Savills IM: Inv’t of €500M per Year Until 2022 Following Purchase of Aguirre Newman

26 June 2018 – Eje Prime

Savills Investment Management (Savills IM) is getting its chequebook out in Spain. The fund manager of the real estate consultancy firm is looking for new investments in the country six months after integrating Zaphir Asset Management into its structure under the framework of the acquisition of Aguirre Newman by Savills. Savills IM’s plans involve investing €500 million per year in Spain until 2022.

According to explanations provided by Fernando Ramírez de Haro, Director of the Savills IM office in Spain, speaking to Eje Prime, the fund manager forecasts building an asset portfolio on the Iberian Peninsula worth €2 billion, up from its current value of €480 million.

The company is now starting an ambitious positioning strategy in Spain, “having completed the integration of Zaphir”. Ramírez de Haro, who leads Savills IM’s office following the corporate operation, served as the Director General of Zaphir since 2007. Savills announced the acquisition of Aguirre Newman in July last year, but the operation was not completed until December when Savills IM integrated Zaphir.

The company is currently analysing investments worth €750 million in Spain, although the group is also considering entering the Portuguese market. Even though in 2017, the company’s most active markets were the United Kingdom, Italy and Japan, the forecasts of Ramírez de Haro indicate that Spain will become the fourth most important European market for the group, behind the United Kingdom, Italy and Germany.

Savills IM’s current portfolio in Spain comprises thirteen assets or projects. Half of them correspond to investments in offices, 25% to retail, 17% to residential and 7% to logistics, according to Ramírez de Haro. One of the most recent operations signed by the group was the purchase, in May, of a hypermarket operated by Eroski in San Sebastián for €48 million.

The executive maintains that the company is looking for opportunities across the four segments, especially in retail and offices. “I do not want to say that logistics is not important, it is and very much so, but it is the segment that is suffering from the most acute shortage in terms of supply”, he said. “In terms of retail, a negative vision is coming from the USA, but for us, that is not the case, provided you look for assets that are not so dependent on online sales, such as retail parks, high street stores, outlets and shopping centres linked to food”, he maintains.

Savills IM combines three types of operations: the first is the management of funds raised in Europe (especially in Germany): the second involves the mandates of global investors; and the third is to support value-added funds in their investments in Europe. Whilst in the first case, the average investment in terms of own funds is between €20 million and €80 million, international mandates tend to be upwards of €100 million and value-added operations typically range between €15 million and €100 million.

The fund manager has a workforce of sixteen people in Spain, fifteen of whom come from the former Zaphir structure and one from Savills IM. The group expects to have 22 employees in five years time.

On the global stage, Savills IM has a workforce of 300 employees and eighteen offices. In 2017, the group recorded transactions worth €5.5 billion: €4.5 billion in Europe and €1 billion in Asia. The company plans to spend €1 billion in own funds in 2018 for the acquisition of new assets in Europe and Asia.

Original story: Eje Prime (by J. Izquierdo & P. Riaño)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Aguirre Newman Closes 2017 With a Turnover of €40 million and a New Corporate Structure After Its Merger with Savills

28 March 2018

Aguirre Newman now has a single shareholder, Savills Overseas Holding Limited, and has changed its name to Savills Aguirre Newman, the group reported in the Business Registry.

Aguirre Newman bid farewell to its last year as an independent company. The firm recently merged into Savills under the name Savills Aguirre Newman, finishing 2017 with a turnover of 40 million euros, according to the British group’s annual report. Both companies, also just finalised, commercially, their merger after the absorption of Aguirre Newman by the Spanish subsidiary of Savills.

According to the Business Registry’s Official Gazette, Aguirre Newman now has a single shareholder, Savills Overseas Holding Limited, and changed its name to Savills Aguirre Newman. The company also appointed Santiago Aguirre and Satephen Newman as advisers, both founders of Aguirre Newman together with Mark Ridley, Borja Sierra and Rafael Merry del Val of Savills.

