Tag: acquisitions

Vivenio, Millenium & Atom Invested €543M in New Purchases in 2019

9 January 2020 – Eje Prime

Vivenio and the hotel Socimis drove the MAB in 2019. The Socimi controlled by Renta Corporación, plus Millenium Hoteles and Atom Hoteles together invested €543 million in new acquisitions during 2019. That figure accounted for 71.2% of all the funds spent on asset purchases by the MAB’s Socimis during the year.

Specifically, Vivenio invested €234 million, including €75.5 million on some of the Operación Calderón plots; Millenium closed 3 operations amounting to €192.4 million, including the purchase of 2 buildings in central Madrid which it is going to convert into a 5-star hotel; and Atom Hoteles spent €116.6 million on 5 hotels in Madrid, A Coruña, Cádiz, Tenerife and Gran Canaria.

In total, all of the Socimis on the MAB spent €762.1 million on the purchase of assets during 2019, up by 34.1% compared to 2018.

Original story: Eje Prime (by Marc Vidal Ordeig)

Translation/Summary: Carmel Drake

Quabit Generated Profits of €1.1M in H1 2018

27 July 2018 – El Economista

Quabit Inmobiliaria recorded a net profit of €1.1 million during the first half of the year, compared with losses of €3.5 million during the same period in 2017, according to information submitted by the company on Friday to Spain’s National Securities and Exchange Commission (CNMV).

The firm’s net turnover amounted to €9.1 million during H1, which more than tripled the €2.8 million recorded a year earlier; and the operating result entered positive territory, amounting to €3.6 million.

The real estate firm closed land operations amounting to €24 million, spanning a buildable surface area 85,130 m2, during the first six months of the year.

In total, since kicking off its growth plan in 2017, Quabit has invested €193 million in plots to build almost 4,850 homes, which means that it has already fulfilled 75% of its target to promote 7,900 homes by 2022.

As at 30 June 2018, the firm’s residential portfolio comprises 3,237 homes, which will generate an estimated turnover of €672 million that will be reflected in the income statement as they are handed over in 2018 and 2019. In June, handover began of 116 homes on the Quabit Aguas Vivas urbanisation in Guadalajara, and the firm will finish the year with a total of 215 homes delivered.

The group highlighted that it will see the sale of almost 1,000 homes in 2019 before it reaches its “cruising speed” of 3,000 deliveries per year in 2022.

Original story: El Economista 

Translation: Carmel Drake

Resa’s Former CEO Creates 12 Investment Vehicles & Finalises the Purchase of Land for Tertiary Use

27 June 2018 – Eje Prime

Jorge Guarner (pictured below) used to be the boss of the student hall sector in Spain and now he is looking to do the same in the nursing home sector. The director, formerly the CEO of Resa from 1996 to 2002, is guiding the path of Healthcare Activos, a real estate asset manager operating in the healthcare segment, which is pushing ahead with financial support from the fund Oaktree and one aim: to debut on the stock market in 2020. In its process of becoming a Socimi, the company is going to create twelve vehicles to purchase tertiary land throughout Spain.

During the first half of the year, the company has constituted the seventh and eighth of its series of vehicles, whose aim is “the performance, both in Spain and overseas, of property development and construction activities for all kinds of real estate developments, urban planning and land development projects, be they for industrial, commercial or residential purposes”, as noted yesterday in the Official Gazette of the Mercantile Registry (Borme).

Guarner, as the sole representative of the company, has created the companies with the minimum required share capital (€3,000) and he has domiciled them all at the manager’s Madrilenian headquarters, number 26 Calle Raimundo Fernández Villaverde.

Over the next two years, until it debuts on the stock market, a priori, on the Alternative Investment Market (MAB), Healthcare Activos plans to invest almost €500 million in properties in Spain, primarily in nursing homes for the elderly.

The group’s first investment came in December 2016, when Guarner’s firm purchased four buildings that are today leased to the nursing home operator Amavir. Since the first acquisition to date, the group has invested €107 million in eleven assets, of which €62 million were disbursed in 2017 and the remaining €45 million have been spent since 1 January 2018.

