Category: Industrial & Logistics

Sareb Sells NPL Portfolio To Bank Of America & Hayfin

16 September 2016 – Expansión

Sareb has just sold a portfolio of non-performing loans worth €70 million to Bank of America and Hayfin Capital Management (founded by former directors of Goldman Sachs), which is secured by several residential buildings in Madrid. The agents of the operation have been Haya Real Estate and Solvia, who have declined to comment. Sareb does not have its own sales network, but uses the exclusive services of the two real estate managers, together with those of Servihabitat and Altamira Asset Management.

According to sources close to the operation, the discount obtained in the transaction has been 50%.

As a result of the new accounting legislation, operations are now a lot more segmented and therefore smaller.

Solvia, which belongs to Banco Sabadell, has been collaborating as one of Sareb’s agents for almost two years. It won the management of a portfolio containing 42,900 assets, of which 33,000 were properties originally from Bankia and the others were loans acquired from Banco Gallego and Banco Ceiss with various kinds of real estate guarantee.

In March, Sareb completed the sale of another batch of loans, which were secured by industrial logistics assets, hotels and offices, located in Madrid, Barcelona, Cáceres and Tarragona. The nominal amount of the operation amounted to €73.7 million.

The opportunistic funds, the typical stars of these operations, are starting to withdraw from the Spanish market and funds with more potential are now arriving, including Socimis and family offices. The funds that have sold portfolios in the last four years have managed to obtain IRRs of between 10% and 20%, according to business people in the sector.

Sareb was created in 2012 and is owned by the FROB (45%) and by the main banks (55%), with the exception of BBVA. 80% of its assets are loans to property developers and the remainder are real estate assets. Their total nominal value amounts to €107,000 million. By size, the bad bank exceeds its Irish counterpart Nama. Even so its market share barely reaches 4%, because it is a very fragmented market. The large banks compete directly with Sareb in the sale of properties, but bank bad has the advantage of time on its side. It has 12 years to execute its business plan and is under no pressure to list on the stock market.

According to the latest statements by its Chairman, Jaime Echegoyen, Sareb should stop losing money next year. Recently, it has started to develop plots of land from scratch, which will result in 700 homes and €100 million of investment. 21% of Sareb’s revenues are generated by the sale of real estate assets. It is currently selling an average of 27 units per day.

Original story: Expansión (by R. Lander)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Ibercaja Completes Sale Of Caja 3’s Industrial Portfolio

13 September 2016 – Expansión

Ibercaja is still putting the shine on its balance sheet ahead of its IPO, which is expected to take place at the end of next year or the beginning of 2018. Having transferred the administration and sale of 14,000 real estate assets to the platform Aktua in February, it is now on the verge of getting rid of all of its non-strategic holdings.

According to sources at the group, the bank has divested more than 200 business projects since 2012, which has allowed it to reduce its volume of portfolio investments by approximately €285 million. But the most important achievement is that it has now managed to finalise the investment plan inherited from Caja 3, as defined by Brussels, when that entity received public aid in 2012. 129 companies from the former savings banks were identified with an investment volume of €153 million, which means that Ibercaja is fulfilling all the requirements.

Nevertheless, it still needs to return that aid. Caja 3 received €386 million in contingent convertible bonds (CoCos) signed by the FROB, of which Ibercaja returned €20 million in March. The remaining balance has to be repaid between March and December 2017.

These divestments represent one of the pillars of Ibercaja’s strategic plan for 2015-17, together with the repayment of the aid; the issue of €500 million in subordinated debt from last year; the sale of problem debt to property developers; the transfer of its real estate assets to Aktua; and this year, its growth plan in Madrid; and its digitalisation plan, for which it has signed a strategic agreement with Microsoft.

In fact, within its specific divestment plan for 2015-2017, approximately 100 companies were identified as possible divestment targets, whereby reducing the volume of its investment portfolio by approximately €180 million. Currently, according to sources at the group, it has divested 53 companies, including total and partial sales. In total, it has decreased its investment in corporate projects by €68 million, with a positive contribution to the group’s consolidated result of €10 million. Its profits amount to €23 million since 2012. Meanwhile, sources at the group added that capital amounting to €27 million has also been freed up. In total, own funds have increased by €50 million.

