Marriott and Carlyle Buy the Penha Longa Resort for €100 Million

30 November 2018

The sale of the luxury hotel in Sintra is expected to be finalised in brief and Brussels has already been notified. The Marriott and Carlyle groups are expected to pay around 100 million euros.

The Penha Longa Resort, a luxury hotel in Sintra which is home to the annual meeting of the European Central Bank, will be sold to the Carlyle and Marriott groups. The hotel unit, currently owned by Deutsche Bank, is expected to sell for close to 100 million euros, the Jornal de Negócios reported in its Friday edition.

CBRE assisted the acquisition by the Marriott hotel chain and the venture capital group Carlyle, which already notified the European Commission.

The Penha Longa Resort was owned by a group of companies: Deutsche Bank España, Espart (the Espírito Santo Group’s real estate arm), and Metrópolis (Spanish group) since 2003, when they acquired it for 50 million euros. The hotel – with 194 rooms, five restaurants, two golf courses and a spa – is on a 220-hectare property, close to the Palace and the Penha Longa Monastery, dating to the 14th century. The 5-star hotel is one of the most exclusive hotels in the country and has served as the venue for the annual meeting of Europe’s central bankers since 2014.

Original Story: Observador

Translation: Richard Turner

 

Campo Pequeno to Receive New Development with 390 Beds for Students and 250 Flats

28 November 2018

TPG Real Estate and Round Hill Capital have acquired a nearly 39,000-square meter plot of land in  ​​Campo Pequeno, where they will develop homes and student housing.

A new real estate development is coming to the Portuguese capital. TPG Real Estate and Round Hill Capital have acquired a roughly 39,000-square meter plot of land in Campo Pequeno, where they plan on building both permanent and temporary residences. In addition to 250 flats, the development will include student housing.

The project, located in Campo Pequeno, in the centre of Lisbon, will have the “capacity for 390 beds for students and about 250 flats. The student residence will include study rooms and leisure areas as well as stores open to the residents,” the two firms announced in a statement. The new development will be located “within walking distance of the University of Lisbon’s campus and other universities, institutes and business schools.”

Once built, the student residence will be managed by Nido Student, a unit of Round Hill specialising in this type of project in Europe.

The project is the two companies’ first joint venture in Portugal, “a country seeing solid economic growth, with positive dynamics in the residential segment and offering reliable indicators for real estate investment,” the statement said.

“We are seeing growing demand for high-quality residences with a good location in Lisbon, leveraged by the robust economy in Portugal. We are convinced that TPG Real Estate’s extensive experience in this industry … and Round Hill’s knowledge of the residential market, including student accommodation in Europe, will create a dynamic partnership that places us in an excellent position in this market segment, Michael Abel, a partner at TPG Real Estate, said in a statement.

This is not Round Hill’s first foray into Portugal. In June of last year, the company invested 100 million euros in a project that includes student residences, apartments, a supermarket, restaurants and office space.

Original Story: Economia Online – Rita Neto

Translation: Richard Turner

 

CCB to Grow, Gaining 5-Star Hotel

28 November 2018

To celebrate 25 years, the CCB finally announced the expansion of its modules 4 and 5, winning a luxury hotel and new commercial spaces. The international competition begins this Thursday.

After an announcement almost two years ago (January 2017) by the president of the Cultural Center of Belém, Elísio Summavielle, the expansion of the CCB was finally made official, with the expansion of the commercial area and the construction of a five-star hotel.

The announcement was made this morning at a press conference that took place at the CCB itself. The international public tender for the concession of modules 4 and 5, as designated since the launch of the project in the mid-1980s, is expected to be opened on Thursday.

According to SIC Notícias, the CCB Foundation will assign the surface rights for a period of 50 years to the winner of the contest. In return, the Foundation will receive a minimum of 900,000 euros per year, throughout the concession period. The works are expected to last three years.

The Minister of Culture, Graça Fonseca, the president of the CCB, Elísio Summavielle and the mayor of Lisbon, Fernando Medina were at the ceremony to present the project to enlarge the building.

Elísio Summavielle revealed his intention to move ahead with the project in an interview with Público and Radio Renascença in January of 2017.

At the time, the president of the CCB guaranteed that he would do everything in his power to make sure modules 4 and five were built, together with a prestigious, 160-room hotel with shopping areas and additional cultural venues.

Summavielle stated that he believes that the investment, which will largely depend on private capital, is needed to ensure the long-term viability of the CCB.

