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Mediapro Puts Its Headquarters up for Sale for 60 Million Euros
18 August 2017
It will be one of the largest real estate transactions of the year in Barcelona. The city council that runs Ada Colau and Mediapro has announced the public auction of 100% of the capital of Mediacomplex, the company that owns the Imagina building, which is in the 22@ district and houses the headquarters of the audiovisual group.
The municipal company Bimsa owns 33.3% of Mediacomplex, and Rilson XXI Inmuebles, a real estate company that is a part of the group headed by Jaume Roures, holds 66.7%. The two partners have initiated the joint sale of the company to take advantage of the voracity of Spanish and foreign investors, who are hunting for real estate assets in Barcelona.
The complex, located on 117 Diagonal Avenue, near the Torre Agbar, has 55,000 square meters, divided into two blocks: Mediapro’s audio-visual production building, equipped with film sets and technical facilities, and a 17-storey office tower, Half of them also occupied by the company, and the rest by other tenants.
“It’s a good time to sell,” say sources in Mediapro, as it is considered a “very appealing building.” “We are not a real estate company,” the same sources added, who rule out the possibility that the group would keep any participation in the company.
The search for a buyer for Mediapro’s headquarters in the 22@ district runs parallel to the sale of 51% of the group’s equity to the Chinese company Orient Hontai, with which exclusive negotiations are continuing.
Minimum price
According to auction documents, Bimsa and Rilson are asking for a minimum of 52.63 million euros for the totality of the shares in Mediacomplex. Of this figure, Bimsa would receive €17.52 million, and Rilson would get 35.10 million euros. The statement makes clear that no offers below the minimum price will be accepted.
In practice, however, the €6.05 million that Mediacomplex owes in debt to Rilson must also be included in the company’s cost.
The sale, in which the real estate consultancy Cushman & Wakefield is advising, expressly excludes the possibility of a separate sale by one of the two partners.
Mediacomplex registered a turnover of €8.80 million last year, of which €6.22 million was rental income.
Original Story: Expansion ProOrbyt – J. Orihuel / D. Casals
Translation: Richard Turner