The companies

In addition to the sale of Gestión de Inmuebles Salduvia, which was included in the agreement reached with Aktua in February this year, Ibercaja’s other major divestments include, by order of importance: the divestment of the Naturiber Group (specialising in the meat sector), Portobelio and Ahorro Corporación Infraestructuras (private equity funds), Ahorro Corporación Gestión (the fund manager), Titulización de Activos, Imaginarium (the toy retailer) and ATCA (a technology development company).

Over the next few years, Ibercaja plans to continue executing its divestment plan, which involves more than 50 additional sales, which will allow it to reduce its portfolio by approximately €112 million more, with the resulting positive impact on the income statement and an efficient allocation of capital.

Ibercaja reported profits of €72.3 million during the first six months of 2016, up by 3.7% compared to a year earlier, thanks to the sale of its real estate arm, as well as sales of debt.

Original story: Expansión (by D. Badía)

Translation: Carmel Drake

ECI Puts Logistics Assets Worth c.€300M Up For Sale

10 August 2016 – Expansión

The distribution giant El Corte Inglés has engaged Morgan Stanley to find investors who may be interested in acquiring assets worth between €200 million and €300 million, according to real estate sources.

Specifically, the company chaired by Dimas Gimeno intends to divest 33 assets, which have a surface area spanning more than 500,000 sqm, as well as five plots of land.

The assets on the market include rental contracts guaranteed for five, ten, fifteen and twenty years; and the deadline for submitting non-binding offers will close at the end of September.

Sources consulted indicate that some of the warehouses included in the sale are not sufficiently tall enough to meet with current demands from investors for this type of asset, which has forced them to adjust the duration of their contracts, as well as the rental prices.

The batch for sale, which comprises 38 assets in total, including the plots of land, contains: El Corte Inglés’ logistics centres in Bisbal del Penedès (Tarragona) and on La Peluquera industrial estate in Madrid. It also includes other assets on Las Atalayas industrial estate (in Alicante) and the Goro en Telde estate (in Gran Canaria).

By contrast, El Corte Inglés has not included any assets currently considered to be strategic in the batch. Thus, for example, the jewel in its logistics assets crown will not be included: its mega centre in the south of Madrid.

Reduce debt

The company, which seeks to reduce its debt balance with these divestment operations, may consider selling other types of non-strategic real estate assets in the future, as Expansión revealed in March.

These real estate asset divestments follow others completed by El Corte Inglés in recent years. In this way, in the summer of 2013, the distribution group completed the sale of a building next to Plaza de Cataluña in Barcelona to the fund manager IBA Capital.

Months later, it sold another property to the same investor on Calle Preciados in Madrid.

Other divestments

Last December, the chain sold another building in the iconic Puerta del Sol in Madrid for €65 million to the US fund Thor Equities. At the time, the group agreed to continue to occupy the building, which houses its book store and is located in one of the most important shopping areas of the capital, for another year.

Similarly, in February, the group sold the building that it had acquired ten years ago on Calle Fontanella in Barcelona for €17 million to a Russian investor, which plans to convert the property into a hotel.

By contrast, El Corte Inglés has also completed several important asset purchases in recent years. In this way, the company acquired a plot of land from the railway infrastructure manager Adif, right on Paseo de la Castellana for €136 million in 2014. This plot of land is located next to one of the company’s main shopping centres in the capital, in Nuevos Ministerios.

Original story: Expansión (by R. Arroyo)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Aguirre Newman: Logistics Inv’t Totalled €413M In H1

4 August 2016 – Mis Naves

Investment in the logistics sector amounted to €413 million during the first half of 2016, a similar figure to the one recorded during the same period last year, according to the conclusions of the Logistics Market Report for H1 2016, a study conducted by the real estate consultancy Aguirre Newman. The report explains that fewer operations have taken place during this time period, but those that have been completed have been larger (in value), including the portfolio sales undertaken by Gran Europa and Zaphir Logistics.

