focus on the hotel, office and retail sectors, amongst others”. Although the French Group never disappeared from the Commercial Registry, Bouygues’ real estate activity in Spain has been suspended for almost seven years.

Before the real estate bubble burst, the multi-national firm was a key player in the market, in particular in the construction of business parks and shopping centres. In the case of the latter, Bouygues constructed Parque Oeste (Alcorcón, Madrid), Alcalá de Guadaira (Sevilla) and El Triangle (Barcelona). In the year 2000, the French group expanded its operations to Portugal.

The crisis forced the subsidiary to carry out an aggressive capital reduction in 2010, which left its own funds at 10%. “We are not going to be a Metrovacesa or a Merlin”, said Vidal. “We want to boost the development of projects in Spain through selective, carefully-chosen projects, which prioritise environmental improvement”, added the Director General. One of the models that the real estate division is likely to promote are eco-neighbourhoods, such as the one Bouygues developed in Bordeaux, called “Ginko”.

Bouygues Inmobiliaria is looking to become a “pure property developer”, adopting the turn-key formula, whereby it will take responsibility for identifying the plots of land, designing the properties and executing the construction work. In addition to Barcelona, the subsidiary has acquired a plot of land measuring 18,000 m2 in the industrial area of Julián Camarillo, to the east of Madrid.

Bouygues’ return to activity is further evidence of the recovery of the sector in Spain. Nevertheless, the improvement is slow and uneven. The property development sector estimates that 450,000 new homes were constructed in 2016, compared with 400,000 during the previous year. And house prices have soared in Madrid and Barcelona, along with in the traditionally robust Basque real estate market; however, they are falling in more than half of Spain’s provinces.

Original story: El Independiente (by Pablo García)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Project Tour: Bankia Puts €166M Property Portfolio Up For Sale

3 February 2017 – Idealista

The banking sector is starting 2017 with a bang as it accelerates the sale of properties. Bankia has put a new real estate portfolio on the market – it does not contain debt, but rather comprises 1,800 properties, including finished homes, plots of land, retail premises, industrial assets and hotels. Known as Project Tour, the package is valued at €166 million.

Bankia is one of the most active banks at divesting real estate assets once again, as it seeks to focus on its pure banking business. It is a technique that has worked well for the banks in recent years and not just in Spain, but in other countries around the world as well.

In this case, so-called Project Tour is in the hands of the firm Alantra (formerly N+1) which intends to place this property portfolio (known by its initials in English as an REO) with international investors. Its value amounts to €165.9 million, according to financial sources consulted by Idealista.

The portfolio comprises 1,292 finished homes (it does not include any subsidised housing), 324 plots of land, 159 retail premises, 20 industrial assets and 9 hotels. None of the assets in the portfolio are rented or co-owned.

The properties are primarily located in the Community of Valencia, mainly in Valencia; Cataluña, mainly in Barcelona; the Canary Islands, mainly in Las Palmas; Madrid and Castilla y León (Segovia is home to most of these assets).

According to sources consulted by Idealista, Bankia expects to receive non-binding offers from a small number of investors by the beginning of February and binding offers by the middle or end of March. In this way, it plans to close the sale of the package during the month of March.

The entity chaired by José Ignacio Goirigolzarri (pictured above) is known as one of the most dynamic in the market: in 2016, it put several portfolios up for sale, including Project Ocean, a real estate loan portfolio worth almost €400 million, which was sold to Deutsche Bank; Project Tizona, a mortgage debt portfolio worth €1,000 million; and Project Lane, containing properties worth €288 million.

Original story: Idealista (by P. Martínez-Almedia)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Goodman Starts Work On Third Logistics Facility In Barcelona

2 February 2017 – Eje Prime

The Goodman Group, which specialises in the promotion and management of logistics real estate, has started construction of its third real estate development at the Can Margarit industrial estate in Sant Esteve Sesrovires, near Barcelona.

The plans involve the development of an industrial centre covering 10,000 m2 for Leventon, an international company dedicated to R&D, and the production and marketing of disposable medical devices – it is a subsidiary of WerfenLife.

The building will also house a module for logistics space measuring 7,000 m2, available for rent. The construction work, which has started this month, is due to be completed in the summer.

This new development will be Goodman’s third project in the Sant Esteve Sesrovires area, where the company has just inaugurated a 40,000 m2 distribution centre for Decathlon. This represents the largest logistics development undertaken in Barcelona in the last six years.

By the end of March, Goodman will have completed its second development at Can Margarit II: a 28,760 m2 logistics facility. Once the construction work has been completed, Goodman will have built 85,000 m2 of capacity in total on this industrial estate in the last two years.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake

Ibercaja Puts 1,000 Discounted Properties Up For Sale

30 January 2017 – Expansión

The real estate portal Casaktua has launched a commercial campaign to sell a portfolio of almost 1,000 properties owned by Ibercaja with average discounts of 10%. By autonomous region, most of the assets are located in Aragón, La Rioja, Castilla y León, Castilla-La Mancha, the Community of Valencia and Cataluña, which is where Ibercaja has the greatest presence.

By type of property, the portfolio includes homes with between one and four bedrooms, which have an average surface area of 160 m2 and an average price of €64,000, having decreased from €67,200.

In terms of the non-residential assets, the portfolio contains a wide range of garages, retail premises, warehouses and storerooms.

Casaktua and Ibercaja have launched promotions on other occasions. At the end of last year, they put 1,300 homes on the market.

Original story: Expansión

Translation: Carmel Drake