Tag: Adequa office complex

Altamira Hires Borja Ortega from JLL to Lead its International Expansion

11 April 2018 – El Confidencial

Altamira is stepping on the accelerator to become the leading servicer in the south of Europe and, to this end, has hired a heavyweight from JLL as the Head of International Expansion and member of its Executive Committee. Borja Ortega (pictured below), Director of Capital Markets at the real estate consultancy is going to join the company controlled by Apollo in May.

The first major challenge that he will have to handle is Altamira’s entry into Italy, a market that the company led by Julián Navarro has been analysing for a while to consolidate its position in the Mediterranean region, having already made its debut in Portugal and Cyprus.

The servicer entered Portugal a year ago by purchasing Oitante, a company created to manage Banif’s assets, a move that allowed it to take over the management of more than €1.5 billion in assets.

In Cyprus, last summer, the servicer created a joint venture with Cooperative Central Bank (CCB), the second largest bank in the country with €7.6 billion in financial and real estate assets, in which Altamira holds a 51% stake and which has been operational since the beginning of this year.

Heavyweight from JLL

Until now, as Head of Capital Markets, Borja Ortega has led the firm’s direct investment activities (the traditional business), its financial advisory practice (portfolios, debt, mergers and acquisitions) and its private wealth business.

Some of the most important operations that he has managed in recent times include the process to sell the Adequa office complex to Merlin and the sale of Edificio España, operations that helped his division to record growth of around 50% in the last two years.

Moreover, Ortega launched the private wealth division, which is one of the first to channel the arrival of wealthy Latin American investors in the Spanish real estate market, and he collaborated in the sale of €30 billion in toxic assets from Santander-Popular to Blackstone, an operation in which the fund was advised by JLL.

Following the arrival of the Socimis, which have now begun to consolidate in the market with the takeovers of Axiare by Colonial and of Hispania by Blackstone, and the boom in residential property development, with the stock market debuts of Neinor, Aedas and Metrovacesa, the next major movement in the sector is expected in the field of the servicers.

As we await possible mergers, for the time being, Haya Real Estate is the first firm in the sector to set its sights on the stock market, by engaging Rothschild, JP Morgan and Citi to coordinate its debut later this year. Meanwhile, Altamira has opted to create a large international platform before taking the next step, whilst Solvia has created its own property developer.

Anticipa, the servicer of Blackstone, has swallowed up Aliseda as part of the aforementioned operation involving the purchase of toxic assets from Santander, whilst Servihabitat has appointed a new CEO and it is expected that the complex balance of powers between CaixaBank and TPG will tip in one direction or the other within the next few months, as part of the recently launched process of consolidation in the sector.

Original story: El Confidencial (by Ruth Ugalde)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Juan Pepa Leaves Lone Star For Pastures New

7 November 2017 – El Confidencial

Juan Pepa was the first person to seriously back the Spanish property development market and, having reaped the rewards, the Argentinian director has decided that now is time for a change of scenery. Mr Pepa (pictured below left), leader of Lone Star in Spain, will hand over control of the US fund next month, to undertake new projects in the country from January onwards, according to sources familiar with his decision. The man himself declined to comment on the news.

With Mr Pepa’s departure, a cycle closes in the real estate market. Having starred in many of the large property-related operations in the Spanish market in recent years, the jewel in his crown was the creation of the property developer Neinor. It was the first firm of its kind to debut on the stock market in almost a decade, and it has seen its share price appreciate by 9% since it first listed in March.

Lone Star created that housing giant after acquiring Kutxabank’s real estate business, in December 2014, for €930 million, an operation that represented the largest sale of a real estate company in Spain since 2007. A year later, the company debuted on the stock market with a capitalisation of €1,300 million.

Mr Pepa’s commitment to the Iberian peninsula has allowed Lone Star to become one of the major players in the economic recovery, a prize that came after it had dared to buy assets at the height of the crisis when most other funds were withdrawing.

Project Octopus

It was in this context that Mr Pepa managed to secure another one of his key milestones, the purchase of Eurohypo’s Spanish real estate together with JP Morgan. Baptised as Project Octopus, this portfolio comprised more than €4,000 million real estate loans in Spain and Portugal.

One of the assets that the firm ended up controlling as a result of this purchase was the Adequa office complex, which was owned by Bami until Lone Star executed the debt that it held and opened a process to sell the property. The buyer was another one of the main players that has turned the sector around, Merlin, with an offer of €380 million.

In Portugal, Lone Star has just completed the purchase of 75% of Novo Banco, another one of the legacies that Mr Pepa will leave behind. Many investors expect to soon see a recovery in Portugal similar to the one already being enjoyed in Spain.

In fact, in addition to the assets from Octopus, in recent years, the fund has taken other positions in the neighbouring country, such as a 2,000-hectare plot of land that it acquired from Catalunya Banca in the Algarve for €200 million.

Despite all of these achievements, Juan Pepa leaves Lone Star with the bitter taste after he was unable to win his last big battle: the €30,000-million portfolio of toxic assets from Banco Popular that Santander sold in the summer. His fund had featured amongst the favourites but the portfolio ended up being awarded to another investment giant: Blackstone.

Original story: El Confidencial (by Ruth Ugalde)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Merlin Buys Adequa Business Park From Lone Star For €380M

3 October 2016 – Real Estate Press

On Friday, Merlin Properties confirmed its purchase of the Adequa business park, located in the Las Tablas area in the north east of Madrid. The operation has been advised by Knight Frank and JLL.

The complex has belonged to Lone Star since 2015 which purchased it by foreclosing a debt with Bami amounting to €630 million.

Adequa, opened in 2007, is a complex covering more than 107,000 sqm spread across several buildings. The complex houses the headquarters of the group Técnicas Reunidas and the automobile company Renault. In addition, there is a plot of land for the development of two other buildings, including a 24-storey tower with a surface area of 29,000 sqm.

Through this acquisition, Merlin Properties has increased its presence in the area, where it already owns five office buildings, purchased in October 2014, for €130 million, which house the headquarters of Vesta, Neoris and Philips, amongst others. Similarly, Merlin acquired a plot of land measuring 16,000 sqm, where it is currently constructing an office block.

As at 30 June 2016, Merlin’s office portfolio comprised 584,969 sqm of space, worth €2,337.7 million. This portfolio has multiplied following the Socimi’s merger with Metrovacesa, approved on 15 September 2016. Thus, the new Merlin has an office portfolio that contains 84 properties with a surface area covering more than 1 million sqm and is worth €4,172 million.

In the north of Madrid, Metrovacesa owns the Las Tablas business park, which contains more than 27,000 sqm of office space and another complex, Vía Norte, covering 38,000 sqm.

Original story: Real Estate Press

Translation: Carmel Drake