Top Footballers Create €70-Million Real Estate Fund to Invest in Portugal and Spain

14 November 2018

A group of footballers from top clubs like Real Madrid, PSG and Manchester United have joined together to create a real estate investment fund directed at the commercial sector. The fund is called Sport Capital Partners, and the operation was headed by Medcap Real Estate, led by Dimas de Andrés and owned by the “powerful” Spanish family De Andrés Puyol.

The new fund, in which the FIFA agent Vicente Forés Llácer also participates, will initially receive a total investment of up to 70 million euros, to be invested in Spain and Portugal.

The fund plans to generate rents with long-term tenants, from three to 20 million euros in value in the main Spanish and Portuguese cities.

Dimas de Andrés, the CEO of the Medcap Real Estate group, expects to acquire a portfolio of ten assets in the coming months, both in Spain and Portugal. A country that has become an attractive place to invest, “given the growth in every area and its tax advantages,” he said.

Medcap Real Estate’s main objective, with the creation of Sport Capital Partners, is to have the capability to create specialised investment vehicles that permit the entry of investors who wish to diversify their assets and who are looking for fixed returns and controlled exposure to the retail real estate market.

The expected profitability, moreover, is much higher than offered by the socimis (which only exist in Spain) and traditional real estate investment funds.

The first operation carried out by the new fund was the acquisition of a 2,500 square meter (m2) property in the centre of Jerez de la Frontera, Spain, which was leased in full on a long-term contract by El Corte Inglés.

Who is the Andrés Puyol family?

  • According to Spanish newspaper El Mundo, it is among the 200 richest families in Spain, ranking 151st, with a net worth of 310 million euros (February 2018).
  • The family originated in the Valencian Community and has been quietly operating in the real estate sector since the 1990s.
  • In 2015, it left its anonymity behind, launching the Medcap Real Estate Socimi, valued at 290 million euros.
  • In 2017, it sold one of its main assets, the Gran Vía 21, in Madrid, for 110 million euros. The venue is home to the largest Adidas store in the Spanish capital.
  • Dimas de Andrés Puyol, son of the founder, is the CEO of the company, which owns assets – retail and hotels – in Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia and Murcia.
  • The family owns 100% of Medcap Real Estate, which defines itself as a “boutique” real estate group and specialises in buying street-level stores in prime locations. The socimi owns stores that are home to Louis Vuitton, Desigual, Starbucks and Apple, for example. Its assets are valued at 385 million euros.

Original Story: Idealista

Photo: Medcap Real Estate

Translation: Richard Turner