Original Story: Economia Online

Translation: Richard Turner

 

Oitante Sells Banif’s Headquarters for Approximately €24 Million

28 November 2018

The vehicle that took on Banif’s troubled assets following the bank’s resolution in late 2015 concluded the sale of the building that was the bank’s former headquarters on Avenida José Malhoa earlier this month. The property was put up for auction with a minimum price set at 24 million euros, but the sale was finalised for an amount below that. The name of the buyer was not disclosed.

Oitante, the vehicle that took on what was left of Banif’s troubled assets following the bank’s resolution in late 2015, finalised an agreement earlier this month to sell the building that had been the bank’s former headquarters on Avenida José Malhoa. The Jornal Econômico discovered that Oitante had received a total of 15 proposals for the property and sold the asset to the highest bidder, whose bid exceeded the property’s book value by 10%.

Of the 15 offers, a dozen were over 20 million euros. The property was put up for sale – via the property fund – for a minimum of 24 million euros, though the sale was finalised for an amount below that, according to reports. The name of the buyer was not disclosed.

Oitante put Banif’s historic headquarters up for sale in September. The building was one of the assets included in the portfolio that the company, which is helmed by Miguel Barbosa, expects to sell off by the end of the year, to pay 40% of the debts (about 117 million euros) it took on three years ago. In an interview with “Expresso” in September, the executive stated that the “objective is to maximise the pace of real estate sales and company holdings to pay 40% of the debt this year and to avoid having to ask for a cent from the Resolution Fund, as has been the case so far.”

Oitante entered into a servicer contract at the end of 2017 with the Spanish fund manager Altamira to manage a group of properties (an approximately €1-billion portfolio) and a portfolio of NPLs. The agreement will allow Oitante to accelerate the sale of some of the assets it inherited from Banif, which includes residential and industrial real estate.

Altamira, which is owned by the American Apollo fund (85%) and Santander (15%), has a five-year contract with Oitante at the end of which, the servicer is expected to have sold most of the assets.

Original Story: Jornal Econômico – Maria Teixeira Alves

Translation: Richard Turner

 

Lisnave Shipyard Land Sold to Parpública for 18,000 Euros

27 November 2018

Margueira ended operations with a share capital of 1.379 billion euros, which will be distributed according to the shareholdings of the following shareholders: Parpública (51%), BCP (22.353%), CGD (10.837%), Santander Totta (9.365%), BPI (3.511%), Caixa Económica Montepio Geral (1.098%) and the IGFSS – Social Security Financial Management Institute (1.025%).

The former lands of Lisnave, which were held in recent years by the Margueira fund, were sold on October 19 for approximately 18,000 euros to Baía do Tejo, a public company 100%-controlled by the state holding company Parpública.

“Using the average of the two independent evaluations that were carried out, the sale/transmission of tangible assets amounting to €18,075 was finalised in an agreement between Margueira and Baía do Tejo, signed on October 19, 2018,” the Margueira fund’s liquidation report revealed.

The report, which was published on Monday in the Portuguese press, explained that a decree-law was published on October 19, 2017 “defining the mechanisms whereby some of the former lands of the Margueira shipyards leave the public water domain for the State, while others remain in the public water domain, to be granted on concession for private use.”

From an operational point of view, the main tasks performed during the process of liquidation of the Margueira management company were based on the collection and reassessment of its assets and liabilities, as well as other rights and responsibilities not demonstrated in the management company’s accounts; as well as in the examination, assessment of the market value and the sale/transmission of the tangible assets of the management company, which are, in general, in use by the managing company itself, being a natural recipient of Baía do Tejo (mandated to continue to manage the properties).

Margueira ended its operations with a share capital of 1.379 billion euros, which will be distributed according to the shareholding percentage of the following shareholders: Parpública (51%), BCP (22.353%), CGD (10.837%), Santander Totta (9.365%), BPI (3.511%), Caixa Económica Montepio Geral (1.098%) and IGFSS – Social Security Financial Management Institute (1.025%). These shareholders will be entitled to their share of the distribution of the 1.379 billion euros.

A 1 to 1.5 billion euro investment in the tourism-related real estate project, Cidade da Água, is planned for the site, which a series of mayors of the municipality of Almada and several national governments have pushed for the Margueira shipyards. Major investors from the European Community, along with the British, Americans, Chinese, Turks, Russians and elsewhere in the world have already shown interest.

