10/4/17 – Expansión
LaLiga has become one of Hispania’s latest tenant, by renting 60% of the Murano building, which the Socimi owns in Madrid – LaLiga will relocate its headquarters there after the summer. LaLiga has signed a contract to lease 4,300 m2 of space in this property for eight years.
Original story: Expansión
Translation: Carmel Drake
7 April 2017 – Expansión
Yesterday, Mapfre agreed to sell an office building in Madrid to the real estate group GMP for €72 million. GMP will completely refurbish the property from 2018, according to a joint statement issued by the two companies.
The building, located on Calle Manuel Cortina, in the district of Chamberí, has a gross leasable area of 14,424 m2, with ten office floors and a ground floor that is used for commercial purposes. Moreover, it has three underground parking floors, with 368 parking spaces.
At the moment, the property’s main tenant is Mapfre, but the insurance firm will vacate the office floors at the end of 2017. Nevertheless, it will continue to occupy the majority of the commercial space on the ground floor over the long term.
The Director General of Business at GMP, Xabier Barrondo, highlighted that the operation “is another example of GMP’s commitment to investing in high-quality office buildings and business parks”.
Meanwhile, the Director General of Mapfre Inmuebles, Melchor García, explained that the sale “formed part of the insurance company’s policy to rotate its real estate assets and diversify its portfolio”.
Original story: Expansión (by I. García)
Translation: Carmel Drake
7 April 2017 – Expansión
Inversis – owned by the Banca March Group – has engaged Deloitte to sell Bancoval’s headquarters – located at number 20 on the Madrilenian street Calle Fernando el Santo – , which runs perpendicular to Paseo de la Castellana, in the heart of the capital’s financial district.
The property has an above ground surface area of almost 2,700 m2 and is seven storeys tall. It also has two underground parking floors covering an additional 700 m2.
The asset is expected to be worth more than €15 million, according to market sources.
The building, constructed in 1967, was renovated in 1998 and received a special mention in the prizes for urban planning, architecture and public works from the Town Hall of Madrid in 1999, in the refurbished building category.
Moreover, the sale and purchase agreement will include a lease contract with Bancoval, which assures the buyer that the tenant will continue to occupy the property.
Investor interest
Inversis, which purchased the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC)’ Spanish subsidiary last year – and subsequently renamed it Bancoval – is taking advantage of the boom in the real estate sector and investor interest in the sector, in general, to generate some cash from the sale of a non-strategic asset. (…).
The building that houses Bancoval’s headquarters is expected to spark interest amongst the Socimis, as well as with family offices, property developers and international investors, given its excellent location (in the Almagro district) in one of the most sought-after areas of Madrid, given the shortage of prime products there.
Moreover, this building could be renovated for office or residential use given that it already has licences for both.
Original story: Expansión (by Rebeca Arroyo)
Translation: Carmel Drake
31 March 2017 – Cinco Días
The US fund GreenOak is continuing its commitment to the Spanish real estate sector with another acquisition. It has just closed the purchase of the Vallsolana Garden Business Park, located in Sant Cugat del Vallès (Barcelona) from the Swiss entity UBS for €25 million, according to market sources. The operation has been advised by Cushman & Wakefield.
The complex has a surface area of almost 20,000 m2, spread over two office buildings. Each one of the independent properties has four floors. The facilities house the headquarters of companies such as Adidas, Everis and Eurofragance.
GreenOak will add these offices to its ever-growing portfolio in Spain. Last year, the fund purchased four buildings in the Avalon business park, on the Julián Camarillo industrial estate in Madrid from Santander.
Nevertheless, to date, its only major acquisition in a single operation was made last year when it acquired the Las Mercedes business mega-complex, next to Barajas airport. That park has a surface area of 78,000 m2 and comprises nine buildings. In that case, it paid around €140 million to Standard Life, according to sources in the sector.
GreenOak is also preparing to launch its second real estate specific fund in Spain, with an expected investment capacity of around €900 million.
The building in Sant Cugat includes services such as padel courts, a gym, a games room, an auditorium and a lounge. In addition, the business park has around 400 parking spaces. The site’s currently occupancy rate stands at 80%, according to sources in the sector.
The business park is located in one of the most powerful business centres in Barcelona, in the city of San Cugat, which attracts numerous companies.
Original story: Cinco Días (by Alfonso Simón Ruiz)
Translation: Carmel Drake
31 March 2017 – Eje Prime
The UK fund is satisfying its investment appetite in the Spanish market by making acquisitions. In this vein, it has just added a plot of land in the 22@ district of Barcelona to its portfolio of assets. The plot is located at number 66 on Calle Cristóbal de Moura, according to Frédéric Mangeant, the Director General of the fund in Spain. Following this purchase, the group plans to construct an office building on the site.
