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Saba Sells Toulouse Logistics Park To CBRE For €23M

18 September 2015 – Expansión

The group is focusing on its car parks / The company has sold a logistics park in Toulouse for €23 million.

Saba is continuing to take steps to exit the logistics sector and focus its activity on its core car park business. Yesterday, the group led by Salvador Alemany announced the sale of a logistics park in Toulouse (France) to CBRE Global Investors for €23 million.

The asset has a surface area of 20 hectares and was one of the company’s key sites, thanks to its strategic location in the neighbouring country, 30 kilometres away from the French city, one of the centres of the global aviation industry.

This divestment whereby reduces the group’s international presence to Lisbon, where it owns a site with a surface area of 100 hectares. The economic crisis in Spain has been more intense than in Spain and the demand for logistics space is not as great as in the areas close to the cities of Madrid and Barcelona.

In 2012, Saba began its exit from this business segment with the sale of a logistics park in Chile for €56 million, a deal that allowed it to begin its policy of shareholder remuneration.

In Spain, Saba is about to sell its 32% stake in Cilsa, the company that operates the Logistics Activities Area (ZAL) in Barcelona, measuring 208 hectares and located in one of the best areas of the Catalan capital. It is the last major logistics asset that Saba still owns.

The Competition Commission is studying Saba’s exit from this company; its stake is due to be acquired by Merlin. One of the unresolved questions is whether Sepes will hold onto its 5% stake in Cilsa – which does not even entitle it to sit on the Board of Directors – or whether Merlin will acquire the whole package.

Background

In Spain, Saba – which is controlled by Criteria CaixaHolding – last year sold a logistics park in Coslada (Madrid), some land in San Fernando and a logistics park in Penedés (Barcelona), in a deal worth €100 million.

The firm has continued to withdraw from its logistics business, whilst at the same time closing operations that have enabled it to make important in-roads into the car park sector, with new contracts at Adif train stations, Aena airports and with the Town Hall of Barcelona.

Saba generated revenues of €215 million in 2014 – the logistics division accounted for 19% of sales and car parks accounted for the remainder. In Spain, Saba still owns logistics assets in the provinces of Barcelona, Álava and Sevilla.

Original story: Expansión (by A. Zanón)

Translation: Carmel Drake