Sareb Teams Up With RE Companies To Build 1,100 Homes

28 September 2016 – Diario Vasco

Sareb has chosen 19 plots of land from its portfolio, which have the capacity to house around 1,100 homes, for which it will team up with a dozen companies from the real estate sector to develop projects under both co-investment schemes as well as through direct sales.

Sareb explained in a statement published on Tuesday that this project forms part of the strategy that it is pursuing to revalue its assets and better execute it divestment mandate.

In this case, Sareb’s initiative is being driven in conjunction with several selected companies: Grupo Brial (with 4 developments), Construcciones Amenabar (3), Grupo Bertolín (3), Inmobiliaria del Sur (1), Aldesa (1), Aelca (3), Desarrollos y Construcciones Fomex (1), Atica (1), Monthisa (1) and Sequoia Desarrollos Inmobiliarios (1).

According to Sareb, the winning property developers were chosen after a competitive process was held, in which 76 candidates participated. It added that it has been supported in the selection process by Irea as well as by three of its management companies (Altamira, Servihabitat and Solvia).

The 19 plots of land that Sareb has chosen from its portfolio have a combined buildable surface area that the bad bank estimates has the capacity to house around 1,100 homes.

The plots of land in this operation are located in Andalucía (4), Madrid (4), Cataluña (3), Baleares (2), Aragón (2), Comunidad Valenciana (2), Asturias (1) and Castilla y León (1).

Sareb explained in its statement that most of the offers from the selected companies reflect a co-investment model, whereby the bad bank will retain ownership of the asset, and the property developers will contribute some of the investment funds and take responsibility for the construction the properties.

In five cases, Sareb has opted for a “financial swap” to maximise the economic return. It explained that this alternative involves the property developer partners buying the assets outright.

The price that Sareb is receiving for the land will be complemented in the future by a percentage of revenues from the sale of the homes.

The construction works are expected to be completed from 2018 onwards, depending on their characteristics.

Sareb is evaluating offers for other plots of land, which, if they go ahead, would further expand the perimeter of the co-investment initiative.

“The plots of land and projects that have been put on the market have been selected in accordance with criteria of efficiency, commercial suitability and the technical quality of the proposals”, said the Director of Direct Management at Sareb, Juan Ramón Dios.

In 2015, Sareb announced the development of 13 plots of land, some of which are now being sold.

Morever, since its creation, Sareb has completed 46 developments that it received in an unfinished state, and as a result, has already put around 1,000 new homes on the market.

Original story: Diario Vasco

Translation: Carmel Drake

Värde – One Of The Largest RE Developers In Spain

24 August 2016 – Expansión

The US fund Värde has been one of the most active investors in the Spanish real estate sector in recent years.

It made its last purchase in June here, when it bought the real estate group Aelca. Specifically, Värde signed an agreement with the Avintia Group to purchase the company for around €50 million.

The US fund is also a major shareholder in Dospuntos – the former real estate division of the Sanjosé group, the result of the integration of Parquesol within the construction group – . The fund acquired 51% of Sanjosé Desarrollos Inmobiliarios in August 2015 after acquiring a 25% stake from Popular for approximately €90 million.

Dospuntos has launched a plan for the promotion and development of homes that includes an investment amounting to €2,000 million over six years and it is, alongside Neinor Homes – the real estate arm of the fund Lone Star – one of the main residential property developers in Spain.

Dospuntos’ plan involves starting the construction of homes this year and completing around 800 homes in 2018 and almost 1,500 in 2019. With this roadmap, the group hopes to reach its cruising speed in 2019, with the completion of 2,000 homes per year.

In addition to Värde, the property developer is also partially owned by the funds Marathon and Attestor, as well as Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BofA), JPMorgan and Barclays.

The US fund also controls Bancopopular-e (Banco Popular’s card business). Värde purchased 51% of the business from the financial institution in October 2015. In addition, Värde acquired, together with Kennedy Wilson, the real estate arm of Popular, Aliseda, for approximately €800 million.

At the global level, the fund, founded in 1993 in Minnesota (USA) manages more than $40,000 million and has 200 employees, of which 65 are professional investors with more than twelve years experience.

Original story: Expansión (by R. Arroyo)

Translation: Carmel Drake

International Funds Reactivate Residential Development Market

7 July 2016 – El Economista

After several years away, cranes are appearing on Spain’s landscape once again. Their return has come thanks to several large international funds, which have managed to reactivate the property developer market in record time and just at the right moment. Thanks to their presence, property developer activity in Spain grew by 30% last year, with 50,000 new construction permits; and the experts are certain that the residential business is now unstoppable.

The financial capacity of the new players is overwhelming in some cases. They have liquidity surpluses that the historical property developers would have envied, but, nevertheless, they do not know the ‘ins and outs’ of the local market, and their experience in terms of land is practically non-existent. For this reason, their entry into the Spanish market has been undertaken through the purchase of property developer platforms and through partnerships with local companies (…).

