• Transaction / Assets
  • Seller
  • Buyer
  • € MM

WPP Buys, Sells & Leases Back New HQ In Madrid

28 July 2015 – Expansión

The British group WPP has closed a simultaneous operation for the purchase, and subsequent sale & leaseback, of Telefónica’s former headquarters on Calle Ríos Rosas in Madrid.

The investment, including the purchase and subsequent renovation of the property, will amount to €150 million. Following the refurbishment, the communication and publicity company will occupy the building under a lease contract and locate its Spanish headquarters there.

According to the real estate consultancy firm, Knight Frank, this purchase is one of the largest office building transactions carried out for own use in the Spanish capital. The consultancy firm has advised the seller of the building, the asset division of Nozar, which is currently immersed in bankruptcy proceedings.

Simultaneously, the communication and publicity group has sold the building to a British fund manager through a sale & leaseback transaction, in such a way that the British firm will occupy the property as the tenant and the fund manager will be the landlord.

The building is located at number 26, Calle Ríos Rosas in Madrid and has a surface area of 36,000 m2. WPP’s objective is to unify its offices in Madrid. In total, 2,500 employees work in the city at various companies, including Ogilvy Group, Burson Marteller and Hill & Knowlton.

Original story: Expansión

Translation: Carmel Drake