British Fund Helikon Acquires a 3% Stake in Aedas

The stake of the manager, which has joined several other international funds that control more than 5% of the property developer, is valued at 21.3 million euros.

The British fund Helikon Investment has acquired a 3.05% stake in the share capital of Aedas Homes, a percentage valued at €21.3 million according to the current market price of the property developer.

Helikon, a recently created firm, directly owns a portfolio of 1,462 million shares in Aedas, as registered in the records of the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV).

Aedas Markets 1,500 Homes Online through its Service ‘Live’

The firm created this service a year ago, but it is only now, during the coronavirus lockdown, that its customers are taking advantage of the virtual home visits to view properties that have not been built yet.

The property developer Aedas Homes, controlled by the North American fund Castlelake, is marketing nearly 1,500 homes across 14 developments through its ‘Live’ virtual home visit service.

The firm created the service a year ago, but it is only now, during the lockdown caused by the health crisis, that customers are taking the opportunity to pay virtual visits to homes that have not yet been built yet and to conduct live conversations with sales advisors.

Aedas Homes Picks Up Pace of Share Buybacks

3 January 2020 The real estate developer Aedas Homes increased the pace of its share buybacks in December. By mid-month, the repurchases were worth 3% of its total share capital, according to note submitted to Spain’s National Securities Market Commission (CNMV).

Between December 2 and December 18, Aedas Homes acquired 470,159 shares for a total of 9.3 million euros. Aedas paid an average price of 20.04 euros. The developer’s shares are currently trading at around 20.30 euros.

La promotora inmobiliaria Aedas Homes ha aumentado el ritmo de la compra de autocartera en diciembre. A mediados de mes, las compras valían el 3% de su capital social total, según una nota presentada a la Comisión Nacional del Mercado de Valores (CNMV) de España.

Entre el 2 y el 18 de diciembre, Aedas Homes adquirió 470,159 acciones proprias por un total de 9.3 millones de euros. Aedas pagó un precio medio de 20,04 euros. Las acciones del desarrollador se cotizan actualmente en torno a los 20,30 euros.

Original Story: Merca2 – Javier Rosell

Translation/Summary: Richard D. Turner

 

Aedas Reaches Building Target Well Before Year-End

10 October 2019 – The real estate developer Aedas Home announced that it had practically reached its target of building 1,055 homes in 2019, three month ahead of schedule. Aedas has already received the certificate of the end of construction for 1,033 homes.

Additionally, the developer currently has another 2,200 homes under construction, at various stages of progress, compared to Aedas’s forecast of delivering 1,986 homes in 2020. Of those, 65% have already been pre-sold.

Original Story: El Confidencial – Ruth Ugalde

Adaptation/Translation: Richard D. K. Turner

Cerberus Looks to Expand in Spain

3 October 2019 – Cerberus is looking to increase its presence in the Spanish residential real estate market. The fund, which already owns Inmoglaciar, is in talks with investment banks to potentially acquire a larger developer to further enhance its activities in the Iberian peninsula.

Most recently, the US fund bid on Solvia Desarrollos Inmobiliarios’s developer. However, though the fund was a finalist in the bidding process, it lost out to Oaktree, which paid €880-million for the firm, including the company’s structure and landholdings.

Other international funds have been quicker to raise their games in Spain.  Lone Star acquired Neinor and eventually took it public. Castlelake created Aedas with a land bank acquired during the crisis and also took it public. Värde took over Aelca, Parquesol and Vía Célere.

Cerberus is aiming to build 3,000 homes a year, based on its ownership of Immoglaciar and other potential acquisitions. The latest possibility is Inmobiliaria Espacio, which the Villar Mir Group put up for sale two weeks ago.

Original Story: Cinco Días – Alfonso Simón Ruiz / Pablo Martín Simón

Adaptation/Translation: Richard D. K. Turner

Castlelake Acquires Land for 1,000 New Homes in Valencia

27 September 2019 – The US fund Castlelake, the majority shareholder of Aedas Homes, has acquired sufficient land, 100,000 square meters, to develop 1,000 homes in Quart de Poblet (València) from the real estate developer Grupo Ática.