Aguirre Newman is beginning a new phase under Savills wing in Spain, bidding farewell to 2017, a year in which the group’s net turnover reached 40 million euros. According to the latest published data, the consultancy had gross revenues of 69 million euros in 2016.

In 2017, Savills, for its part, increased its profits by 19% to 91 million euros. The British group also achieved a global turnover of 1.8 billion euros, an increase of 11% over the previous year. Savills Investment Management, the group’s investment arm, increased its portfolio of real estate assets under management by 5%, to 16.536 billion euros at the end of 2017.

Rafael Merry del Val, CEO and Co-Chairman of Savills Aguirre Newman in Spain, during a presentation of the British group’s, stated that “the merger with Aguirre Newman places as in a new level of leadership in the local market.” The group’s goal for 2018 to “gain market share and attain growth from the beginning”, since, “with just over two months of partnership, we can already see the benefits of the merger.”

Savills Aguirre Newman, a new player in the sector

The British company reported to the London stock exchange on the last working day of last year that it had finally signed a purchase agreement with the Spanish real estate consultancy. The company had advised the LSE of its intention to acquire the company based in Madrid on July 28. Savills paid 67 million euros to take over the Aguirre Newman.

According to the purchase agreement, the British consultancy paid 42 million euros when the deal was finalised, and the rest will be paid in five million euros tranches over the next five years, reaching a total of the 25 million euros that had been agreed upon by both parties. Initially, Savills had planned to complete the purchase before November 30, but some administrative setbacks caused a brief delay.

The company, however, assured market sources that the deal would be finalised by the end of 2017. The British group reported the acquisition of the company on the last working day of the year. The need for both groups to sign their merger before the end of the year was also an administrative matter, since they wanted to conclude the transaction by the end of the year to begin operating as a single entity, Savills Aguirre Newman, in the new year.

The merger will lead to a significant number of changes to the combined group’s operations throughout Spain. The first one will involve the firm’s new headquarters in Madrid’s financial centre. Savills’ Spanish subsidiary is in the process of transferring its offices to one of the capital city’s principal skyscrapers. After lengthy negotiations, the new consultancy opted for the Castellana 81 building, better known as the BBVA tower. The company will take on 8,000 square meters of space, leasing a total of six floors from the GMP socimi, which owns the asset.

The BBVA tower, built in 1981, is one of the defining features of the Azca financial centre of the Spanish capital. GMP rehabilitated the asset after its purchase and, coincidentally, Aguirre Newman, in addition to CBRE, was one of the firms that led the search for new tenants for the property. The consultancy plans to move to its new offices as soon as the two companies’ merger is formalised.

Original Story: EjePrime – C. Pareja

Translation: Richard Turner

 

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

Corpfin Appoints Ana Granado as New CEO

27 February 2018 – Eje Prime

Corpfin Capital Real Estate has opted for an expert in corporate finance to lead the three investment vehicles that it has in place. The Spanish Socimi has hired Ana Granado (pictured below) as the new CEO of the company.

Granado previously held positions of responsibility at Aguirre Newman and Deloitte. At the real estate company, the director led the corporate finance team for six years and at the consultancy firm, she served for five years as a director of financial advisory in the real estate sector. Moreover, the executive previously worked as an analyst at Santander Investment in the corporate finance department.

Granado is a RICS member and holds a degree in Business Administration and Management, as well as a Masters in Management Skills, both from the Universidad Comercial de Deusto. Moreover, she has completed the Advanced Program in Corporate Finance at the IE Business School.

Corpfin finished 2017 by making new asset purchases for its portfolio. In December, through its vehicles Corpfin Capital Prime Retail II Socimi and Corpfin Capital Prime Retail III Socimi, it acquired two commercial premises, located in Madrid and Vitoria, as reported by Eje Prime. The company is going to invest in up to fifteen more assets and thus plans to spend €100 million between the two vehicles.