Transfer to Portuguese state

“With this decree, the foundations were created to carry out the transfer of the Fund’s territory to the Portuguese State, which occurred on March 21, 2018, when the transfer of ownership of the property rights for the real estate previously belonging to the Margueira Capital Fund was registered,” the report said.

The same report added that, on June 26, 2018, “Margueira – Management Company received indications from the General Directorate of the Treasury and Finance – as sole owner of the real estate property formerly belonging to the Margueira Capital Closed Real Estate Investment Fund – was proceeding with the transfer of the management of the territory to Baía do Tejo, SA, and the management company was then able to conclude the liquidation process of the Margueira Capital Fund, with the its subsequent liquidation.”

Later, on July 6, a contract for an administrative mandate was signed, in which the Portuguese state granted a mandate to Baía do Tejo to “administer and manage the contractual positions – rights and obligations – for the state properties” which, according to the Margueira Fund’s management, “triggered several actions that culminated in the extinction of the Margueira Capital Closed Real Estate Investment Fund on July 31, 2018, whereby the final settlement accounts were delivered to the CMVM [Market Market Commission] August 8, 2018.”

“Following the extinction of the Margueira Capital Fund, the Margueira Management Company implemented a set of tasks with the objective of starting its final liquidation process,” the statement added.

More recently, on October 1, after approval of the dissolution of the company at the general meeting held on that date, the Margueira Management Company “entered the liquidation process, and the members of the board of directors became liquidators (… ).”

The liquidation report for the Margueira Fund added that “with the realisation of the effective transfer of the real estate assets of the Fund Margueira Capital to the ownership of the State, all contractual commitments related to the operational management of the assets ceased, and, after defining the transmission model for the responsibilities of administration and management of the contractual positions constituted on the State’s properties to Baía do Tejo, a forecast framework of the main obligations to be observed and the tasks to be carried out was structured, with the objective of concluding the liquidation of the management company by the end of the current year.”

Original Story: Jornal Econômico – Nuno Miguel Silva

Photo: Cristina Bernardo

Translation: Richard Turner

 

Israeli Group Fortera Invests in Student Residences in Porto (and more …)

26 November 2018

The Israelis at Fortera Properties are investing in the construction of a student residence in the city of Porto, located in Campanhã. The investment is part of a set of projects that the group, led in Portugal by Elad Dror, its CEO and co-founder, recently announced for Greater Porto. At stake is a total investment of €200 million for the rehabilitation of buildings and the construction of new buildings for housing and hotels.

The head of the group confirmed the existence of the student residence with idealista/news, noting that the intention is also to “hold onto the management of the property” in addition to leading the construction.

The local authority already approved a PIP (Prior Information Request) for the building, which is located 400 meters from Campanhã Station. The PIP covers an area of implantation of 1,200 square meters (m2), including seven floors and a basement, and its construction will replace a set of buildings that are in the phase of advanced decay.

The Campanhã 1 project, as shown in a video posted to YouTube, will create added value for “an area that is in transformation and for the growing development of the city of Porto,” he emphasised.

A publicly-listed company as a partner

A significant portion of Fortera’s investment – €150 million – is intended for the restoration of buildings in the centre of Porto and their conversion into hotels. One of the projects will have 130 rooms, while the second will have 200 rooms, with construction expected to start in 2019.

Elad Dror told idealista/news that the Israeli partner, who will share the risk over the next five years, is a public company, but declined to reveal its name. “Since it’s a listed company, any announcement is viewed through the lens of the stock market, it will only be named when the deal is completed.”

Housing projects next to the Casa da Música

One of the group’s investments is a set of buildings that are being renovated for use in housing.

B-Well, Fortera’s new project, is located at the beginning of Avenida da Boavista, in front of Casa da Música and consists of two “nineteenth-century buildings, two magnificent architectural works that naturally provide the elegance and style that we seek to achieve. The buildings will be restored and adapted to contemporary requirements,” the Frontera Properties website states.

Boavista One, located at 373 Rua Nossa Senhora de Fátima, will be made up of 13 flats, from studios to two-bedroom apartments, with storage spaces on the ground floor. Construction is due to be completed by 2020.

Prices between €3,500 and €5,000/m2

In Porto, Elad Dror stated that the company is “developing different projects: some consisting of small units, aimed at investors and others are for residential purposes.”

Regarding possible prices, the executive stated that they would “vary between 3,500 euros/m2 for flats located next to the Casa de Música and 5,000 euros/m2 for the homes in Nevogilde, which are luxury villas.”

