Air City Finalises its Purchase of the Casarrubios Aerodrome, which will Compete with Barajas

10 March 2019 – Voz Pópuli

Air City Madrid, the company constituted by several Spanish businessmen linked to the aviation sector, is finalising the purchase of the Casarrubios-Álamo aerodrome in Madrid. This represents the first step in a project whose aim is to create the largest private airport in the Spanish capital, which would compete directly with Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas.

According to sources, the Elduayen family, which currently owns the aerodrome is expected to sell the asset to Air City Madrid within the next few weeks. Air City Madrid is owned by European Flyer, a company dedicated to training pilots; the consultancy firm Gamt; and the consultancy firm Pasiphae.

The Casarrubios-Álamo aerodrome is located 30 km from the centre of Madrid, on the border of the Community of Madrid and Castilla-La Mancha. The company responsible for planning the new airport expects that a potential investment of around €2 billion will be required over 25 years to acquire the land, urbanise the site, build the access routes and construct a passenger terminal.

The businessmen behind the project are convinced that Madrid needs a new airport in light of the congestion that Barajas is expected to experience over the next decade. In the wider context, they point out that the airports in Cataluña serve 300 destinations, whilst those in Paris and London serve 600 and 800 destinations, respectively. By contrast, the current offer in Madrid stands at just 200.

Original story: Voz Pópuli (by Alberto Ortín & Marina Alías)

Translation: Carmel Drake

VIA Outlets to Invest €13M+ in Expansion of Sevilla Fashion Outlet

6 June 2018 – Eje Prime

VIA Outlets wants to open a large showcase of luxury stores on the site of a former industrial estate in Sevilla. A year and a half after purchasing the Sevilla The Style Outlets shopping centre from the fund Irus European Retail Property, the company has announced that it is going to invest more than €13 million in the remodelling and expansion of the facilities, located near to Sevilla airport.

The construction work will begin in September, during a year in which VIA Outlets forecasts growth of 5% for Sevilla Fashion Outlets, its current name, and a “considerable” increase in international clientele, as indicated by the company.

VIA Outlets is a joint venture formed by Value Retail, the British firm Reit Hammerson, the Dutch pension fund APG and the European real estate investment manager Meyer Bergman. In its Andalucían asset, the company has luxury fashion clients such as Polo Ralph Lauren, Lacoste, Coach, Tous, Bimba y Lola, Scalpers and Hugo Boss, amongst others.

The aim of the manager is that, with the more than 15,000 m2 of recently acquired land, the outlet will become the largest smart shopping centre in the south of Spain.

More international clientele 

In addition to its growth forecasts, the joint venture is also aiming to attract more tourists to the facilities with the expansion. “The proximity of Sevilla Fashion Outlet to the airport and the good connections with the urban nucleus of a booming tourist destination such as Sevilla makes the centre a great attraction for international clientele”, said Ignacio Lobarón, Managing Director of the centre.

Currently, VIA Outlet’s portfolio comprises eleven centres located in nine European countries, including four on the Iberian peninsula (in Sevilla, Mallorca, Lisbon and Porto). Moreover, the group owns commercial spaces in Germany, The Netherlands, the Czech Republic, Sweden, Switzerland, Norway and Poland.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake

The Would-Base Developer of 13,000 Homes in Sevilla is Declared Insolvent

29 May 2018 – ABC Sevilla

Desarrollo Urbanístico Sevilla Este (Duse), the company that was going to build more than 13,000 homes on a 330-hectare site next to the airport, Parque Alcosa and Sevilla Este, has filed for creditor bankruptcy in Mercantile Court number 1 of Sevilla after accumulating debt amounting to €300 million. The company has filed for liquidation after waiting fifteen years for the Town Hall to execute general infrastructure work, for which it had paid the Town Hall €60 million when Alfredo Sánchez Monteseirín was mayor.

Just when it seemed that we had seen the last of the bankruptcy proceedings involving major companies in Sevilla, the demise of Duse comes as a wake-up call for the local real estate sector. The liquidation of this company means the suspension of the urban development that was set to become one of the great areas of expansion in Sevilla: Santa Bárbara.