Moreover, the company also operates in the real estate business with its vehicle CCPR Retail Parks. That fund targets retail products, primarily medium-sized spaces, with a high management component. According to the group, for that fund, the estimated diversified investment will involve between 12 and 14 operations with an average investment volume of €3 million for each operation, including land, capex, acquisition and marketing costs. Until now, the fund has committed half of its planned investment.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake

Colliers International Acquires Spanish RE Consultancy Irea

27 February 2018 – El Confidencial

There’s a new marriage in the market for real estate consultancy firms. Colliers International Group has acquired the independent Spanish firm Irea. This move comes just a few months after Savills purchased Aguirre Newman, a firm that Colliers also expressed its interest in.

Following this integration, the new company will have a team comprising more than 100 professionals, with offices in Madrid and Barcelona, a turnover of €25 million, and will provide services in the following fields: advisory, capital markets, consulting, valuation, workplace solutions and project management. The objective of the new group is to be one of the top three firms in the sector within five years.

The operation has been structured through the purchase of the majority of Irea’s share capital by Colliers International, a listed company with a global turnover volume of €27 billion, a move that has been followed by a merger, whereby Irea has acquired the Spanish subsidiary of Colliers.

Mikel Echavarren, Founding Partner at Irea, is going to be the CEO of Colliers in Spain. Meanwhile, the rest of the management team is going to comprise: Ignacio M. Iturriaga, Joan García and Álvaro Alonso as the Heads of Corporate Finance; Neil Livingstone and Antonio Pan de Soraluce as the Heads of Capital Markets; and Miguel Vázquez and Laura Hernando, as the Heads of the specialist hotel services division.

In addition, in accordance with the model that characterises Colliers, which teams up with local partners, Echavarren, Livingstone and Pan de Soraluce will hold onto 20% of the share capital of the Spanish subsidiary.

“The Spanish real estate and hotel markets have experienced significant growth in recent years, and having the opportunity to expand our business with Irea’s excellent team of professionals is going to allow us to offer high added value services for our clients”, said Chris McLernon, CEO at Colliers International for the EMEA region.

“Our integration into Colliers represents a natural evolution for Irea, given that both companies share the same business culture and a strong commitment to excellence”, said Echavarren. “We consider that integrating ourselves into a global brand that has an unparalleled international platform is the key for strengthening our growth strategy and continuing to offer the best service possible to our clients, wherever they are in the world”, he added.

Original story: El Confidencial (by R. Ugalde)

Translation: Carmel Drake

26 Spanish Real Estate Experts Share Their Predictions for 2018

6 January 2018 – Expansión

House prices will rise by more than 5% on average this year, with increases of more than 10% in the large cities. These gains will happen in a context of great dynamism in the market, in which house sales will grow by more than 10% to exceed 550,000 transactions. Rental prices will also continue to rise.

Those are just some of the predictions made by 26 real estate experts for Expansión.

Aguirre Newman: “House prices will grow by more than 10% in Madrid and Barcelona”.

“In our opinion, house prices are going to continue to rise in 2018, reaching average growth rates of 6%-7%”, says Juan Riestra (pictured above, top row, second from left), Director of the Residential Area at Aguirre Newman. “In Madrid, Barcelona and the coastal cities, we expect to see double-digit growth, driven by the supply of new homes that the property developers have announced, which will result in an even more intense increase in prices than seen in 2017 since new build home are typically more expensive than second-hand properties”, he adds (…).

Fotocasa: “New build homes will have a higher profile in 2018”.

“New build homes will have a higher profile in 2018, as we have already seen during the last quarter of 2017. And that, combined with the return of confidence to the housing market, will continue to push prices up if the economic context is maintained and the situation in Cataluña is resolved”, says Beatriz Toribio (pictured above, bottom row, second from left), from Fotocasa, who thinks that this effect will drive up house prices by more than 5%, but not reaching double-digits (…).

Universitat Pompreu Fabra: “Everything depends on the situation in Cataluña”.