Although the company did not want to make a statement about the amount of the operation, sources close to the deal say that the fund must have paid around €10 million. According to the same sources, Shaftesbury has purchased the plot of land from “a bad bank”, and is now waiting to receive all of the necessary licences from the Town Hall of Barcelona before it starts construction of the property.
Shaftesbury is thereby committing itself to one of the areas that is expected to grow by the most in the Catalan capital. The 22@ district is attracting a large number of companies, both from within Spain as well as from overseas, wanting to open offices in Barcelona. In the same way, a large number of real estate companies are committing themselves to the construction of new office buildings to satisfy demand (…).
Shaftesbury’s purchase of this plot of land forms part of the group’s plans to grow in the Spanish market. Headquartered in Luxembourg, the fund’s leader in Spain is Frédéric Mangeant, an executive who previously served as a managing partner of the international real estate consultancy Knight Frank and who is a member of the Board of Directors of Real Valladolid Football Club.
Shaftesbury’s Spanish subsidiary began its expansion in Spain in 2014, with the purchase of a building at number 48 on Calle José Abascal in Madrid, which it acquired from Sareb for €26.5 million. The fund has converted that property into a luxury residential building. According to sources in the sector, the 17 homes cost around €8,500/m2, and are set to become a benchmark for the multiple high-end projects that are currently underway in the capital (…).
The Shaftesbury Asset Management group manages more than €1,700 million of real estate assets and created the fund Shaftesbury Real Estate Partners 1 in 2015 with the objective of investing approximately €300 million.
Original story: Eje Prime
Translation: Carmel Drake
27 March 2017 – Inmodiario
Making money to reduce OHL’s mounting debt is still imperative for Grupo Villar Mir. And it was in this context that the latest operation was signed between the holding company controlled by the 80-year old civil engineer and the real estate company Megaworld, owned by the Philippine businessman Andrew Tan. The businessman has become the new partner in the project to develop Caleido, the fifth tower in the Castellana complex. In 2015, the construction group sold Torre Espacio to Tan for €550 million.
The agreement will turn the Philippine businessman into one of Villar Mir’s partners, as owner of 49% of the company that is running the project, which includes the construction of a skyscraper measuring more than 180 m tall and an underground shopping area with a surface area of around 12,000 m2. Tan will spend around €150 million on the purchase. PwC has acted as legal advisors to Espacio during the operation and the law firm Pérez-Lorca has represented Megaworld.
In January, the Chairman of the Villar Mir group, Juan Miguel Villar Mir Fuentes, unveiled so-called project Caleido, together with the Mayor of Madrid, Manuela Carmena. This complex, in which around €300 million is expected to be invested, includes a high-rise building, which will house a university campus to be operated by Instituto de Empresa and a medical research centre to be managed by Grupo Quirón.
In addition, the plans include an underground shopping area, covering around 12,000 m2, a park measuring 33,000 m2 where concerts and other cultural activities will be held, and 2,000 parking spaces.
Villar Mir was awarded this plot of land in 2014 under a 75-year concession, after he agreed to pay the Town Hall of Madrid an annual fee of €4 million (after an initial four-year grace period). Initially, a conference centre was going to be constructed on the site. (…).
The future architectural complex, designed by the architectural studio Fenwick & Iribarren, in conjunction with the Serrano Suñer Arquitectos studio, will comprise two separate spaces: a 160 m tall building with 36 floors, and a four-storey base building measuring 20 m tall (…).
Original story: Inmodiario
Translation: Carmel Drake
27 March 2017 – Observatorio Inmobiliario
Axiare Patrimonio has closed its first purchase following the capital increase announced in March. The Socimi has invested €19.5 million in the acquisition of an office building that has a GLA of 12,000 m2 and more than 400 parking spaces. The building, which was constructed recently, comprises several floors measuring 2,500 m2 each, as well as an auditorium with capacity for 200 people. According to the Socimi, the building will generate annual rental income of €1.25 million over the next two years.
The asset is located on Avenida Can Fatjó dels Aurons in Sant Cugat, Barcelona. Sant Cugat is a strategic area for offices in Barcelona, with direct connections to the C-16 and AP-7 motorways and a 5-minute walk from the Sant Joan train station. The area is home to many institutional owners including Mapfre, Axa, Catalana Occidente, Banco Sabadell and Merlin and tenants of the calibre of Hewlett-Packard, TVE, Deutsche Bank, Banco Sabadell, Mapfre, Nespresso and Gas Natural. Sant Cugat has been extremely sought after by tenants is recent times and currently has one of the highest occupancy rates in Barcelona.
The CEO of Axiare Patrimonio, Luis López de Herrera Oria states that “we have purchased a magnificent office building for a price that is 27% below its repositioning cost and with a great potential to increase in value”.