The future Socimi also has €14 million committed for the creation of a portfolio of more than forty properties, in different degrees of progress, such as nursing homes, hospitals and clinics, be they fully operational, ready for renovation and launch, or as land development projects.

Guarnar has funds to invest up to €150 million per year until 2021 in the acquisition of assets and development of new nursing homes for the elderly across the country. The latest operation that the manager carried out was the purchase, a month ago, of a property in Vitoria from the specialist operator Abertia-Etxea, for which it paid €5 million.

In addition, in April, Healthcare Activos spent €40 million on three nursing homes in Gijón, Burgos and Valladolid. For that project, the company joined forces with La Saleta Care, owner of the buildings until then, which will continue to manage the properties for the next 25 years.

Guarnar, who was also the CEO of Sarquavitae for twelve years, the main Spanish company in the nursing home sector, has his company central headquarters in Barcelona, where last summer, he invested €15.5 million in the purchase of the Los Tilos nursing home (…).

Original story: Eje Prime (by Jabier Izquierdo)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Ores Acquires 2 Commercial Premises in Madrid & León for €4.9M & €3.8M, Respectively

4 June 2018 – Eje Prime

Ores is ratifying its position as one of the most active Socimis in Spain in terms of acquisitions. The Socimi owned by Bankinter and Sonae has just purchased one commercial premise located on Calle Alcalá in Madrid for €4.9 million. That purchase was carried out after the Socimi signed a €140 million loan with ING, as revealed by Eje Prime.

The commercial establishment is located at number 157 Calle Alcalá and has a surface area of 374 m2. The premise is currently leased to the Tim Hortons restaurant group. The operation, according to sources in the sector, has been brokered by the real estate consultancy Aretail.

In addition, Ores has bought a commercial premise at number 13 Calle Ordoño II in León. That store, which has a surface area of 745 m2, is occupied by the Catalan fashion chain Mango as the tenant. The Socimi paid €3.8 million for the space.

“With these acquisitions, financed using available cash from Ores, the company is continuing to fulfil the investment objectives established in its business plan, in accordance with the financial parameters committed to with the shareholders”, add sources at the group.

These purchases form part of a new growth phase that Ores is embarking on, which is being financed by a €140 million loan. With this financial strength, the group is going to carry out new real estate acquisitions in Spain and Portugal. The group’s most recent purchases include two plots in Mejorada del Campo in Madrid for €6.6 million. With a surface area of 8,000 m2, they are both leased in their entirety to the Valencia-based supermarket group Mercadona.

The year 2018 is proving to be one of the most active for Ores in terms of property purchase operations. At the beginning of the year, the company invested €86 million in the acquisition of six commercial premises in Portugal (…).

Ores is aimed at private banking clients. Although its portfolio of assets is reduced, for the time being, the Socimi made its debut on the stock market with the aim of investing €400 million in high street retail premises, supermarkets, out-of-town retail parks (measuring up to 20,000 m2), bank branches and single assets with long-term leases and solvent tenants.

Bankinter and Sonae Sierra launched this new venture in the real estate sector in record time. The two groups constituted the company on 15 December last year and in just two months, carried out the process to create the vehicle, raised sufficient capital to bring it to life and completed its stock market debut.

Original story: Eje Prime (by C. Pareja)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Aquila Wants to Invest €800M in Logistics & Residential Assets in Spain

6 April 2018 – Eje Prime

Aquila Capital is displaying its charms in the Spanish market. The investment fund, which has already invested more than €500 million in Spain, is going to allocate another €800 million to the purchase of logistics and residential assets over the coming years. Moreover, as sources from the company explained, Aquila Capital plans to spend some of its investment on new residential developments.

Aquila’s new plan of attack focuses on the entire European market but is looking very closely at Spain and its real estate market given that it is now fully recovered having survived one of the worst economic crises of recent times. The fund is going to launch three funds specialising in different types of assets, with the first dedicated to logistics properties.

That fund will be the one that looks at more markets, above all those in the south of Europe. Aquila is going to raise between €200 million and €250 million from institutional investors and will have a gearing ratio of 50%, which means that the total investment capacity allocated to countries such as Spain, Portugal and Italy will amount to €500 million.