“The upward momentum in the market will be accentuated in 2018 due to the improvement in the new build market since the homes that started to be built two years ago are now being sold”, said José García Montalvo (pictured above, top row, second from right), Professor of Economics at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra. “The major change is that new homes now account for 20% of the market, whilst before they represented 60%” (…). But “everything depends on the political uncertainty in Cataluña” (…).

Arcano: “Demand for investment in housing will continue to grow”.

“There is still a very significant imbalance in terms of demand, spurred on by the ECB’s policy and labour improvement, and a supply that is still restricted by the very low level of new house starts. Moreover, demand for housing as an investment will continue to grow. In this context, prices will rise by more than 5%”, says Ignacio de la Torre, Chief Economist at Arcano (…).

Notaries’ Centre for Statistical Information: “We expect house prices to increase by more than 5%”.

“On the basis of our analysis of the available information, we expect house prices to grow by between 5% and 10% in 2018 (…). Although we expect the housing stock to increase, due to greater investment and employment in construction in recent months, which may lead to price rises being contained, we also expect an increase in demand, given the dynamism of economic activity and the behaviour observed in the labour market”, says Milagros Avedillo, at the Notaries’ Centre for Statistical Information. In her opinion, the growth in mortgage loans will be single-digit.

Asprima: “Very few new homes will be built”.

“I don’t think that the volume of transactions will increase by more than 10% and the forecast for price growth will be below 5%”, says Carolina Roca, Vice-President of Asprima. “The most important macro-factor is income”, she laments. Therefore, prices cannot rise by much, in her opinion, although they will increase in certain areas. “New builds will recover in 2018, but not by much (…)”.

Tinsa: “The reduction in the unemployment rate will boost the market”.

“The residential market will record moderate price growth in 2018 (of between 3% and 4%), similar to that seen in 2017, with different speeds, depending on the region”, says Pedro Soria (pictured above, bottom row, second from right), Commercial Director at the appraisal company Tinsa. “The recovery will expand to more areas; the large capitals will continue to be the drivers, although the rate of growth will soften”, he adds. “The reduction in the unemployment rate and continuing investor interest, due to the prolongation of the low-interest rates, will increase house sales by between 10% and 15% (…).

Sociedad de Tasación: “New house prices will rise by 5.4%”.

“Applying our predictive model to the data from the Ministry of Development, we estimate that 14.1% more house sales will be completed in 2018 than in 2017 (…)”, says Consuelo Villanueva (pictured above, top row, far left), Director of Institutions and Key Accounts at Sociedad de Tasación. “The result (…) indicates growth of 5.4% in the price of new homes under construction for the average of provincial capitals in 2018 (…)”.

Gesvalt: “Mortgage lending will rise by around 15%”.

“According to the forecasts at Gesvalt, we predict moderate growth in second-hand house prices of around 5% at the national level, although there will be notable differences between provinces”, says Sandra Daza (pictured above, bottom row, far right), Director General at Gesvalt. (…). And by how much will mortgage lending grow? “By around 15% and there will be a slight increase in the number of mortgages that exceed 80% of the total property value”.

Foundation of Real Estate Research: “The political uncertainty will weigh down on Barcelona”.

The President of the Foundation of Real Estate Research, Julio Gil, believes that house prices will rise by “between 0% and 5% in 2018. “We will move to a three-speed market”, he thinks, referring to consolidated areas, cities in recovery and provinces with a surplus supply and/or limited demand. “And I think that Barcelona will perform less well than Madrid, weighed down by the political uncertainty”, he adds (…).

Pisos.com. “Mortgage lending will rise by more than 10% for the fourth consecutive year”.

According to Ferran Font, Head of Research at Pisos.com (…) “Historically low interest rates and the decrease in unemployment mean that we expect mortgage lending to grow at double-digit rates in 2018, like it has done for the last three years”.

General Council of Real Estate Agents: “The rise in rents will lead to tension in sales prices”.

“House prices will grow by around 5% in 2018, driven more by the refuge effect of savings than by objective economic variables”, says the President of the General Council of Real Estate Agents, Diego Galiano. “Savings are not being rewards and housing is recovering a certain degree of stability and offering good prospects for investors (…)”.

