Two Funds Submit Bids For InTempo Skyscraper In Benidorm

26 May 2016 – El Confidencial

(…). InTempo, the tallest residential skyscraper in Spain and the second tallest in Europe could have a new owner within a matter of days.

Two offers were presented for this bizarre and unfinished building in the Commercial Court of Alicante on 4 May. The Court is trying to resolve the liquidation process of the company that constructed the tower, Olga Urbana, which filed for bankruptcy at the end of 2014 at the request of its largest creditor, Sareb, to whom it owes around €100 million.

According to sources, two investment funds have submitted the offers, which reportedly amount to between €50 million and €60 million, and it is now up to Sareb, whose Board met yesterday, to decide whether to accept either of them or, on the contrary, foreclose the asset, given that the amount obtained would not be sufficient to cover the debt.

Valued at just over €90 million, according to Olga Urbana’s liquidation plan, Sareb has already acknowledged that it would be willing to accept offers equivalent to 70% of the appraisal value (in other words, €63 million), provided the payment is made in cash. (…).

Recovery of the Alicante Coast

If the sale of this asset goes ahead, experts say that it would represent a clear sign that the real estate recovery is now reaching one of the areas that was hardest hit by the crisis, namely Levante and, specifically, the Alicante Coast. Since the end of 2013, we have been seeing signs of improvement there, thanks mainly to the growth in secondary residence purchases by foreigners, which have enabled the absorption of a significant proportion of the “stock” and a slight increase in prices. (…).

Further proof of this renewed appetite for the Alicante Coast came in the form of the sale of the former Hotel Sidi de San Juan, whose owner, Sidi Española, filed for creditor bankruptcy in June 2011. A few weeks ago, at the end of April, the hotel was auctioned, and the property developer TM Grupo Inmobiliario submitted the highest offer to acquire the land and building that houses the former hotel, which for many years was the only five star property in the city. Located on the beachfront on San Juan beach, the consideration paid amounted to just over €19 million. (…).

Original story: El Confidencial (by E. Sanz)

Translation: Carmel Drake