Almost all of the profitable investments have been made in the prime markets, Madrid and Barcelona, which together accounted for 80% of the total volume bought and sold. In addition, as a result of the product shortage, investor interest is starting to move to focus on secondary markets, such as Valencia, Zaragoza, Sevilla and Pamplona.

Demand for logistics space in Madrid during the second quarter of the year decreased by 76.3% with respect to the previous quarter (Q1 2016), with just 34,233 sqm of space leased. The most significant operations, of which there were seven in total, took place in Cabanillas del Campo and Coslada, which accounted for 45% of the total space leased.

The highest rental incomes recorded in Q2 amounted to €5/sqm/month and the rents in the prime areas remained stable at between €4.5/sqm/month and €5/sqm/month, as a result of the scarcity of operations completed.

According to the report, despite the low demand for logistics space, demand for industrial assets has been dynamic with 30 operations closed during the period, corresponding to 80,829 sqm of space, half in the rental segment. In terms of sales transactions, 63.6% related to spaces measuring less than 1,000 sqm. This data indicates an improvement in terms of demand in the industrial market, with a high number of low volume operations.

Just like in previous quarters, there was a high level of activity in the market for land dedicated to industrial/logistics use, a clear indicator of the return to property developer activity and the recovery of the sector. Six operations involving land were closed both for end clients and for development through new projects. They included the purchase of more than 160,000 sqm of land in Illescas (Toledo).

In Barcelona, during Q2 2016, demand for logistics space was very positive, reaching 160,469 sqm, a very similar figure to the one recorded during the same period in 2015 and almost 80% higher than during the first quarter of 2016.

During this period, 11 operations were closed, of which four involved spaces exceeding 10,000 sqm, accounting for more than 85% of the total space leased, which focused primarily on the regions of Baix Llobregat and Tarragonès.

In terms of the most significant operations by surface area leased in Q2 2016, Aguirre Newman’s report highlights the operation closed by Amazon in Prat de Llobregat covering 60,000 sqm on the ground floor. On the other hand, in the region of Tarragonès, an operation involving 42,250 sqm of land was closed to provide services to Amazon in the performance of its activity. These two operations accounted for 64% of the total space transacted. (…).

Original story: Mis Naves

Translation: Carmel Drake

TH Real Estate Sells L’Aljub Shopping Centre For €100M+

13 May 2016 – Mis Locales

According to El Confidencial, the fund manager TH Real Estate has sold the L’Aljub shopping centre, located in the Alicante town of Elche, for more than €100 million. In addition, the firm has purchased a shopping centre in Bolonia, Italy, through its European Cities Fund, which represents the first acquisition by the fund that aims to secure financing amounting to €3,000 million – €3,500 million over the next five years.

The operator has taken the decision to sell off L’Aljub as part of a divestment strategy that will involve the sale of other assets all over Europe. TH Real Estate made its first investment in the Alicante shopping centre in 2007, although it did not complete its acquisition until 2014.

In Spain, TH Real Estate manages the following shopping centes: Bulevar (Getafe), Mexueiro (Vigo), Islazul (Madrid), Vialia (Málaga), Miramar (Fuengirola), Nervión (Sevilla), as well as Norteshopping (in Porto-Portugal). It also manages the Alovera Industrial Park (Guadalajara).

Original story: Mis Locales

Translation: Carmel Drake

BNP: Inv’t In Logistics Assets Reached €662M In 2015

8 June 2016 – Mis Naves

According to the real estate consultancy firm, BNP Paribas, “2015 was an exceptional year” for the logistics sector in Spain, with total investment amounting to €662 million, whereby exceeding the figure recorded in the previous year to register the highest investment volume in the last eleven years.

The data available for 2016, corresponding to the first quarter, confirms this rising trend, with total investment exceeding €320 million between January and March 2016 – this figure essentially relates to three large portfolios: Metrovacesa, Zaphir and Prologis.