The latter project, located in the parish of Nevogilde/Foz, “is the most expensive and the main residential area of Porto. This part of the city is very calm and relaxing because of harmony coming from views of the beach and the sea,” the developer highlighted.

The four villas, with four bedrooms, garden and parking spaces, feature modern architecture, with high-quality finishes and comfort. With completion scheduled for 2020, each Four Devil’s house has 897 m2 of gross construction area.

Projects in Santa Catarina and Cedofeita

According to information on the group’s website, Fortera is also rehabilitating a building, dating back to the 1950s, that is located in the heart of the city of Porto, on Rua Santa Catarina.

The Santa Catarina 1569 project preserved the original façade, as well as its traditional structure, made up of tiles and balconies. “The eight apartments, ranging from studios to three-bedroom flats, are distinguished by the quality of the materials and their finishes,” the website states.

There is also a new project in Cedofeita, due to be presented soon, whose prices will range between 3,750/4,700 euros per m2.

New build in Espinho

Espinho One is a residential project located in the city of Espinho, facing the sea. Consisting of 38 flats, the project is undergoing a total investment of 7.5 million euros and is expected to be completed by 2020.

“The project is characterised by a set of facilities that will provide the necessary comfort of a cosy and modern environment,” the developer stresses, adding that it will be comprised of one to four-bedroom flats “whose prices will vary between 2,300 and 2,600 euros per m2. ”

Original Story: Idealista – Elisabete Soares

Photo: Fortera

Translation: Richard Turner

 

Hilton Building New Hotel on Rua das Janelas Verdes

25 November 2018

In 2019, the Curio hotel brand will open its doors in Lisbon after an unprecedented rehabilitation.

The rehabilitation project will involve interventions on three different streets in Lisbon’s historic centre, where a Curio-branded hotel, belonging to the Hilton group, will open its doors in December 2019. Construction began in 2017 on Rua das Janelas Verdes, which houses the future hotel’s largest surface area. The rest extends to Travessa Dom Brás and Rua do Olival.

“It is the right moment and the perfect place to open the first Curio Collection Hotel in Portugal. The tourism industry is rapidly growing in the country, and Lisbon is at the heart of this growth. The city is being recognised for its unique cultural heritage, in addition to its beautiful beaches,” said Patrick Fitzgibbon, Hilton’s senior vice president of development for EMEA, Europe, the Middle East and Africa).

The new boutique hotel will have 67 rooms, a fitness centre and a restaurant and bar, open to both guests and the general public.

The fourth hotel in Portugal

Executives at the Hilton group guarantee that the Curio de Lisboa will be “one of the best new hotels in the city,” living up to its “enviable location next to the National Museum of Ancient Art, many embassies and National Assembly, and a few streets away from the historic neighbourhoods of Chiado and Baixa.”

Curio is a part of the Hilton collection, characterised by hotels with “character and personality” which maintain independent ownership and naming. The Lisbon project is the result of a franchise agreement between the multinational hotel group and Goldenflamingo Ltda, which owns the property. The new hotel will be called Emerald House Lisbon. In total, Hilton has about 60 Curio-branded hotels, all of which were “handpicked,” and each one is unique. Noting that the Lisbon project involves a “multi-million-euro” rehabilitation, executives at the Hilton group declined to cite their exact investment.

According to Saraiva + Associados, the architectural studio responsible for the rehabilitation, the project involved “two separate interventions, linked together – on the one hand, the rehabilitation and  interior remodelling of the existing building, and the other, the construction of a new structure.” The two buildings “constitute an architectural ensemble that will assert itself as a whole, functionally unified and speaking as one,” in a concept based on the “re-reading of formal and traditional elements that characterise this area of Lisbon” alongside a “contemporary approach” visible in the use of materials such as tiles or lioz marble.

The Emerald House will open in Lisbon at the end of next year and will be Hilton’s fourth hotel in Portugal, alongside two hotels in the Algarve – the Conrad in Quinta do Lago and the Hilton in Vilamoura – and the DoubleTree Fontana Park in Lisbon.

Original Story: Jornal Expresso – Conceição Antunes

Photo: D.R.

Translation: Richard Turner

 

NPL Platform to Finalise Six Operations By Year-End

26 November 2018

Created a year ago, the NPL platform is beginning to show some results. The participating banks are expected to approve six loan operations by the end of the year, amounting to more than 180 million euros.