In light of the high profile partnerships that have been signed in the last two years, involving players such as Lone Star, Värde and Kennedy Wilson, the experts predict that the high level of activity will continue this year with the purchase of plots of land. In fact, they confirm that sales of non-developable land are starting to accelerate and that demand for land purchases will increase, especially those in the final stages of development, due to the high level of competition that has been generated between the key players in the sector – property developers, investment funds and cooperatives.

All of these players have realised that the opportunities that the residential development business is now offering “have yields that are considerably higher than those of other investments”, according to Solvia’s Market View report, which states that transactions have grown by 8.6% and prices have risen by around 4.5%. With these positive indicators, the development figures being talked about now include 150,000 new homes and 50,000 secondary residences per year until 2020.

Most of these homes will come onto the market thanks to Neinor Homes, which is looking to become the largest property developer in Spain. This company will be one of the most active over the next few years, given that according to its own forecasts, it expects to build between 2,500 and 3,000 homes per year. The firm, led by Juan Velayos – the former CEO of Renta Corporación – is the largest residential real estate company created in Spain following seven years of recession.

Its potential was proven last year, since between its creation, in May 2015, and the end of the year, it invested own funds amounting to €800 million on the purchase of land, on which it plans to construct 10,000 homes over the next few years, bringing together the largest bank of high-quality developable land in Spain (…).

But Lone Star is not the only fund that has made a long-term commitment to the Spanish residential market. The US fund has had a major competitor for several weeks now, in the form of Värde, which after acquiring 25% of the real estate arm of San José from Banco Popular, has now created a new property developer.

The company is called dospuntos and its Business Plan for 2016-2012 forecasts an investment of almost €2,000 million in the Spanish real estate market over the next six years, to complete the construction of 2,000 homes per year on average from 2019 onwards. For the time being, the group already owns a sizeable bank of land for the construction of more than 7,000 homes across Spain.

Inmobiliaria Habitat is another company with history in the sector, which in 2015, after finding itself in a very delicate financial situation and incapable of paying its debt, ended up in the hands of a group of funds – Bank of America Merril Lynch, SP101 Finance Ireland, Capstone and Goldman Sachs, amongst others. In this case, although the commitment by the funds has been key, it is nonetheless a temporary measure, given that they plan to exit the group within two or three years.

The latest residential report from the consultancy firm CBRE highlights other partnerships between international funds and domestic developers such as: Grupo Lar and Pimco; Renta Corporación and Kennedy Wilson; Momentum Real Estate and HMC; Aquila Capital and Inmoglaciar; Mina Inmobiliaria and Eurostone; Aelca and Värde; and Q21 Real Estate and Baupost. (…).

Original story: El Economista (by Alba Brualla)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Värde Finalises Its Purchase Of Residential Property Developer Aelca

9 May 2016 – El Confidencial

Värde Partners is getting ready to become the largest player in the property development business in Spain. After acquiring 51% of Aliseda, the real estate arm of Banco Popular; having purchased San José Desarrollas, the residential branch of the Galician construction company…and in the middle of negotiations to buy a share of La Finca, the US fund is now one step away from another big trophy.

According to three sources, Värde has made the best offer to acquire Aelca, the property developer that the Avintia Group has put on the market and in which a large group of foreign funds have expressed interest. Amongst them, Castlelake and Värde stand out, although the latter is the only one that has reached an agreement in principle.

With the caution that must be maintained until the operation is definitively closed, which could happen before the end of the month, Värde is taking another step forwards in its strategy to become one of the largest real estate groups in Spain. It has been committed to the market since the darkest days of the crisis, as it demonstrated four years ago, when it joined forces with Anchorage to purchase five premium buildings in Madrid and Barcelona, which previously belonged to Monteverde.

A year later, came the acquisition of Aliseda for €815 million, a deal that allowed it to take over the management of mortgage loans with a net value of €9,350 million and foreclosed assets worth another €6,500 million. In addition, that purchase, which it undertook together with Kennedy Wilson, helped to heal the wound opened with CX Inmobiliaria, the platform owned by Catalunya Caixa, with which it had reached an agreement for almost €30 million, but which broke down at the last minute.

The story goes on, because thanks to the acquisition of San José Desarrollos alone, Värde Partners expects to construct 1,500 homes across Spain in the short term, numbers that will increased even further if it manages to acquire Aelca, a young property developer, which has great appeal thanks to its strong presence in areas where the residential sector is recovering the most in Madrid, such as Aravaca, Boadilla del Monte and the Madrilenian neighbourhood of Las Tablas.

Värde’s commitment to the real estate business has led it to invest more than €1,000 million in the acquisition of Aliseda and San José Desarrollos alone, two sides of the same coin, given that as well as managing and selling the assets of the company that it shares with Popular, the fund is particularly interested in fully benefitting from the expected recovery in the residential market through its own property developer, as it is showing with its frenetic activity in these businesses.

