Tag: airports

AENA Activates its RE Plan in Palma, Málaga, Valencia & Sevilla

23 May 2019 -. ABC 

AENA is going to become the largest property developer in Spain over the next few years, having launched four real estate mega-projects at its airports in Palma de Mallorca, Málaga, Valencia and Sevilla, in addition to those already underway in Madrid and Barcelona. The airport manager is now looking to engage a consultant to help it decide the uses that will be assigned to the land that it owns in the vicinity of the four airports.

According to sources, AENA and the private partner will identify which plots are “potentially marketable” and will plan their development together. This process will take around a year, with AENA planning to dedicate the first six months to the development of the airports in Palma de Mallorca and Málaga-Costa del Sol, and the second six months to the airports in Sevilla-San Pablo and Valencia.

Madrid and Barcelona

These projects will join those already announced by the company led by Maurici Lucena for the vicinity of Barajas and El Prat airports in Madrid and Barcelona, respectively. There, AENA is planning to build offices, hotels and logistics hubs. In the Spanish Capital, the company is planning to develop up to 2.2 million m2 of land, whilst in the Catalan capital, that figure amounts to 1.1 million m2.

Original story: ABC (by Guillermo Ginés)

Translation/Summary: Carmel Drake

PAI Partners Submits a €1.5bn Binding Offer for Catering Specialist ‘Áreas’

24 April 2019 – El País

The French group Elior has received a binding offer amounting to €1.542 billion from the investment group PAI Partners for Áreas, the company specialising in catering services located in travel areas and headquartered in Spain. The aim of the two parties is to close the operation this summer.

The Spanish group recorded revenues of €1.832 billion last year, making it the third largest concessions brand in its sector in the world. It will gain operational autonomy as a result of the sale.

Áreas operates in fourteen counties around the world – it is the market leader in Spain (27% market share), France and Portugal, and the third largest operator in the USA. Its 21,000 employees work in 90 airports, 84 train stations and 220 roadside service stations.

The objective of PAI Partners is to support and finance Áreas’s growth plans over the next few years.

Original story: El País (by Dani Cordero)

Translation/Summary: Carmel Drake

Aena Commissions Real Estate Plans for its Airports in Palma, Málaga, Valencia & Sevilla

7 December 2018 – Voz Pópuli

Aena’s real estate development of its two main assets, the Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas and Barcelona-El Prat airports, is going to continue at other major airports in the network where the company has land reserves. At least, that is the intention of the company chaired by Maurici Lucena (pictured below), who has commissioned research to analyse the options for generating returns from its land at the airports in Palma de Mallorca, Málaga, Valencia and Sevilla.

The airport manager, in which the State owns a 51% stake, is going to invest more than €2 million to engage an expert to analyse the options for the plots and, where appropriate, develop the real estate plans, which will follow in the footsteps of those already designed for Madrid and Barcelona, where the combined investment is going to exceed €4.6 billion (most of which is expected to be financed by the private sector).

The strategy involves devising an identical roadmap to the one followed for the plans at the two major infrastructures, namely: engage an external advisor to analyse the plots that Aena has in the area around the four airports and identify opportunities for the development of real estate activities that could be performed on them. Based on the results of the reports, the company will decide whether to go ahead with the operations, as well as on the definitive design of them.

Although the manoeuvre is still at an early phase, all indications are that, in theory, activities relating to logistics and air cargo are those that have the greatest potential for capturing a leading role in the future development of the four infrastructures.

Airports on the rise

Palma de Mallorca and Málaga-Costa del Sol are the two busiest airports with the greatest passenger numbers in the Aena network, aside from Madrid and Barcelona. The former has seen an increase of more than 17% in passenger numbers over the last two years and closed last year with a record of almost 28 million visitors, which could be pulverised in 2018, with a figure that may exceed 30 million.

Meanwhile, Málaga has experienced an increase of almost 30% in passenger numbers over the last two years and is also on track for a record year in 2018, which could close with around 20 million users.

Valencia and Sevilla are in the top 12 of the airport ranking in Spain by passenger numbers although, in their cases, the appeal of their land stems more from their proximity to the two most populous cities in the country outside of Madrid and Barcelona.

1,000 hectares still available

According to the figures presented by the company when the details of its strategic plan for 2018-2021 were published, Aena owns a potentially marketable surface area of around 2,000 hectares, of which 50% corresponds to the airports in Madrid and Barcelona (…).

Aena’s plans were launched during the company’s previous stage, under the presidency of Jaime García-Legaz. The current management team is not only continuing that strategy, but it also seems to be willing to bet decisively on it.

Indeed, the strategic plan emphasises the need for the company to diversify its revenue streams, both through the commercial operation of its airports and through real estate plans designed to generate returns from its land around Madrid-Barajas and Barcelona-El Prat (…).

Original story: Voz Pópuli (by Raúl Pozo)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Aena Mobilises Mega-Investments in Barajas & El Prat Amounting to €4.2bn

29 November 2018 – El Confidencial

The largest property developer in Spain is not a real estate company, it is AENA, a company that does not depend on the real estate sector for its business, on the contrary. It has started a race, together with external partners, to mobilise investments worth more than €4.2 billion focused on two projects: the urban development of Barajas and El Prat, annexes of the airports in Madrid and Barcelona. Together they represent the largest real estate project in Spain, and they are very focused on logistics due to the proximity to both airport centres, but also on offices. In office space, alone, the firm wants to promote almost 1 million m2 across the two urban areas.