Aquila, which has operated in Spain since 2012 through an office located on Paseo de la Castellana (in Torre Europa) in Madrid, is going to allocate the assets that it buys (which must be core or core plus) through this fund to short-term rentals.

Moreover, the group is preparing two other funds, both of which will specialise in the residential business. The first is going to specialise in the purchase of residential rental properties in cities such as Madrid, Barcelona and Málaga. The second is going to focus on the construction of residential projects.

For those two funds, Aquila has set the challenge of raising between €200 million and €300 million to buy new residential buildings in association with property developers and to purchase assets that are already rented out. To carry out these plans, the group has doubled its workforce in Spain, which has gone from 17 people to a team of 30 professionals over the last year.

Projects in progress 

Aquila Capital’s interest in Spain is nothing new. At the end of last year, the company acquired six plots of land in Málaga and Huelva, which represented the German group’s first foray into Andalucía.

That transaction comprised almost 120,000 m2 of land on which around 1,300 homes will be constructed, according to El Economista. Specifically, the acquired portfolio constitutes six plots of land located in the centre of Málaga, Estepona, Rincón de la Victoria and Huelva.

With this acquisition, the asset manager is continuing its expansion in the Spanish market, where it is currently building more than 1,500 homes, as well as two hotels in Madrid, through alliances with local partners. Aquila Capital is currently managing thirteen real estate projects in Spain with a total investment volume of more than €500 million.

Original story: Eje Prime (by C. Pareja)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Micmarsein to Invest €60M in New Land in 2018

13 March 2018 – Eje Prime

The property developer Micmarsein is taking advantage of the good health of the residential market in Spain. The company, a joint venture between the construction firm Marsein and the property developer Mercat Inmobiliaria Català, is focusing on developing its promotion business in Cataluña, Ibiza and Valencia, with the purchase of new land worth €60 million, according to sources from the group speaking to EjePrime.

“Micmarsein has been created out of the need for two companies to join forces to reach an objective, which is to build residential properties”, explain the sources at the group. The company, which has more than 25 years of experience across Spain, has started 2018 with the purchase of a plot in Les Franqueses, Barcelona, for the construction of a development comprising 35 homes, as well as retail premises and parking spaces, which will involve an investment of €14 million.

The homes will have surface areas of between 68 m2 and 105 m2. This development, which will be started at the end of 2018, comes in addition to the developments that Micmarsein is currently executing in Cataluña and the Balearic Islands.

In Ibiza, the group is immersed in two developments. The first is located in Santa Eulalia, where it has purchased a plot on which to build 29 flats and where it is going to invest €17 million. Moreover, on the same island, it is also going to build a new development in Sant Josep, aimed at a public with a high purchasing power.

In terms of Barcelona, the company is on the verge of handing over a development containing 13 homes in Collblanc and has just finalised work on two more developments containing fourteen and six homes in the neighbourhood of San Andreu, also in the Catalan capital. To complete the picture in the Catalan market, Micmarsein is also now building a development in Cardedeu.

Of the new purchases that Micmarsein is going to carry out this year, some will be financed using own funds to nourish its business, whilst others will be commissioned by other funds, which trust in the group to develop their investments in the country.

This year is going to be one of the most ambitious for the company in recent times. According to the group, the forecast is to end the year with a turnover of close to €40 million, which will mean multiplying by almost seven its revenues from a year earlier, when the group recorded sales of €6 million.

Micmarsein hopes that the increase in its revenues over the coming years will stem from its expansion plan in the Spanish market. In addition to the Mediterranean Coast and the Balearic Islands, the group is planning to acquire land and build new developments in Madrid and Málaga over the medium term (…).

Original story: Eje Prime (by Custodio Pareja)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Deloitte: Residential Property Developers Set Their Sights on Consolidation

1 March 2018 – Expansión

The residential sector is on a roll. After years of significant declines in property development activity in Spain, the housing industry recorded its best year since the crisis in 2017, with a total of 500,000 transactions, of which almost 85,000 involved new homes, although the evolution of house sales is still light years away from the levels seen in 2007.