For the analysts at BNP Paribas Real Estate, the good performance of consumption and industrial output, which began three years ago, has continued to boost the logistics market in 2015 and so far in 2016. Moreover, the shortage of high quality products has led to a slight increase in income and above all, to a stabilisation of prices. Thanks to the availability of land, new developments may go on the market at these rental prices. For this reason, the consultancy considers that 2016 offers good opportunities for buying and selling logistics assets.

It is worth highlighting two key milestones that are shaping the evolution of the logistics real estate sector and boosting the strong outlook for this sector.

On the one hand, 2014 and 2015 were the years when the highest ever investments were made in logistics warehouses. More than 50% of the high quality logistics warehouses changed hands during that period. The market saw a generational change in owners, with the disappearance of some and the appearance of others. The latter group includes international investors, which have been positioning themselves in the market, including several specialists, such as Prologis, which have strengthened their positioning; and the Socimis, which have secured capital overseas and invested it in this segment to create significant portfolios of logistics warehouses. During the first quarter of 2016, the main Socimis and funds interested in logistics assets invested around €320 million.

On the other hand, consumer habits have changed with the crisis, which has led to a very significant increase in the volume of purchases made online, to the detriment of in-store shopping. In this vein, e-commerce is growing at an average rate of 20% p.a.. To the extent that the volume of purchases made online increases, so too does demand for logistics spaces designed to provide support for these types of businesses. In 2015, around 17,000 sqm of logistics space was leased for e-commerce use. Even so, in Spain, online shopping accounts for just 3% of overall consumption, which reflects the potential for growth in the country, above all if we compare it with other markets such as Germany and the UK, where e-commerce accounts for 10% and 13.5% of all shopping, respectively. (…).

During 2016, consumption is expected to continue to grow with the same energy, along with the leasing of logistics space. Income will continue to increase and yields will continue to decrease due to the shortage of high quality logistics products. The e-commerce business will grow and so too will demand for cross-docking and XXL warehouses. The main Socimis and funds will continue to expand their portfolios with logistics assets. (…).

Original story: Mis Naves

Translation: Carmel Drake

Banks Sell €11,000M NPLs To Clean Up Their B/Ss

30 June 2016 – El Confidencial

Property is still the main obstacle facing Spain’s banks. Although the majority of the domestic financial entities will comfortably pass the European Central Bank (ECB)’s upcoming stress test, most are still weighed down by non-performing loans linked to the real estate sector, which are blackening their balance sheets. To this end, CaixaBank, Bankia, Sabadell, Popular and even Deutsche Bank have put portfolios of non-performing loans up for sale amounting to almost €11,000 million, according to data compiled by El Confidencial.

The most active bank is Sabadell, which has engaged KPMG, PwC and N+1 to help get rid of €3,100 million in consumer loans, credit cards and loans granted to property developers. Of that amount, €1,000 million was sold to the funds Lindorff and Grove Capital last month in an operation known as Corus. Now, the entity has another €1,700 million on the market (Project Normandy), containing foreclosed loans from real estate developers and almost €500 million (Pirenee) corresponding to a mixture of assets. The entity is looking to close both transactions before the summer holidays.

After Sabadell, the most active bank in cleaning up its balance sheet is CaixaBank, which has two processes underway and one in the bag. These include the so-called “Project Carlit”, launched in April with the help of PwC to sell off €750 million in loans linked to shopping centres, offices and the industrial sector; and “Project Sun”, a portfolio of loans granted to almost 150 hotels that the entity foreclosed from businessmen in the sector. In total, around €1,000 million in non-performing loans.

The latter is backed by 11,000 tourist rooms, and several opportunistic funds may be interested, including Starwood, Davidson Kempner Capital and Bank of America. Those entities previously acquired similar liabilities from Bankia in 2014 and 2015 for €1,200 million. In Septemeber, the Catalan entity is planning to launch “Project More 2” containing €200 million of real estate loans, again with the help of PwC.

Bankia, which last year failed to find a buyer for its huge real estate portfolio containing €4,800 million of assets has engaged KPMG, Deloitte and PwC to advise it in 3 of its operations: “Project Lane” (€288 million), “Project Oceana” (€396 million) and “Project Tizona” (€1,000 million). The latter comprises residential mortgages and is the second part of the transaction known as “Project Wind”, when the entity sold €1,300 million in similar liabilities to the fund Oaktree.

