Ibercaja Sells 2 Logistics Warehouses In Plaza For €19M

26 October 2017 – Heraldo.es

Ibercaja has sold a logistics complex measuring 27,096 m2 in Plaza (Plataforma Logística de Zaragoza) to the fund manager Savills Investment Management for €19 million. The sale, closed last week, represents the highest price paid per square metre in an individual operation in the history of the logistics platform.

The complex that Ibercaja has divested comprises two large warehouses with long-term leases to Mercadona and the German operator Kuehne Nagel, respectively. Sources familiar with the transaction explain that the objective of the new buyer is to maintain these uses, given that it was precisely the long-term rental agreements over both warehouses that raised their interest in the first place.

The competitive process for the sale, in which more than 25 possible buyers expressed an interest, was coordinated by the portal specialising in real estate auctions addmeet.com, which has now managed several important sales in Zaragoza and Aragón.

The move by Ibercaja sees it deepen its commitment to the divestment of its non-strategic assets, as it seeks to focus all of its efforts and resources on boosting the banking business and the digital transformation, whereby fulfilling the roadmap that the entity set itself for the strategic cycle 2015-2017.

The buyer, the Savills Investment Management group, plans to integrate its new assets into the European Logistic Fund II fund, aimed at acquiring top-quality logistics products around Europe. Savills Investment has 18 offices in Europe and Asia and manages properties around the world worth €16,000 million. “We are very happy with the completion of this operation in a very competitive market. It is a high-quality asset in Plaza, which provides the fund with a solid and defensive distribution platform”, said Michael Reinmuth, Director of Savills in Spain.

Plaza has seen investments worth €140 million so far this year

This new sale, at a price of €701/m2, is the most significant in Plaza’s history in terms of an operation involving real estate assets only. Previously, higher prices per square metre have been paid in other transactions but only when they also included the purchase of companies, according to local sources in the sector.

With this latest deal for €19 million, Plaza has recorded investments from various operations amounting to €140 million so far this year, an amount that helps consolidate the position of the logistics platform in Zaragoza (…).

Original story: Heraldo.es (by V. M.)

Translation: Carmel Drake