Duse is owned by Sando Proyectos Inmobiliarios (53.9%); Realia Business (30.5%), linked to FCC; the investment fund Vertrauen Corporate, to which Unicaja sold its 5.99% stake in 2016; Bankia (2.7%) and Bankinter (1.12%), according to the Mercantile Registry. The company owns two plots spanning more than 330 hectares on the Santa Bárbara estate. Some of this land was expropriated in the 1970s and returned to its former owners over the subsequent decades, including the heirs of Augusta Peyré, which ended up selling their land to Sando in 2002.

Urban planning agreement

Before the new PGOU was agreed in 2006, the owners of those plots signed an urban planning agreement to collaborate with the Town Hall of Sevilla to execute the urban development plan. Thus, in 2003, at the height of the real estate boom, urban planning agreements were signed between Sando and the Leaders of the Urban Planning Department for the development of the two plots spanning more than 330 hectares.

In those agreements, the Town Hall undertook to establish a certain buildability ratio for the plots and the owners agreed to bear the acquisition cost of the general infrastructure work (involving the construction of streets, avenues, roundabouts…). The PGOU established that a maximum of 2 million m2 could be built in Santa Bárbara, which would allow for the construction of 13,853 private and social housing units (…).

In exchange for that buildability, Duse paid the Town Hall €15.4 million for the acquisition of land for the external general infrastructure and €42.6 million for the execution of the construction work. In total, Duse paid the Town Hall €58.1 million, according to sources consulted by ABC (…).

The municipal Government received that money but failed to execute the general infrastructure work following the end of the economic crisis (…).

In 2017, Duse filed a claim against the Town Hall for €75.4 million – the €58.1 million it had handed over plus €17 million to cover interest, damages and harm – for the breach of the urban planning agreements (…).

In order to execute the project, Duse signed a loan with Caja Madrid for more than €200 million, which has now risen to an outstanding balance of €300 million due to the non-payment of the principal and interest. As a result of the reordering of the banking sector and the transfer of toxic assets to the so-called “bad bank”, Caja Madrid’s loan for the development of Santa Bárbara ended up in the hands of Sareb.

Sareb’s unpaid loan

In March, the loan in question matured, and so Duse offered Sareb the option to renew it, now that the economic recovery has reactivated real estate demand, or take over the plots as “dación en pago”. According to sources close to the operation, Sareb rejected both proposals. The economic crisis and the failure by the Town Hall to execute the general infrastructure work have ended up economically suffocating the property developer, which has finally thrown in the towel and filed for credit bankruptcy, starting liquidation proceedings.

What will happen to those plots now? In all likelihood, they will go up for auction. If nobody is awarded them, they will end up in the hands of Sareb, which is now the counterparty of the almost €300 million loan that Duse has outstanding (…).

Original story: ABC Sevilla (by María Jesús Pereira)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Town Hall of Madrid Approves Construction of 400 Homes on Land near Barajas

3 May 2018 – Eje Prime

The Town Hall of Madrid is promoting housing in the city. On Thursday, the Town Hall approved plans that will result in the construction of 400 homes, green spaces and other facilities on land owned by Iberia. The plots span a surface area of 54,600 m2 and are located in the district of Barajas, to the south of the Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas airport; they are currently home to some warehouses, owned by the airline.

This land is going to be urbanised by Iberia so that it can be used for the construction of around 400 new homes, green spaces, other tertiary-use buildings and a private facility. The budget for the urbanisation work amounts to €5.1 million and the execution period is nine months.

Specifically, the plans involve eight plots spanning 54,600 m2, of which 23,507 m2 are destined for residential, tertiary and private facility use, whilst 31,093 m2 are earmarked for public use, including for green spaces, road networks, parking and facilities.

The Town Hall approved this project after the Ministry of Development announced an urban development macro-plan on some of Aena’s plots close to the airport, where hotels, logistics centres and offices are going to be built.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake

Aena Kicks Off Spain’s Largest RE Project with Public-Private Investment of €3bn

24 April 2018 – El Confidencial

Aena has fired the starting gun for the largest real estate development plan in Spain, equivalent to four times Operación Chamartín or ten times the Retiro Park. It is the Real Estate Plan for the Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas Airport, which will involve a combined public-private investment of €2.997 billion.