In this context, prices also recovered, recording an increase of 6.6% between 2014 and the third quarter of 2017, albeit with significant differences by province. This recovery in prices came after a cumulative decrease of 27.3% between 2008 and 2014, according to data reflected by Deloitte in its report The Residential Development Handbook. According to that analysis, there are currently 2,150 developments underway, with 114,000 homes being built. Of the total new developments, almost 80% are located in just 10 provinces.

This recovery is happening in the context of a favourable macroeconomic evolution with GDP growth of 3.1% in 2017, a reduction in unemployment and a favourable demographic makeup: Spain has 21 million citizens aged between 25 and 55 years, who may become potential buyers.

Moreover, financing is working in favour of house sales as the banks have opened the credit tap once again, although with greater demands on borrowers and more rigorous controls.

Alberto Valls, Partner responsible for Real Estate at Deloitte, explains that there is “growing unmet demand, which extends beyond the 10 main provinces”. In this sense, sources at the Deloitte have identified 272 hotspots where both demand and prices are growing, unemployment is decreasing and the market dynamics are favourable. “One third of those hotspots are not being covered by any property developers”, explains Gonzalo Gallego, Partner at Deloitte in the Financial Advisory Real Estate team.

These hotspots are located in 158 areas of the country. Specifically, Madrid and Barcelona account for more than 35% of them. In this context, funds such as Castlelake, Cerberus, Blackstone and Värde saw an opportunity in the wake of the recovery and have set up shop in the country. Others, such as Lone Star, have already completed their cycles, and with the sale of its entire stake in Neinor, which has been listed for less than a year, has collected its gains.

For Valls, the Spanish market continues to offer opportunities for investors to create value. “They are continuing to invest through alternative structures: alliances in projects, purchases of property developers and development of platforms for their subsequent debuts on the stock market”, he says.

The Partner responsible for Real Estate at Deloitte also recalls that, despite the creation of new players, the residential market in Spain is “highly fragmented”. And he predicts: “The market for real estate property developers is going to become more concentrated”.

Specifically, the five largest property developers in Spain account for just 6% of the market in terms of units handed over and 12% of the units under development. If we compare those figures with other more mature markets, the Top 5 British property developers account for 39% of the total units handed over, whilst the top five French developers account for 42%, according to data from Deloitte.

Large listed companies

Placing the focus on the large listed property developers, Metrovacesa, Aedas and Neinor, which have a combined stock market capitalisation of €5.2 billion, together, they own a portfolio of land with capacity for the development of 61,500 homes. Their French counterparts Nexity and Kaufman Broad, which have a combined market value of €3.3 billion, own land for the development of 72,100 homes. Meanwhile, the eight largest property developers in the UK, including Persimmon, Taylor Wimpey and Barratt, which have a combined market capitalisation of €37 billion, have potential land for around 300,000 homes.

Original story: Expansión (by Rebeca Arroyo)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Vbare Doubled its Rental Income & Recorded Profits of €2.2M in 2017

26 February 2018 – Eje Prime

Vbare is making profits from its investment in rental assets. Taking advantage of the boom in that market, the Socimi listed on the Alternative Investment Market (MAB) recorded a profit of €2.2 million in 2017, compared to €4.3 million in 2016. Almost half of the amount the company earned last year came from rental income, which amounted to €1 million, up by 122% with respect to 2016.

Vbare’s portfolio, comprising 197 assets, has an occupancy rate of 88.82% and last year saw an average capital appreciation of 61% and returns of more than 6%. At the end of 2017, the valuation of the management company’s portfolio amounted to €28.5 million.

In 2018, the Socimi plans to start investing the money raised over the last few months. After increasing its capital by €7 million in August, the company has started the year by signing a loan for almost €1 million with Sabadell for new acquisitions, as well as a mortgage amounting to €685,000 secured by fifteen of its real estate assets in Madrid.

In this sense, Vbare is finalising the acquisition of an asset worth between €1 million and €1.5 million, a purchase that will be included in the process to identify opportunities in which the Socimi is immersed. The list of potential investments amounts to more than €75 million.

Moreover, the manager wants to branch out of Madrid, with the purchase of assets in other Spanish cities that have “the potential for rental increases in the short and medium term”, according to a statement issued by the Socimi.