TecniTasa: “Prices will grow by around 5%”.

“On average in Spain, we estimate price growth of around 5%, but we highlight that that figure represents an average of a very heterogeneous market, by area and asset class. In some regions and for certain types of high-end homes, the increase will amount to between 5% and 10%, and may even exceed 10% (for example, in the Balearic Islands). Whilst in small towns and for cheaper homes, prices are barely expected to rise at all in 2018”, says José María Basáñez, President of TecniTasa (…).

Civislend: “The mortgage war will intensify”.

“The growth that we will see in terms of mortgage lending is going to continue to reflect double-digit rates and the war in terms of granting loans by financial institutions is going to intensify”, says Manuel Gandarias, Director and Founder of the real estate crowdlending platform Civislend (…).

Acuña & Asociados: “80% of sales will be made in 400 towns”.

“Given the current situation, the expected growth in prices at the national level for 2018 will amount to around 5.5%”, forecasts Luis Rodríguez de Acuña. However, “demand for housing is not behaving in a homogenous way across the country, and transactions are only being recorded in 1,300 of Spain’s 8,125 municipalities”. In other words, in one out of every six. And 80% of transactions “are being closed in just 400 municipalities (…)”. (…).

CBRE: “The sale of new homes will continue to gain weight”.

The value of homes will increase “by around 5% YoY at the national level, with higher rises (between 7% and 10%) in certain markets such as Madrid, Valencia, Málaga and the Balearic Islands”, predicts Samuel Población (pictured above, top row, far right), National Director of Residential and Land at CBRE (…). “Sales of new build homes are going to increase their relative weight (with respect to second-hand homes) as a result of the recovery in construction output; nevertheless, the recovery will not have an immediate impact on transaction volumes given the time lag associated with new build developments”, he says.

BDO: The land market is preventing soaring construction output”.

“We are facing a very favourable macro context (GDP and employment, above all) and therefore, an upwards cycle is likely, which will have different regional rates”, explains Alberto Prieto, at BDO. (…). “The launch of new build projects by the new large players will start to be felt in 2018, and then more intensely in 2019”, he adds. “The situation in the land market makes it unfeasible for the volume of new build homes to soar for the time being”, he says.

Foro Consultores Inmobiliarios: “Fixed-rate mortgages will play an important role”.

Carlos Smerdou, CEO at Foro Consultores, believes that “new build homes will drive the market and that recent land transactions indicate that the trend in terms of prices will be upward, of between 5% and 10%” (…). In terms of fixed-rate mortgages, “they will play an important role”, despite the fact that “interest rates are forecast to remain negative”.

MAR Real Estate: “Banks are still reluctant to grant the necessary financing”.

Rosario Martín Jerónimo, representative of MAR Real Estate in Marbella, believes that house prices will grow by more than 5% in Spain this year, on average (…). Nevertheless, she does not think that sales or mortgage lending will be as high in 2018 as they were in 2017 and that the growth rates will remain below 10% in both cases. “Buyers are willing but the financial institutions are still very reluctant to grant the necessary financing”, she explains. “Many property developers are completely financing their projects using money from private investors/buyers, without any support from the bank”, she says (…).

uDA (urban Data Analytics); “Prices will rise by more than 10% in the large cities”.

“House prices will rise by around 6.9% in 2018, although the behaviour will be tremendously heterogeneous”, warns Carlos Olmos, Director of urban Data Analytics. In other words, there will be “some large cities with growth rates of more than 10% and many other capitals with small decreases” (…).

Gonzalo Bernardos, Professor of Economic: “House prices will rise by 11% and sales volumes by 23%”.

“I think that house prices will rise by 11%”, says Gonzalo Bernardos, Director of the Real Estate Masters at the Universidad de Barcelona (…). Moreover, in macroeconomic terms, it is the best scenario for the residential market: high (economic) growth (around 3%), the creation of employment, scarce new build supply (new build permits will amount to 125,000 in 2018), very low interest rates and bank willingness to grant mortgages”. “House sales will rise by around 23% and mortgage lending will increase by 17%”.

