Deutsche Bank, Banca March & Two Funds Launch the Biggest Socimi

The offices of BBVA in Spain will be listed on the stock market. The fund Tree Inversiones Inmobiliarias, hold by clients of Deutsche Bank, Banca March and by opportunistic funds Area (bound up with Apollo) and Europa Capital finalize launching one of the biggest Socimi (Spanish counterpart of a REIT company) on the exchange market in Spain. The investment vehicle manages between 900 and 1.000 branches of the bank chaired by Francisco González on terms of sale & leaseback contract and will dispose of top capital oequal to 800 million Euros, an amount that could be beaten down only by Gowex on MAB (the Spanish Alternative Stock Market).

Tree Inversiones was set up in 2009 by the two banks and the two funds in order to acquire the BBVA´s offices in a transaction known as the “Proyecto Arbol” (Tree Project). They made a down payment of 1.500 million Euros for 948 subsidaries and a year later they added to the poll 150 more premises and two other buildings for 350 millions. Since that time Tree Inversiones occasionally sold a part of the offices.

The idea to launch the interest part to the stock market now originates from the company´s need to refresh the shareholding by finding new investors. Tree Inversiones wishes to have a liquidity line to be able to separate from the two funds: Area and Europa Capital. (…)

The fiscal profits that both the company and its investors can draw are other reasons for bringing the Socimi to the MAB. (…)

The Strategy

The company foresees getting rid of the property of BBVA step by step, as it used to do by now, and make its investment portfolio over by buying new assets throughout the country. BBVA pledged tenancy of the more than 1.000 premises for time period of between 20 and 30 years.

 Tree Inversiones Inmobiliarias´s outflow on the market is already quite advanced and the Socimi could have a chance for the opening ringing of the bell by the end of January. The company has created a website containing information for the future shareholders. The operation´s advisory firm is EY and the liquidity provider will be Renta 4.

The release to the stock market will be conducted via listing of a small shareholding in the enterprise. To do so, the company enlarged its capital by 2.000 million Euros at the end of 2013 destined for the free float of less than 1%. It is predicted that the proportion will change once Area and Europa Capital have gone away.

The launch to the market is being led by the managers of Tree Inversiones Inmobiliarias: the Magic Real Estate company. (…) This way the same managers that have been involved in the Proyecto Arbol support its debiut on the stock market. In Spain, Magic Real Estate also advises Blackstone, Deutsche Bank and Pimco, among other international investors.

Source: Expansión