Fabrizio Agrimi is the person who will lead roadmap of Vbare, which made its debut on the MAB in December 2016. The executive has headed up the Socimi since last November, following the departure of David Calzada in June. Formerly at Aguirre Newman and a partner at Altan Capital, Agrimi has extensive experience in the business of real estate investments both in the Spanish market as well as in the United Kingdom and Italy.

Original story: Eje Prime 

Translation: Carmel Drake

Meridia Capital Will Debut its Socimi on the MAB in 2018

13 December 2017 – Eje Prime

The Socimi fever is never ending in the real estate sector. In fact, it is growing. The latest company to bet on the Alternative Investment Market (MAB) is Meridia Capital Partners, a Barcelona-based fund led by the veteran businessman Javier Faus, which has announced it is going to debut its Socimi on the stock market, most likely at the beginning of 2018. This incorporation will come after today’s debut on the stock market of the logistics firm P3 Logistics Parks, and after Student Properties, which will soon become the first listed real estate investment company specialising in student halls.

Meridia III, which is what the Socimi is called, owns assets worth more than €100 million, according to Cinco Días. The future listed company owns a diversified portfolio with investments in every sector, from offices and logistics to residential, retail and hotels, but focused, for the time being, in Spain’s two largest cities, Madrid and Barcelona.

Constituted last year, Meridia III was created as the third investment vehicle of the fund, created by Faus in 2001. Its most recent acquisitions include the Barnasud shopping centre, for which it paid €35 million to Unibail-Rodamco.

Moreover, the company has carried out seven capital increases in the last year and a half, amounting to €50 million in total, with the aim of financing its future plans.

In total, Meridia III has an investment capacity of €500 million, of which it has already spent more than 50%.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake

Socimi Bay Hotels & Resort’s Profits Rose By 87% In H1 To €102M

31 October 2017 – Alimarket

Bay Hotels & Resorts, the hotel Socimi created by Hispania and Grupo Barceló, has presented its results for the first half of 2017, which reveal that the Socimi increased its profits by 87% during the period to €102 million, with respect to June 2016. In turn, its revenues from the rental of hotels and shopping centres rose by 26.5% to €38 million. On the investment side, Bay spent €18.8 million to improve and reposition its portfolio during the first six months of 2017. The bulk of that investment was spent on the renovation of the Balearic hotel ‘Barceló Paradise Portinatx’ – acquired by Hispania for €11 million this year – and the Canary Island hotels ‘Barceló Teguise’ and ‘Occidental Jandía Mar’, amounting to €7.6 million, €3.6 million and €775,000, respectively.

Bay’s recent operations include the purchase of all of the shares in Armadores de Puerto Rico for €6.2 million on 28 June 2017. That entity owns land in Lanzarote, on which Bay plans to construct a luxury hotel with 225 rooms. Its plots are located adjacent to the ‘Occidental Lanzarote Playa’ (372 rooms) and ‘Occidental Lanzarote Mar’ (436 rooms) complexes, which Bay Hotels also owns. The objective of the Socimi is to create a luxury mega-complex in this tourist area, with 1,033 rooms in total. That same month, the Socimi also completed its purchase of the Balearic hotel ‘Fergus Tobago’ in Palmanova (Mallorca) for €20.5 million, and the Benidorm hotel ‘Selomar’ for €16 million. Looking ahead to future investments, the group held real estate investment commitments amounting to €19.4 million as at 30 June 2017.

Meanwhile, on 1 June 2017, Bay signed a liquidity contract with the entity GVC Gaesco Beka, S.V., with the aim of favouring the liquidity of its transactions and the uniformity of its share price. Overall, the Socimi held 406,450 own shares as at 30 June 2017, with a total value amounting to €2.15 million. At the end of the first half of the year, Hispania recorded a gross asset value of €931 million, which resulted in the recognition of a €73 million gain for asset appreciation in the income statement (…).

Following the various corporate operations, Hispania and Grupo Barcelona own 76% and 24% of the Socimi, respectively. The representative shares in Bay Hotels & Leisure Socimi have been trading on the Alternative Investment Market since 24 July 2017.

Original story: Alimarket

Translation: Carmel Drake