Grupo Ática owned 60% of the total land in the new development, enough to build 1,400 homes out of a total of 2,300.  After the sale Ática will still own land for 400 homes, all of which will be subsidised (VPO). The two firms declined to reveal details of the transaction.

The remaining 40% of the land is owned by: Metrovacesa, with 6%; Dosval, with 3%, and the Quart de Poblet City Hall with 11%. Small property owners account for the remaining 20%.

Castlelake’s investment in the new development is expected to exceed 28 million euros, with €23 million in infrastructure works.

Original Story: Valencia Plaza – Estefanía Pastor

Adaptation/Translation: Richard D. K. Turner

Aedas Homes Acquires Plot of Land in Zaragoza for 198-Flat Development

15 July 2019 – Richard D. K. Turner

Aedas Homes has initiated operations in Zaragoza, acquiring a plot of land in the neighbourhood of the AVE train station. The purchase from the public company Zaragoza Alta Velocidad (ZAV) involves an investment of 19.3 million euros and will result in 198 new homes.

The firm currently has 4,232 homes one sale throughout Spain and enough land to build another 15,000. Aedas also acquired more land in area, though it declined to reveal details.

The plot the firm acquired is located between Delicias station and Avenida Navarra. The asset’s surface area is 5,821 square meters, with a buildable area of 27,956 m2. Zoning in the area allows for the construction of four buildings, with a maximum height of 19 floors.

Original Story: Heraldo – Jorge Alonso

ASG Homes Negotiates the Sale of 1,000 Rental Homes to Institutional Investors

19 June 2019 – Expansión

ASG Homes, the property development arm of the European manager ASG, is following in the footsteps of many of the major property developers in Spain by putting up for sale 1,000 rental homes.

The announcement comes in response to interest from institutional investors in acquiring and managing portfolios of rental homes, given the booming demand in the rental market.

Specifically, ASG Homes is negotiating the sale of 3 of its developments in San Sebastián, Madrid and Sevilla, which will be worth €200 million once finished, with investment funds, Socimis and family offices.

ASG Homes had planned to hold onto the properties and manage them itself but the strong interest from investors has resulted in a change of tack. In this way, the company is emulating the strategies of several listed property developers, such as Metrovacesa and Aedas Homes.

In total, ASG Homes has a landbank spanning 500,000 m2 with the capacity to build 5,000 homes distributed across Madrid, Alicante, Estepona, Marbella, Salamanca, Barcelona, Sevilla and Valencia. It launched its business in Spain in 2013 and invests not only in the residential sector, but also in the hotel, shopping centre and office segments.

Original story: Expansión (by Rebeca Arroyo)

Translation/Summary: Carmel Drake

CaixaBank Creates a Subsidiary to Finance Loans to Property Developers

17 June 2019 – Eje Prime

CaixaBank has created a new subsidiary to finance loans to property developers. The entity will operate under the brand CaixaBank Real Estate&Homes and will seek stable agreements with established property developers such as Neinor, Aedas Homes and Vía Célere, amongst others.

In 2018, CaixaBank financed 581 real estate projects lending €2.6 billion in total, up by 13% YoY. Moreover, 84% of the developments financed by the bank last year corresponded to projects involving less than 50 homes.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation/Summary: Carmel Drake

Aedas Reaches an Agreement with Castlelake to Buy Non-Finalist Plots

20 May 2019 – El Confidencial

Aedas Homes has reached an agreement with its main shareholder, the US fund Castlelake, to ensure its supply of long-term land, without having to make any major investments in the short-term.

Specifically, the property developer and the fund will create ad hoc companies for each non-finalist plot in which they decide to invest, whereby Aedas will take a 10% stake and will reserve the right to buy up to 25% of the homes built on each one of the sites.

Aedas’s team will be responsible for managing the vehicles, processing the urban planning formalities and obtaining the finalist land status. The company has already identified six plots in Madrid, Valencia and Sevilla, on which more than 9,200 homes could be built.

It will take between 4 and 5 years to transform those plots into finalist sites and the idea is that Aedas will build at least 2,500 of the homes permitted, with the remainder being sold for development to other property developers.

This strategy will ensure that Aedas has a supply of finalist land over the medium and long-term at affordable prices.

Original story: El Confidencial (by Ruth Ugalde)

Translation/Summary: Carmel Drake