This project, which Aena has been working on since before its stock market debut, proposes the development of 562 hectares of new land, which would allow it to place a buildable surface area of 2.68 million m2 on the market over the next 40 years.

The bulk of the land will be allocated to the development of the largest logistics centre in Spain, which will link the airport’s current cargo loading area with the Corredor del Henares, one of the main logistics regions in the country.

The land allocated to this use will span 257 hectares in total and 1.48 million m2 of buildable surface area, most of which will be developed over the next eight years, and which will mean multiplying the space in the airport dedicated to this use by ten-fold.

The rapid growth of e-commerce and the need from giants such as Amazon and Correos to have large warehouses next to Spain’s largest airport, and the gates of Madrid, are behind the business logic for this move, given that Aena is not planning to build any homes in the area.

In this way, this part of the development will be configured into parks with integrated logistics and transport services, as well as loading warehouses and distribution stores; its main objective will be to serve companies in the electronics, biopharma and perishable product businesses, amongst others. Over the next eight years, the second phase of the plan will begin, aimed at completing the logistics uses and, above all, building a new business centre, known as Airport City, to house the headquarters of large companies such as Aena itself and its parent company, Enaire, as well as four hotels that will add 900 rooms to the existing supply in Madrid.

The total surface area reserved for those uses is 62 hectares, with a forecast buildable surface area of 652,000 m2, 90% of which will be dedicated to offices.

These buildings will be located in an area adjacent to T4, which has already been pre-urbanised and which will have pedestrian access to the terminal, and which will also be connected by public transport (metro, suburban train and bus).

There will also be a leisure and shopping centre, covering a total surface area of 57 hectares and a total forecast buildable surface area of 341,000 m2, plus 298,000 m2 of green space.

Aena hopes to turn this leisure space into a magnet in its own right and, to this end, it plans to open a themed recreation area, a shopping centre, a gastronomic space, wellness areas, an aeronautical museum and panoramic observatories.

“It is an ambitious but realistic plan that is perfectly feasible”, said the Minister for Development, Iñigo de la Serna, during the presentation of the plan this morning, where he also pointed out that the urban planning procedures for these plots of land will be agile.

The plots that form part of this plan will be developed under a concession regime, given that Aena will continue to be the owner. All indications are that at its next meeting, the company’s Board of Directors, chaired by Jaime García-Legaz, will formally initiate this process.

Original story: El Confidencial (by Ruth Ugalde)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Spain’s Logistics Crowns: From Madrid’s M-40 to the Port of Barcelona

24 April 2018 – Eje Prime

Madrid and Barcelona are the kings of Spain and their crowns attest to that fact. The two largest cities in the country are surrounded by three rings that, in addition to accounting for most of the country’s logistics traffic, provide clear answers to the three main questions being asked in the sector: what, how many and how are products demanded. The first ring is a testament to the strength of last mile delivery driven by e-commerce; in the second ring, a large proportion of products are stored on rotation; however,  the third ring, where the largest warehouses are located, saw the most space leased last year.

In general terms, 2017 was a record year for the logistics markets in Madrid and Barcelona. Together, both cities signed rental operations for space spanning more than 1.2 million m2, which represented an increase of 12% with respect to the figure from the previous year and the best result in the last decade, according to the Logistics – The revolution of a booming market report, compiled by the consultancy firm JLL.

The reasons for this boom in terms of transport and storage stem from the strong performance of the Spanish economy and, more specifically, the boom in e-commerce, which is starting to change the way the logistics market operates, in the knowledge that, over the next few years, demand for urban space to handle online purchases is going to double.

Madrid was the Spanish city that saw most evidence of the strong performance of the sector last year. In the county’s capital, 800,000 m2 of logistics space was leased in 2017, with 64 operations signed (21 more than in the previous year), twice as much as in 2016. This increase in the absorption of space was spread across the three rings that surround the autonomous region and the neighbouring provinces of the adjacent region of Castilla-La Mancha.

In the first ring, the M-40 and the M-50 account for most of the activity, with a high rotation of stock due to the last mile effect. In that enclave, towns such as Alcobendas, Barajas (with high demand due to its proximity to the airport), Coslada, San Sebastián de los Reyes and San Fernando de Henares all stand out. In addition, in this area, but closer to the capital, Vicálvaro and Getafe to the north and south, respectively, are also key locations.