Created just over a year ago by three of Portugal’s biggest banks, Caixa Geral de Depósitos (CGD), BCP and Novo Banco, the bad debt platform is beginning to finalise its first operations with the troubled debts. As far as ECO has been able to ascertain, six operations, with a total value of more than 180 million euros, are expected to be concluded by the end of the year.

Contacted by ECO, the platform’s management team declined to comment because the deals are still under negotiation and the financial institutions are not yet ready to sign off on them. However, ECO learned that the platform expects to wrap up the deals by the end of next month, before the Christmas and New Year’s holidays.

In September of last year, CGD, BCP and Novo Banco, with the support of the Government and regulators, signed a memorandum of understanding creating the Complementary Business Group (ACE), called the Bank Credit Management Platform, which the group presented as an alternative solution to normal remedies for reducing the weight of NPLs (non-performing loans) in the Portuguese financial sector. A year later, the initiative is finally beginning to show some results.

In order for the banks to include loans in the platform, they had to go through a series of steps:

  1. 1. The platform received proposals from the banks, each which revealed a list of the companies and debts they wished to include in the debt management vehicle;
  2. 2. The platform’s executive management team examined whether the proposals met the eligibility criteria that had been defined by the banks;
  3. 3. Each proposal that was found to comply was then submitted for review by the other banks. Just one of the two other participating banks had to approve the proposal for it to be included in the platform;
  4. 4. After the acceptance, the platform would begin to analyse to debts according to any available information;
  5. 5. A strategy and subsequent measures would then have been drawn up, aiming for a recovery of the company;
  6. 6. Finally, the proposal would have been submitted to the Restructuring Committee for approval.

From the beginning, the banks agreed that the platform would only accept individual loans worth more than €5 million. However, the platform only really began operations after the first quarter of 2018, after the three banks had presented their proposals by the end of March. The three banks identified a set of toxic loans valued at one billion euros.

In other words, the platform only really began to work in recent months, trying to gather information on the loan operations involving the three banks, before submitting a proposal to restructure the loans and the companies themselves to the financial institutions. As ECO has discovered, many of the loan processes lacked complete documentation, including information about guarantees and risk assessments, further delaying the platform’s work.

After presenting the proposals, which has already happened in some cases, the restructuring committee then has the final say in the implementation of the operation. The committee is composed of three independent members, who together account for a third of the vote. The other two-thirds of the votes are in the hands of the banks, and votes are by simple majority. However, the weight of each bank in the final decision depends on the value of the loan: that is, the greater the size of the loan, the greater the voting power of the associated bank.

Accelerating the restructuring process

While this restructuring process is presenting a lifeline to the indebted companies, the six operations expected to be finalised by the end of the year account for a small part of the banks’ holdings of NPLs. The bad debts weigh heavily on the banks’ balance sheets, eroding their returns.

According to the Bank of Portugal, at the end of last year, the Portuguese financial system held NPLs worth approximately 36 billion euros, about 13% of total outstanding bank loans. It was a noticeable reduction from the previous level of 17%, just two years ago. Though the banks’ efforts have been widely praised by authorities, including rating agencies, the focus is on a continued reduction in the coming years, bank executives have said.

Regardless, the platform will not “perform miracles,” Miguel Maya, the president of BCP, acknowledged. The NPL platform is seen as a method of accelerating the restructuring, the executive stated in an interview with Expresso a week ago. “The platform is a good idea. Let’s see if we can turn a good idea into results,” he said.

Original Story: Economia Online – Alberto Teixeira and António Costa

Translation: Richard Turner

 

Mosteiro de Arouca Open to Bids Under Revive Program

23 November 2018

The public tender for the concession of the Monastery of Santa Maria de Arouca (Mosteiro de Arouca) is the tenth under the Revive Program and gives interested parties 90 days to submit their proposals. The Minister of Culture, Graça Fonseca, said Friday that “this is an opportunity to return to the Monastery of Arouca to the level of importance it deserves and to cherish its remarkable architectural and artistic heritage.”

“Cultural heritage is a fundamental element in the construction of our identity and social memory. The Revive Program is thus an important contribution to safeguarding these assets and returning them to citizens,” he added.

The Deputy Minister of Economy, Pedro Siza Vieira, stressed that the Monastery of Arouca “has been classified as a National Monument for more than a century and will be an important factor in generating wealth, creating jobs and preserving the cultural identity of Arouca.”