Alongside these three major players, several other entities also have operations on the market, including Popular, Banca Mare Nostrum, Abanca (which just sold €1,300 million in NPLs to EOS) and Ibercaja…But the entity that has drawn the most attention is Deutsche Bank, because it had not chosen to clean up its accounts in this way until now. The German group, the only foreign bank with a presence in Spain, which has an extensive network of offices, is sounding out institutional investors regarding the sale of €800 million in non-performing mortgages.

Although the German entity was not greatly impacted by the real estate crash, thanks to its prudent strategy vis-à-vis granting property-related loans, the truth is that it was weighed down by packages of unpaid loans from high income clients. Antonio Rodríguez-Pina, Chairman of the bank’s Spanish subsidiary, has decided to get rid of these NPLs in order to improve its balance sheet and reduce the default ratio, a measure that coincides with Deutsche Bank’s decision to continue its operations in Spain, for the time being. (…).

Original story: El Confidencial (by Agustín Marco)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Blackstone Owns c.5% Of Spain’s Logistics Assets

28 June 2016 – Expansión

Blackstone created Logicor in 2012 and since then, has grown the company by acquiring portfolios of logistics assets, to reach its current surface area coverage of 13 million sqm.

In Spain, Logicor has been purchasing assets for three years and now owns properties covering a total surface area of 1.1 million sqm, primarily in Madrid and Barcelona, making it the largest owner of logistics land in the country, with a market share of between 5% and 7%. It is followed in the ranking by Merlin Properties and Prologis, in an otherwise very fragmented sector.

Logicor’s Director General for Southern Europe, Manel Vericat, said that the company is still looking for logistics warehouses in Madrid and Barcelona, as well as in other cities, such as Valencia and Pamplona: “We are searching for products that have may potential thanks to the management of our team; and we are able to participate in operations that have higher risk because we have experience in this segment and are capable of managing these situations.

The Spanish subsidiary is led by Alejando Rumayor, who previously worked for Aguirre Newman, Iberdrola Inmobiliaria, ING Reim and CBRE, where he worked last before joining Logicor. The team in Barcelona is led by Xavier Novell, who joined the firm from Aguirre Newman, where he led the logistics and industrial department for the last decade.

In recent years, Logicor has made some major investments in Spain, such as the purchase of a portfolio of logistics assets from CBRE Global Investments, which covered a surface area of 78,000 sqm.

It also acquired a batch of logistics warehouses covering 106,000 sqm, from the French insurance company Axa.

Similarly, it purchased a batch of logistics assets from Gran Europa with a combined surface area of 319,000 sqm. And another one from SEP investments, measuring 138,000 sqm. Finally, one of its most important acquisitions at the global level involved a batch of warehouses from General Electric, of which around 348,000 sqm were located in Spain.

Rents

Vericat confirmed that, since last year, rents in the logistics sector have recovered in Barcelona. In Madrid, “we have not detected any increases yet, but certain rent incentives have disappeared, such as grace periods.

Original story: Expansión (by Marisa Anglés)

Translation: Carmel Drake

TH Real Estate Offers €450M For Diagonal Mar

14 June 2016 – Expansión

The owner of the shopping centre Diagonal Mar, the British fund Northwood, has received a binding offer amounting to €450 million from TH Real Estate. This amount almost triples the €160 million that Northwood paid for the Barcelona-based shopping centre in 2013.

It is not the only offer that has been presented, given that TH Real Estate’s proposal was accompanied by two others from funds whose name has not been revealed. The sale of the asset is being brokered by the consultancy firm CBRE, which has declined to comment on the deal, along with TH Real Estate.

Diagonal Mar is the largest shopping centre in Cataluña, with a surface area of 87,500 sqm. Nevertheless, not all of the property is up for sale, given that 27,000 sqm are owned by Alcampo (which will hold onto its space).