The M-50 is in an intermediate point, which on its way out of Madrid has important places for storage and logistics distribution. With an average rotation rate, a large number of the warehouses whose markets have a regional reach are located in Fuenlabrada, Valdemoro, Alcalá de Henares and Torrejón de Ardoz, amongst other towns.

Amazon, from Toledo to the centre of Madrid

For buyers in the centre of Madrid to receive packages purchased on Amazon in a matter of hours, the second ring is fundamental. The e-commerce giant has set up shop in the Toledan town of Illescas, where it leased 103,000 m2 of space to store the immense volume of stock that it must have available for rapid distribution all over the Spanish capital.

Nevertheless, the ring that absorbs even more space of the so-called central area of the country is the third ring, accounting for 39% of the surface area leased last year. There, Leroy Merlin leased 60,000 m2 of space, after moving into the Meco Industrial Estate. At a distance of between 30km and 60km from Madrid, large warehouses serve as storage for operators who have lower stock rotation and an area of influence that normally spans the domestic sphere. In addition to Meco, in this space, towns such as Azuqueca de Henares, Seseña, Alovera and Ontígola stand out, amongst others.

The Port and El Prat: the key points in Cataluña’s logistics market

In Barcelona, the epicentre of the logistics centre is divided in two: the Port and El Prat. Both are located in the first ring of the Catalan capital and serve as hubs for intermodal and high stock rotation operations, according to the report from JLL. The international consultancy firm explains that this ring is the gateway to southern Europe for goods coming from the Far East and Southeast Asia, which means covering the whole Mediterranean Arc from this point.

There, cross-docking and freight activities that facilitate last mile delivery dominate. The Zona Franca and its logistics park, the air cargo centre at El Prat, Sant Boi de Llobregat, Viladecans and Mas Blau are some of the enclaves that are home to the first ring market.

Nevertheless, and despite the e-commerce boom, it was in the second ring around Barcelona where most logistics space was leased last year. That area was home to 55% of the 460,000 m2 total surface area leased in the Catalan capital, which represented a drop of 30% with respect to 2016.

Original story: Eje Prime (by Jabier Izquierdo)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Invesco Invests €80M in Madrid Logistics Park to be Built by Pavasal

19 March 2018 – Expansión

The Valencian construction company Pavasal and the investment fund manager Invesco have reached an agreement to develop the largest available area of logistics space for rent in the city of Madrid, with an investment of €80 million.

The project will involve the construction, by Pavasal, of a logistics park spanning 90,000 m2, just 8km from the centre of the Spanish capital, which Invesco will subsequently purchase. The operation has been advised by the consultancy firm BNP Paribas Real Estate.

The Madrid M-40 Logistics Park (PAL-40), which is going to be located alongside the M-40, will be built in two phases. The first phase will involve the construction of a building measuring more than 45,000 m2. This property may be leased in modules upwards of 2,500 m2 to several tenants or be occupied by a single logistics operator.

Work on the first phase is scheduled to begin during the second half of 2018 and the keys are expected to be handed over during the third quarter of next year.

Meanwhile, the second phase of the project will include another 45,000 m2 of logistics space, which may be used for turn-key projects adapted to the needs of operators.

Last mile delivery

The park is going to be constructed on the basis of a ratio of more than 2,000 delivery operations per day and will optimise delivery times thanks to its location with respect to the large population nuclei and logistics activity centres. Moreover, it will receive an energy efficiency certificate, according to those responsible for the project.

Specifically, the platform will have a 336-metre long façade overlooking the motorway and will be accessible by vehicle from Avenida de Andalucía, which the logistics sector call the last mile.

In this way, the new logistics park is going to be located less than 8km from Puerta del Sol, close to the Atocha AVE station and 19km from the airport.

The logistics sector was one of the segments that performed the best last year, as shown by the large volume of land that was bought and sold thanks to the growing demand for logistics space by companies dedicated to e-commerce.

Thus, the level of uptake in the sector in the market of Madrid and its area of influence reached historical highs in 2017, with 886,405 m2 of space leased, according to data compiled by BNP Paribas Real Estate.