The Monastery of Arouca is one of the 33 properties inscribed under Revive, a joint program by the Ministries of Economy, Culture and Finance with the collaboration of local authorities. The program aims to cherish and recover Portugal’s unused national heritage, to strengthen the attractiveness of regional destinations and further the development of various regions of the country.

The Monastery of Arouca was founded in the 12th century by the Cistercians and became relevant when D. Mafalda, daughter of King Sancho I of Portugal and the short-lived queen of Castile, lived there between 1220 and 1256 (where she was buried). The monastery has been in possession of the Portuguese state since 1834 (the year in which the religious orders were extinguished). It continued to hold religious functions until 1886, the year when the last nun passed away. In the following years, the monastery has had a number of other uses.

The property, which is located in the heart of the town of Arouca, was classified as a National Monument in 1910. Built in a classical Roman style, it was the object of major interventions in the 17th and18th centuries, in the Baroque style, and a two-phase restoration in the 20th century. The property will be given on concession for 50 years for use in tourism-linked activities.

Original Story: Construir

Translation: Richard Turner

 

English Still Active in Algarve’s Real Estate Market, Despite Brexit

24 November 2018

Professionals and companies in the real estate market say that the recent oscillations are due to the re-emergence of buyers with other nationalities on the market, particularly the French.

On the eve of the meeting of the European Council, which is expected to approve the draft Brexit agreement between London and Brussels, real estate professionals say they are “not worried” about the effects of the exit on British buyers in Portugal, especially in the Algarve.

There had been a sharp decline in the months following the referendum, but since then, the market has recorded “ups and downs” that have more to do with the emergence of new buyers, such as the French, than any effects related to Brexit.

It’s make or break time for Brexit

Speaking to the Lusa news agency, the president of the Portuguese Association of Realtors and Real Estate Agents (APEMIP), Luís Lima, recalled that, shortly after the Brexit referendum in 2016, the English market fell by 20 to 30%.

“There was an initial downturn that, in my opinion, was more of an emotional reaction, which, together with the previous increase in the market, led many British investors to sell. However, then it got better,” he explained.

Although he has no official data for the year 2018 as of yet, Mr Lima noted out that “nothing is pointing towards a complicated situation.”

“I don’t know what’s going to happen from now on, but British investment has remained stable in 2018. (…) I did not see any rush for the doors by the British from the Algarve; they continue to buy and other nationalities have appeared in the market, principally the French,” the executive said.

The government expects Brexit agreement to go through, but also has contingency plans

The president of APEMIP said that many British investors had asked questions “in recent times” to know what they can do in the future.

“Many British people are looking for a second residence in Portugal to allow them to travel freely in the European Union, an ability which they stand to lose,” he said.

Asked what might happen after the United Kingdom’s departure from the European Union, Luís Lima stated that the situation must be viewed with caution and without certainties.

“We are very cautious, and everything depends on what happens, but we have always had a history with the English market. I also think it’s vital that [the government] revive the Golden Visa program so that the British can use it in the future,” he said, adding that the program “can be very interesting for what’s coming.”

What is Brexit?

Reinaldo Teixeira, the chairman of the board of directors of Garvetur, a company in the Garvetur Group, which includes dozens of companies linked to tourism and real estate investment in the Algarve, told Lusa that he is not worried about Brexit due to England’s history with the region.

“The English market (…) has been the top foreign market for tourists and buyers. In recent years, we have also seen strong growth in another market, the French,” he said.

Despite not having any concrete figures, the executive referred to the drop in the English market following the referendum, which then recovered, with some oscillations.

According to Mr Teixeira, the breaks have less to do with Brexit than the re-emergence of other markets.

“There was no major fall. I am not worried about the coming time. Regarding the noise created with Brexit, it is our duty as entrepreneurs and standard-bearers for the country to carry out actions that further strengthen our ties to the English market,” he said.

“What we can do, is to continue to nurture the historical relationship and continue to market [the region]. Brexit will not tear us apart, rather it will bring us closer together,” he said.

The Brexit referendum took place on June 23, 2016, and ended with 52% voting in favour of leaving the European Union, while 48% opted to remain. 72% of the 46.5 million British voters participated in the referendum.

The Heads of State and Government of the 27 countries that will remain in the European Union after Brexit will hold an extraordinary European Council on Sunday to approve the preliminary draft agreement between London and Brussels.

Original Story: Público / LUSA

Photo: Nuno Ferreira Santos

Translation: Richard Turner