Following this operation, during the first three months of 2017, Axiare Patrimonio has invested €157.9 million on the purchase of four tertiary-use properties, with a combined surface area of 46,354 m2 and almost 1,300 parking spaces. This property formed part of the pipeline announced by the Socimi when it presented its annual results for 2016 on 27 February.
For this operation, Axiare Patrimonio has been advised by EY, BNP Paribas Real Estate and Estrada & Partners.
Original story: Observatorio Inmobiliario
Translation: Carmel Drake
27 March 2017 – Observatorio Inmobiliario
On Tuesday (21 March), Arcano’s real estate fund, the Arcano Spanish Opportunity Real Estate Fund (ASOREF), announced the acquisition of two new assets for almost €20 million. The assets acquired comprise an office building in Barcelona’s Plaza Europa (number 22-24) and a residential building on Calle Divino Pastor, 5 in Madrid.
Following these operations, the fund has now invested 50% of its capital; it plans to complete the rest of its investments this year.
The office building on Plaza Europa, 22-24 in Barcelona (pictured above) involved an investment of around €13 million. The asset is located in one of the fastest growing areas of the city for high-quality office space. The property currently has an occupancy rate of 84% and a gross leasable area of 7,334 m2, along with 83 parking spaces and storerooms covering 452 m2. It also has 164 parking spaces as an administrative concession.
Now that Arcano has acquired the property, its objective, as part of its added-value strategy for this fund, is to invest in its refurbishment and update, to increase the value and appeal of the building. “Our strategy will involve repositioning the property through the active management of it. From our point of view, Plaza Europa is the natural area of consolidation for the office market in Barcelona – it is going to undergo significant changes over the next few years”, said Pablo Gómez-Almansa, Investment Director at ASOREF.
The asset acquired in Madrid, on Calle Divino Pastor, 5, for a price of just over €6 million, is for the construction of 28 new homes with 1 and 2 bedrooms, a commercial space and 88 parking spaces. It is an 810 m2 plot of land with a constructed residential surface area of 2,371 m2. The plot is located in the Malasaña neighbourhood, in the Centro district of the city of Madrid, between Calles Fuencarral and San Bernardo. The building is very well located and in a strategic area between Calles Princesa, Gran Vía, Fuencarral and Carranza. It will benefit from the lack of land and shortage of new residential developments in the area.
In the words of Eduardo Fernández-Cuesta, Head Partner at ASOREF, “the two acquisitions announced today underline Arcano’s commitment to forming a diversified portfolio and adding value to its properties, through renovation, new builds and better positioning of its buildings in the market, to increase the supply of high-quality assets”.
Original story: Observatorio Inmobiliario
Translation: Carmel Drake
15 March 2017 – Real Estate Press
Aguirre Newman has advised Meridiano (Grupo ASV) on the sale of its headquarters in Málaga, which is located on Calle Olózaga 10, to Grupo Ñarucola. The property has a surface area of 1,400 m2, spread over a ground floor, three upper storeys and an attic.
The asset, which is located next to the central Atarazanas market, has housed the corporate headquarters of Meridiano since 1973. The company, which forms part of Grupo ASV, has more than 80 years of experience and a significant presence across the country, in particular in Levante and Andalucía. The consideration paid has not been revealed.
Grupo Ñarucola is a construction company/property developer that has built more than 2,500 homes and other projects in the province of Málaga and the autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla since 1991.
Aguirre Newman has worked as the sole interlocutor on behalf of Meridiano, which has facilitated the success of the transaction. Aguirre Newman considers that an orderly sales process brings transparency to operations and generates benefits for investors and owners alike.
Original story: Real Estate Press
Translation: Carmel Drake
14 March 2017 – Expansión
Activity is continuing in the Valencian real estate market, although this time, the deal is more symbolic than significant. The headquarters of what used to be the largest real estate company and landowner in the Community of Valencia, Bancaja Hábitat, has a new owner. The US investment fund Bain Capital has sold the property located on Paseo de Alameda 7 in Valencia, which had been the operational headquarters of the former real estate subsidiary of the former savings bank.
Bain Capital took control of the commercial property, which has a surface area of 1,870 m2 spread over two floors, as part of a large batch of assets and debt that it acquired from Bankia in 2016. In turn, Altamira Asset Management had been entrusted to manage the property.
According to comments made by the real estate consultancy Inmoking, which participated in the operation as the marketer of the premises, the building has now been purchased by a Valencian investment group, whose identity has not been revealed. The new owner plans to look for a tenant for the premises, which are currently closed.
Catering and gastronomic businesses have proliferated in this area of La Alameda in recent years, which had been dominated by office buildings before the crisis. One example includes the recent opening of a Ginos restaurant by the Vips chain, on the ground floor of the La Pagoda building.
Original story: Expansión
Translation: Carmel Drake
Portugal 
Italy 
Greece 