Original story: Expansión (by Rebeca Arroyo)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Savills: Occupancy Rate of Málaga’s Prime Offices Reaches 90%

15 March 2018 – Eje Prime

The sun is shining over the office market in Málaga once again. The capital of the Costa del Sol achieved an occupancy rate of 90% in its prime office area, a figure that has not been seen since the start of the crisis.

The Málagan office market experienced significant demand last year in the central and financial districts of the city. In both areas, there was a notable reduction in office stock and rental prices rose to €18/m2 on the central street Calle Larios, according to a report from Savills Aguirre Newman.

In addition to Calle Larios, thoroughfares such as Corte-Inglés-Vialia recorded an increase in rents for spaces in the area up to €13/m2-€14/m2.

The main driver of the office market in 2017 was, precisely, the real estate sector. It was followed by technology companies, which, as usual, requested space in the most central parts of the city for offices with surface areas of less than 1,000 m2. Nevertheless, the tech companies that needed more space opened their offices in the Andalucía Technological Park in Málaga, according to the study.

Construction companies, law firms and telemarketing companies are also players with significant demand in the city’s office market, in which Savills Aguirre Newman has brokered operations spanning more than 10,000 m2 of office space over the last 15 months.

The consultancy firm indicates, moreover, that this trend is going to continue in 2018, which means that buildings that have been available for almost a decade will finally be occupied by new tenants. This growth in demand will lead to a record volume in terms of the number of rental transactions in the Málaga office park.

For this reason, Savills Aguirre Newman considers that, given the positive trend for the next few months in the office market, there is a need to develop new projects and to convert existing spaces in order to expand the office stock in Málaga. The Head of the Office Market at the consultancy firm in Andalucía, Aranzazu García, believes that “it is extremely important to identify an area of the city where we can establish future projects”, although, she says that “they must be conceived as exclusive-use spaces, to replace the mixed-use buildings that traditionally have carried a lot of weight in the city, with a market share of close to 50% in the city centre”.

In this sense, the executive believes that “the new projects must be positioned architecturally to house the corporate headquarters of international companies, to respond to their needs in terms of technical features, efficiency and sustainability standards, and locations that allow easy connections with the rest of the city, the airport, the AVE station and the main public transport services”.

Málaga’s Silicon Valley  

In addition to requesting new projects, García reflects on the use that may be given to the Andalucía Technological Park, located in Málaga. The director of Savills Aguirre Newman in the autonomous region calls on the competent authorities to collaborate in this area to position it as “the ideal enclave for the office market in the city or as the Silicon Valley of Málaga”.

In this regard, the executive hopes that they will resolve some of “the problems generated by the inadequate public transport network, with no forecast for a future metro line, service area and parking for users”.

Original story: Eje Prime (by J. Izquierdo)

Translation: Carmel Drake

UBS Reveals Aena’s Plans for the Future

12 March 2018 – Cinco Días

The major privatisation of recent times – albeit partial, given that the State still owns a 51% stake – has been an undisputed success. The Spanish airport manager Aena made its debut on the Spanish stock market on 11 February 2015 at €58 per share with a market capitalisation of €5.8 billion. Since then, its share price has soared by almost 200% and the firm is now worth more than €25 billion (around €170 per share).

In Spain, the group manages 46 airports and 2 heliports; it also participates in the management of 12 airports in Mexico, two in Colombia and one in Jamaica, and it controls 51% of London’s Luton airport. It is the number 1 airport manager in the world handling more than 265 million passengers in 2017.

But Aena considers that there are opportunities that it must take advantage of and to this end, it is analysing the creation of a new company to undertake its mergers and acquisitions. Aena would control the new company, but it would not be the majority shareholder. That has been revealed by UBS in a report following meetings with the directors of Aena.

An analyst from the Swiss bank Cristian Nedelcu said that “the new company will probably be consolidated in the capital”. “We consider this as something positive, given that it limits the cash flow and commitments from Aena [allocated to those purposes]”, he added.

UBS revealed another one of Aena’s plans for the medium term. The constitution of a “similar company to manage the real estate business, with the incorporation of specialist managers”, which would also limit the resources that the company chaired by Jaime García Legaz (pictured above) would have to allocate to the segment.