By contrast, Värde is exiting its positions in the shopping centre segment, as it demonstrated in February with the sale of the Mallorcan Festival Park outlet, and in July 2015, with the sale to Lar of three large retail outlets in the Parque Comercial Galeria de Pamplona.

Original story: El Confidencial (by Ruth Ugalde)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Avintia Puts 75% Of Property Developer Aelca Up For Sale

11 March 2016 – El Confidencial

The construction company Avintia is looking for a buyer for the 75% stake that it holds in Aelca, the young Madrilenian property developer founded by Javier Gómez Fernández and José Juan Martín Montes. According to market sources, the sales process – which was launched a few months ago – is now quite advanced and several important investment funds have been participating in it. Morgan Stanley, amongst others, exited the process because it rejected the vendor’s demand for purchase exclusivity. Sources at Aelca declined to comment on the matter.

The businessman Antonio Martín Jiménez, founder of Avintia, has decided to sell his stake in the company at a time when the recovery of the residential market is already a reality in Madrid and when many investment funds have fully launched themselves into property development in our country and, in particular, in the capital.

Funds such as Lone Star, Castlelake, Värde, Cerberus, HMC, Kennedy Wilson and Pimco are just a few examples of large international investors that have decided to enter this market. In particular, Castlelake, which has a sizeable portfolio of land in Madrid after acquiring Project Crossover from Sareb, has chosen Aelca as its local partner for the launch and marketing of several residential projects.

A year ago, José Juan Martín, the CEO of Aelca, explained its partnership with that fund. “We are working with them in Valdemarín (see above), in Madrid, on a development containing 32 homes. We are also working with them on the promotion of 90 homes in Hospitalet, in Barcelona, whilst in Estepona, we have a project with them involving 70 secondary residence homes”. (…).

Created in 2007

Avintia, is a 100% Spanish company, created in 2007, which specialises in public and private construction projects. (…). Eight companies operate under its umbrella: Avintia (construction), Aelca (property development), ADI (real estate development), Brick O’clock (services), Adh (hotel development), Avora (international business in Colombia), Avintia Empresas (development of tertiary industrial properties) and Avintia Racing, the company that owns a Moto GP team. In 2008, at the height of the crisis, the parent company recorded revenues of €110 million, whilst in 2015, its forecast turnover amounted to €400 million.

Aelca, the group’s property developer arm, has a strong presence in the residential market in Madrid: 18 of its 24 developments are situated in the Community of Madrid. Its most high profile projects are located in Boadilla del Monte, Aravaca and La Tablas, areas where the recovery in the real estate sector and prices is already a reality.

Original story: El Confidencial (by Elena Sanz)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Investment Returns To The Residential Market

11 February 2016 – Expansion

Experts say that this trend is heterogeneous, with regions that need to dispose of their stocks and other in need of developable land.


The residential business – until recently the ugly duckling in the housing sector – emerges again as one of the values on the rise, in part thanks to the return of large reals estate companies to this activity, one of the most affected by the economic crisis. Thus, for the first time since in mid-2007 the gradual deterioration of the housing market situation began, the sector turns its attention to this business, since in 2014 it showed the first signs of improvement, although with a concentrated demand in very well located and high segment product.

Ongoing projects  

Some of the most recent examples are the Socimi Lar-Pimco España, which will soon begin “Lagasca 99 project” on the site at Juan Bravo, 3, Madrid, or Metrovacesa, with “Ciudad del Sur” in Tarifa and the study of new projects in Madrid. Likewise, Realia has residential assets in the Madrid suburb of Valdebebas and Quabit has strongly returned to this activity thanks to the capital increase undertaken last year. At the same time, developing companies like Via Célere, Pryconsa, Aelca, Inmobiliaria del Sur or Neinor Homes are making a move in this segment with the aim of becoming the first residential developer of Spain, as well as cooperatives as Momentum, Domogestora and Ibos. 
The director of the National Residential and Land area of CRBE España, Samuel Población Blanco, emphasizes the “great heterogeneity” in this trend, with differing behaviors. 
Thus Población highlights that while in Madrid there is a great need for developable land, with the risk that in one year the housing demand can be much higher than the existing supply, other regions still need to dispose of their stock. 
Likewise, Población notes that SOCIMIs and asset management companies will be increasingly interested in the residential renting area, coinciding with the change of mentality in Spanish society, the higher functional-geographical mobility and the professionalization in this activity. 
For his part, the Chairman of Armabex, Antonio Fernández, explains that there is a gap between renting demand in Spain and Europe, which tends to shorten due to the new working conditions and the lack of funding. 
”In Madrid, for example, they lack efficient product; no large blocks or buildings dedicated to renting” says Fernández.

Original story: Expansion (by Rebeca Arroyo)

Translation: Aura Ree