Northwood acquired the centre at the worst time of the crisis, in 2013, from the Irish bad bank, which means that it could end up generating capital gains of €290 million in less than three years.

The investor

TH Real Estate is owned by the financial services provider TIAA. The origin of the company dates back to the London-based real estate manager, Henderson Real Estate, which was absorbed by the US group TIAA in 2014 to create TH Real Estate, which is also headquartered in the USA.

TH Real Estate manages real estate assets all over the world, covering 26,800 sqm, for around 50 investment funds and other operating mandates.

As well as TIAA’s assets in the USA, this platform integrates properties worth €83,900 million in total, which makes it one of the largest property managers in the world.

In Spain, TH Real Estate owns several shopping centres, including Islazul, in Madrid, measuring 90,000 sqm; Nervión in Sevilla, measuring 25,000 sqm; and Bulevar Getafe in Madrid, measuring 27,150 sqm. It also owns an industrial park in Alovera (Guadalajara) measuring 42,000 sqm.

The company has been present in Spain since 2007 and its Madrilenian headquarters is headed up by Manuel Martín. In recent years, as well as investments in operating assets, TH Real Estate has also undertaken co-investment projects, such as in the case of the Viladecans outlet (in Barcelona), where it joined forces with Neinver.

Original story: Expansión (by Marisa Anglés)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Project Lane: Bankia Negotiates Sale Of €400M Secured Portfolio

13 June 2016 – Expansión

Project Big Bang paralysed the Spanish financial sector in 2015. At the time, Bankia tried to sell all of its foreclosed assets in a single transaction, including: 38,500 homes, 2,600 plots of land and 5,000 commercial premises, worth €4,800 million. A large number of funds were interested in the sale, but only Cerberus and Oaktree expressed their intention to submit binding offers. The prices and conditions did not match with Bankia’s expections and so it decided to suspend the operation at the end of the year. (…).

With all of those roadblocks, Bankia decided that it would maximise the value of its foreclosed assets by keeping them on the balance sheet and selling them off through the retail channel and in smaller portfolios, such as the case of Project Lane, see below. Even so, sources in the sector expect to see fresh attempts to sell large portfolios of foreclosed assets over the next few months and years, something that more than one entity has planned for 2016. To this end, the markets must improve further and provisions should be adjusted even more to the prices being offered by the funds. The Bank of Spain’s new accounting circular, which comes into force in October, is expected to help in this sense and to accelerate the divestment of the banks’ problem assets.

Project Lane

Now, Bankia is negotiating the sale of a portfolio of homes with three international funds, in an operation known as Project Lane. The entity is being advised by KPMG and is looking to transfer around 2,500 homes worth c. €400 million, according to financial sources.

The operation is in a very advanced phase, with binding offers due to be submitted next week. Bankia and its advisor have selected three funds, which according to the same sources, do not include Cerberus.

Initially, the US fund was the favourite buyer for the operation, on the basis that it knows the assets better than anyone else through Haya Real Estate, the former Bankia Habitat, which manages homes and real estate loans from Bankia. In fact, Cerberus was the fund that was closest to acquiring Big Bang, with an offer of around €2,100 million.

The portfolio of assets on sale as part of Project Lane primarily comprises homes, but also includes industrial and commercial assets, to a lesser extent. It is the largest sale of foreclosed assets that any of the banks have put on the market so far in 2016. Only Cajamar has explored this option in recent months, with Project Omeya – around €72 million -, as it waits to see what will happen during the second half of the year. The 2,500 homes on sale represent around 6% of the total haul that Bankia has on its balance sheet. The entity sold 9,200 properties through its branch network and Haya Real Estate last year. The aim is to try and repeat those figures in 2016.

Since the new management team, led by José Ignacio Goirigolzarri (pictured above), took over at Bankia, the nationalised group has been one of the most active in the sale of portfolios. Last year, it sold more than 80 batches of problem assets, which allowed it to decrease its doubtful debt balance from €20,000 million in 2013 to €12,500 million by March 2016. It has managed to do this thanks to higher provisions.

Original story: Expansión (by J. Zuloaga and S. Arancibia)

Translation: Carmel Drake