Irea: “House prices will rise by more than 7% in consolidated markets”.

Mikel Echavarren (pictured above, bottom row, far left), CEO of the real estate consultancy and advisory firm Irea, forecasts that house prices will rise by between 5% and 10% in 2018 with respect to 2017. “In consolidated markets, the increases will be closer to 7%”. (…). In the mortgage market (…), “in theory, financing conditions will continue to be very beneficial for buyers and property developers”, he adds.

College of Registrars: “Mortgage lending will grow by around 20%”.

The registrars believe that house prices will rise by less than 5%. “Taking into account our data and the slowdown that is already being seen in Cataluña, which accounts for approximately 17%-18% of the Spanish housing market (…), we think that it will be hard to exceed a growth rate of 5% in 2018”, explains Fernando Acedo Rico, Director of Institutional Relations at the College of Registrars. (…). Something similar will happen with mortgage lending, which “will continue to grow at around 20%”.

Idealista.com: “Madrid will drive the price rises”.

According to Fernando Encinar, Head of Research at the real estate portal Idealista, house prices will rise by less than 5%. (…). “There will be cities that will experience a more acute recovery, such as Málaga, Valencia, Sevilla and the islands. But I think that Madrid is going to be the real driver, with even more accelerated price growth”. Why? “The Spanish capital is gobbling up talent and investment, and demand there indicates that prices are going to continue to rise. There is minimal stock left in Madrid (…)”.

Instituto de Práctica Empresarial: “In 2018, 550,000 homes will be sold in Spain”.

According to the Director of the Real Estate Chair of the Instituto de Práctica Empresarial, house prices will rise by 6.1% in 2018 (…). In Spain, 550,374 homes will be sold, which represents 14.5% more than in 2017, despite the sluggishness that may be seen in Cataluña.

Invermax: “Tourist areas may see price rises of 10%”.

Jesús Martí, Real Estate Analyst at Invermax, thinks that “house prices will grow by another 5%, with this average varying between the large cities and the traditionally touristy coastal areas, where they may rise by 10%”. “It is still a good time to buy a home, especially for investors”, he adds (…).

Original story: Expansión (by Juanma Lamet)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Savills & Aguirre Newman Complete Their Merger

3 January 2018 – Eje Prime

Without any fuss whatsoever, Savills and Aguirre Newman ended the year by completing their merger. On the last working day of the year, the British company announced to the London Stock Exchange that it had finally signed the agreement to buy the Spanish real estate consultancy. The company, which announced its intention to acquire the Madrid-headquartered business through the same channel on 28 July 2017, will pay €67 million by way of consideration.

According to the document that proves the purchase of Aguirre Newman, the British consultancy firm paid €42 million at the time of the signing and will pay the remaining balance in instalments of €5 million over the next five years, to reach the €25 million agreed between the two parties.

In theory, Savills had planned to complete the purchase before 30 November, however, administrative setbacks delayed the signing. Nevertheless, the company said that all of the paperwork was completed before the end of 2017 (…).

The need of both groups to sign their merger before the end of the year was also an administrative priority, given that they wanted to start the new year afresh to operate under the brand, Savills Aguirre Newman, from the beginning of 2018. Moreover, this change will result in a significant number of changes to its operations in Spain. The first will see it move to a new headquarters in the financial heart of Madrid.

The Spanish subsidiary of Savills has set the wheels in motion to move its offices to one of the capital’s main skyscrapers. After lots of negotiations, the new consultancy firm will move into the Castellana 81 building, better known as the Torre BBVA. The company will lease 8,000 m2 of space after reserving six floors in the building from the Socimi GMP, which owns the asset.

Built in 1981, Torre BBVA is one of the symbols of the Azca financial district in the Spanish capital. GMP renovated the asset after buying it and, coincidently, Aguirre Newman, along with CBRE, were appointed to look for new tenants for the building. The consultancy firm plans to move into its new offices as soon as the integration of the two companies has been formalised.