Both initiatives open the door to an increase in Aena’s dividend. UBS considers that with the real estate company and the subsidiary to undertake corporate operations, the company would have scope to increase the percentage of profit that it allocates to remunerating shareholders (also known as the ‘payout’).

Whilst €1 billion in free cash flow is equivalent to €6.5 per share, which is what it will pay out of the profits for 2017, it remains to be seen what the company will do with the €1.6 billion that UBS expects it to make in 2021. “The decisions will be known in the coming months”, said the financial institution.

Aena is planning to market 2.7 million m2 of land in Madrid and 1.8 million m2 of land in Barcelona, as revealed at the presentation of its results on 28 February. In Madrid, of the 921 hectares analysed, 526 hectares are developable and 369 are marketable, whilst in Barcelona, of the 328 hectares analysed, 226 are developable and 180 are marketable.

The company recorded revenues from the real estate arm of €61.1 million last year, which represented 1.2% of its total turnover of €4.0 billion. The aeronautical business accounted for 61.5%; the commercial business, 34.7%; and the international business, the remaining 2.6%.

The group earned €1.2 billion last year, 5.8% more than in 2016, with an EBITDA of €2.5 billion, up by 9.8%, and a margin of 62.5%, compared with 60.8% in 2016, “due to the maintenance of the efficiency achieved despite the operational tension resulting from the increase in traffic”, explained the firm.

Original story: Cinco Días (by Pablo M. Simón)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Aena Submits The Only Bid To Manage ‘Ghost’ Airport In Murcia

31 October 2017 – Expansión

Yesterday, Aena came to the rescue of the international airport for the Region of Murcia with a multi-million euro offer to take over its operation, management and conservation for a period of 25 years. This ghost infrastructure was planned before the crisis by the regional government and a consortium of companies led by Sacyr, at a cost of €270 million. Nevertheless, the outbreak of the crisis submerged the installation into a tsunami of financial and legal problems, which prevented it from being opened even after the construction work had been completed, in 2012.

Five years later, in April, the regional executive opened a tender process, with a budget of €600 million. Aena, in which the Spanish State holds a 51% stake, was the only company that expressed interest in managing the infrastructure and it formalised its offer yesterday. Sources close to the bid say that the amount offered by Aena falls well below the tender price.

In all likelihood, the airport manager’s plan will involve moving operations from the San Javier military airport, 30 km away, to Corvera. The new president of Aena, Jaime García-Legaz, who has only been in the job for two weeks, has focused on the need to secure the management of the Murcian airport. “We are going to make an offer to win that is profitable for Aena”, he said last week in meetings held with the group’s personnel (…). García-Legaz is Murcian, but the offer had already been prepared by his predecessor, José Manuel Vargas.

Currently, 400 employees work at San Javier airport, of whom 72 form part of the workforce, which would be affected by the move. The managers themselves have reviewed the facilities in recent weeks to check that everything is in order so as to start the operation in the most agile way possible.

Some sources say that the first flights could begin next summer (2018). “The main objective should be to secure Iberia or another major airline to turn the airport into a key infrastructure hub”, they add.

The arrival of one or more large companies is key if the reduction in passenger numbers at the Murcian airport is to be plugged. Since 2007, traffic volumes have fallen by half, from 2 million users to 1 million in 2016, proceeding from low-cost airlines such as Easyjet, Ryanair and Norwegian. And that decrease has happened despite the recent investment of €70 million made by Aena to construct a second runway. The airport has a single domestic route, connecting with Madrid, and 19 international routes, primarily to/from the United Kingdom. 92% of users are foreigners visiting the region for tourist purposes.

By contrast, the aerodrome in Alicante – 90km away – has seen its user number increase from 9 million to 12 million during the same period. Corvera is now adding capacity to manage a visitor flow of 3.5 million each year. If Aena does end up winning the contract to manage the installation, Corvera would become the 47th airport that the group manages in the country. The company has the capacity to welcome 330 million travellers, 30% more than the 230 million that used its airports in 2016.

Sources at Aena highlight that the airport in Murcia would generate profits for the group (…).

The Region of Murcia’s Ministry of Development will convene a meeting on Friday to analyse Aena’s offer and proceed to award the contract to manage the airport “as soon as possible”.

Original story: Expansión (by Víctor Martínez)

Translation: Carmel Drake