In terms of the business of the two consultancy firms in Barcelona, sources in the Catalan capital indicate that it is very likely (although not definite) that the Savills staff located in the Catalan capital will move to the offices that Aguirre Newman has on La Diagonal in Barcelona, given their location and capacity.

Another matter still up in the air is the duplication of the entire organisational structure of both companies. Savills’ intention is to maintain the entire workforce, although it is more than certain that many of the directors will leave the company voluntarily, according to sources consulted by Eje Prime.

The Presidents of Aguirre Newman, Santiago Aguirre and Stephen Newman, and the President of Savills España, Rafael Merry del Val, will be appointed to the Board of Directors of the combined company, in the following roles: Santiago Aguirre, Chairman of the Board; Stephen Newman and Rafael Merry del Val, Executive Co-Vice-presidents.

The senior management team of Aguirre Newman and Savills España will retain and include José Navarro, current CEO of Savills España; Javier Echeverría, CEO of Aguirre Newman; Jaime Pascual-Sanchiz, Executive Director General of Aguirre Newman, and Ángel Serrano, Director General of the Business at Aguirre Newman. The office in Barcelona is going to be led by Anna Gener and Arturo Díaz, as the CEO of Savills Aguirre Newman and President of the group in Barcelona, respectively. The real headache for Savills Aguirre Newman will come with the next level of management, although those roles will not be assigned for several weeks yet (…).

Original story: Eje Prime (by Custodio Pareja)

Translation: Carmel Drake

UBS Finalises Purchase of Torre Titán from España-Duero for €50M

29 December 2017 – Voz Pópuli

UBS is on the verge of closing one of the largest real estate operations of this year-end. The Swiss entity is negotiating the purchase of one of the two Titán towers, owned by Banco Ceiss (España-Duero), a subsidiary of Unicaja. The sale is in its final phase and could be closed within the next few days, for more than €50 million, according to financial sources consulted by Vozpópuli.

The final consideration may even reach €55 million, which is exactly the price that España-Duero paid Nozar for the tower in 2008. That acquisition caused a great deal of controversy at the time to the point that some of the former directors of Caja Duero were subjected to investigations, but the case was archived in the end.

The Titán towers are two 13-storey buildings constructed by Nozar in 2008. One of them is owned by Invesco (which acquired it in 2011 for €40 million) and leased to the state-owned firm Adif. The other one is owned by España-Duero and it not only houses the headquarters of Unicaja’s subsidiary but is also home to Nozar and Enagás.

Ceiss continues

This process has been led by Irea, according to El Economista, and two other consultancy firms, Knight Frank and Aguirre Newman, have also been involved, in the search for tenants for the 30,000 m2 of available space. The useful surface area for offices is 10,722 m2.

According to sources close to the operation, España-Duero is expected to commit to continue to occupy the offices. The entity is in the middle of a merger with Unicaja, after the Malagan entity acquired the 12.5% stake that it did not own in the subsidiary from the Frob.

During the IPO in the middle of this year, the heads of Unicaja expressed their intention to merge the two companies (Unicaja and Banco Ceiss). As such, observers in the market speculate that Torre Titán will serve as the new headquarters for the central services team in Madrid.

The sale of Torre Titán will be added to the list of divestments that the Unicaja Banco group has been carrying out in recent weeks. Earlier this month, it sold a portfolio of foreclosed assets to the fund Axactor, as this newspaper revealed.

Original story: Voz Pópuli (by Jorge Zuloaga)

Translation: Carmel Drake

EspañaDuero Finalises Sale of its Madrid HQ

19 December 2017 – El Economista

Over the next few weeks, EspañaDuero will close the sale of its headquarters in Madrid, located on Calle Titán 8, according to confirmation from various sources in the sector, who say that the entity is holding advanced, exclusive negotiations with an investor.

The entity, which is soon going to be completely integrated into Unicaja Banco, declined to comment about the operation. However, this sale is reminiscent of the divestment strategy that the entity has been carrying out in recent years.

The office block that is about to be sold is located in the Méndez Álvaro area of the Spanish capital, overlooking the M-30 ring road. It also houses the offices of Enagás and Nozar, the former owner of the property. In this way, Caja Duero acquired the building for €55.8 million in 2008, a price that is €9 million higher than its current valuation.

At the end of 2011, following the merger of the entity with Caja España, which resulted in the creation of the current EspañaDuero, the combined company moved its offices to Caja Duero’s headquarters in Madrid, on Calle Marqués de Villamagna, 6.

In 2015, the company began a period of office restructuring, which led it to sell one of its real estate jewels: the former headquarters of Caja España in Madrid, on Calle Velázquez 23, in the heart of the Salamanca neighbourhood.

A year later, in the middle of 2016, EspañaDuero decided to move its headquarters again and vacate the offices on Marqués de Villamagna, very close to Madrid’s Paseo de la Castellana. The entity put them up for sale for €90 million and moved to Titán 8. Now, history is repeating itself, as the entity continues to sell off property, in a discrete sales process being advised by the consultancy firm Irea, according to the same sources.

The 13-storey building, including one underground floor and three basement levels for parking, has a total surface area, including the outside space, of 18,152 m2, of which 10,711 m2 are offices and 6,643 m2 are garages, with 212 parking spaces.

Currently, the property has almost 3,000 m2 of office space available for rent, which is being marketed by Knight Frank and Aguirre Newman.

Original story: El Economista (by Alba Brualla)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Alibaba Signs Lease for its New HQ in Spain

14 December 2017 – Eje Prime

The Chinese giant Alibaba is shaking up the office market in Madrid as the year-end approaches. The Asian e-commerce group has been negotiating for several months to open offices in Madrid from where to lead its operations in the Spanish market. In the end, it has signed a rental agreement for its Spanish headquarters at number 4 Avenida Europa, in Alcobendas, a building owned by the real estate group Gosa. Until now, the technology firm Paypal also had its headquarters in the building (…).

Alibaba will move its Spanish team to the new offices in Alcobendas, which measure approximately 1,000 m2, in the middle of February, according to sources close to the operation. At the moment, the Asian giant’s employees are managing the firm’s Spanish operations from a co-working office. Alibaba has declined to comment on the planned move.

Alibaba’s arrival at number 4 Avenida Europa comes just months after Paypal’s departure from the same building. Currently, that US firm shares offices with Google and Intel in Torre Picasso, as revealed by Eje Prime.

The property that will house Alibaba’s new offices is also home to the headquarters of the cosmetics group Clarins and the Chinese firm Ansteel. Commscope is another company that had its headquarters located in the building until the middle of 2017, but in July it decided to move to number 19 on the same street.

Alcobendas has become one of the hubs of business excellence in Madrid. Indra, VASS, Emerson, Televent, Acciona, Bankinter, Europcar, Canon and Toyota are just some of the multinational companies that have chosen to locate their offices in the Madrilenian town.

Alibaba’s new office, which the company has been anticipating since February, has the capacity to accommodate the almost forty people that make up its Spanish workforce. The team is led by Estela Ye, who was promoted to General Manager of the company in Spain in March.

The office market in Madrid

Leasing of office space during the third quarter of the year in Madrid amounted to 93,173 m2, which represented an increase of 2% with respect to the same period in 2016, although, according to a report from Aguirre Newman, 16 fewer operations were closed (96).

One of the most active areas in the capital was the Other Business District (RDN), which accounted for 31% of the total space leased. Nevertheless, the report highlights that leasing in the Central Business District (27% of the total) and in the OUT area (23%), saw the most significant increases, more than doubling their figures with respect to the same period in 2016.

In terms of rents, the maximum recorded during Q3 was €36/m2/month, whilst the average rent in the CBD area was €28.96/m2/month. In the Decentralised area, the average rent amounted to €12.71/m2/month.

Original story: Eje Prime (by A. Pijuán)

Translation: Carmel Drake