This contradiction that the largest property developer is not an agent of the real estate sector is due to the fact that AENA is a very large landowner. For years, all of its plots have aged as if they were wine. The airport city in Barcelona, for example, was projected more than 14 years ago. But only now has Deloitte been engaged to look for international funds to mobilise that investment and Garrigues been contracted for legal advice about the monumental project.

And it is a long-term project. In the case of Barcelona, the most advanced of the two, it plans go out 20 years. In Barajas, the proposal is twice as long, 40 years. Moreover, according to sources in the sector, of the 622 hectares of net plots in Barajas, 396 hectares are awaiting development.

Given that the blocks of land are so close to the airports of the two capitals, logistics is the fundamental basis of the proposals. According to the latest report from Jones Lang Lasalle, logistics assets are generating yields of between 6% and 7%, a high rate when interest rates are so low. In the case of Barajas, for example, the planned logistics development represents the bulk of the project, 1.2 million m2 of constructed space, which will be the largest logistics centre in Spain, with the added synergy of connecting the current airport cargo area with the so-called Corredor del Henares.

In terms of office space, the plans also involve enormous dimensions. At El Prat, 362,000 m2 of constructed space is planned, almost as much as in the whole of the 22@ district promoted to date (…). And in the case of Madrid, it is even larger. At Barajas, the volume of planned offices is triple that figure, although it will have to be constructed over four decades.

In addition, there will be hangars, commercial areas, hotels and cargo services for aeroplanes. In practice, it will be like building two new cities, one in Barajas and the other in El Prat.

The immediate plans

The closest projects are the phases that have been planned for the next five to eight years. At the airport in Barcelona, the phase that AENA has called “catalysing” spans the first five years, during which time €387 million will be invested in total to promote almost 400,000 m2 in different types of urban planning projects.

These investments will run in parallel to the airport projects that have already been approved. In this way, AENA has already committed investments amounting to €690 million in El Prat, which include a new satellite terminal (…), to be carried out over the next four years.

This phase is longer at Barajas. It will last for eight years and will involve a forecast investment of €953 million, according to the Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas Real Estate Plan. During this phase, more than 500,000 m2 will be constructed (…).

Original story: El Confidencial (by Marcos Lamelas)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Merlin Expresses Interest in Aena’s RE Plans for Madrid & Barcelona Airports

7 May 2018 – La Vanguardia

Merlín Properties is interested in participating in the real estate development plans that Aena is going to develop in the vicinity of the airports in Madrid and Barcelona, according to the CEO of the company, Ismael Clemente.

The Socimi is going to place its focus on the development of logistics centres and office buildings included in these two plans, according to details provided following the company’s General Shareholders’ Meeting.

“We are interested and we will look at them (the plans) with all the interest in the world”, said Clemente. “When they launch the project, we will be there”, he said.

By virtue of these plans, Aena is looking to develop 2.7 million m2 of land around the Barajas aerodrome, which will require a total investment from the private sector of around €3 billion and which will constitute one of the largest urban development operations in Europe. In the case of El Prat, the land spans around 1.84 million m2 and will involve an investment of €1.3 billion.

On the other hand, during his speech at Merlin’s General Shareholders’ Meeting, the CEO expressed the company’s intention to sell the entire 17% stake that it holds in Testa Residencial, the largest rental home company in the country, when that firm makes its upcoming stock market debut. The Socimi expects to obtain proceeds of around €300 million from that transaction.

“The reasonable thing would be for us to sell the entire stake if the transaction price is reasonable”, said Clemente, who attributed this decision to the fact that the Socimi’s investment in Testa “brings down the average return of the company” because it is a housing company.

Original story: La Vanguardia

Translation: Carmel Drake

Merlin to Spend €250M Developing New Logistics Assets

8 May 2018 – Expansión 

The Socimi Merlin plans to spend €250 million launching new logistics assets over the next four years. “We are continuing with our ambitious expansion plan, primarily through the development of land and the construction of turnkey projects”, said Merlin’s CEO, Ismael Clemente (pictured below), speaking yesterday at the company’s General Shareholders’ Meeting.

The director explained that Merlin is going to add another 500,000 m2 of space to its existing portfolio to exceed “by far and in record time” the 2 million m2 of logistics space that it currently manages. “That will place us in a clear position of leadership with respect to our competitors”, he said.

This investment will be made in addition to the €370 million that the real estate company is going to use to reform and reposition its portfolio of offices and shopping centres.

Clemente explained that the intense investment activity in which Merlin has been immersed since its creation was obeying a “strategic vision”. “We were living through the start of the upward trend of a new real estate cycle and there was a window of opportunity open to buy some very high-quality assets and companies at very attractive prices. That quality and those prices will not be seen again until the next cycle comes around”, he said.

The director reiterated the “outstanding” return to shareholders of 21.6% in 2017. In this sense, yesterday, the shareholders approved a 9% increase in the dividend, to be charged against the results for 2018, to reach €235 million.

Clemente also revealed that his firm will be looking carefully at the real estate plans designed by Aena for the airports in Barajas and El Prat. Aena is planning to market 2.7 million m2 of buildable space for logistics, hotel and office use on land that it owns at the Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas airport and another 1.85 million m2 of land at Barcelona-El Prat airport.

Original story: Expansión (by R. Arroyo)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Christie & Co: Europe is Still the World’s Most Visited Region

9 January 2018 – Press Release

Europe was still the most appealing destination and most visited region in the world in 2017, despite some disruptions faced in recent years, according to a report published by Christie & Co.

The report, launched by Christie & Co’s Hotel Consultancy team and entitled ‘European Travel Trends and Hotel Investment Hot Spots’ identifies future investment opportunities in the European hotel market by highlighting areas for increasing the value of visitation in the European market, reviewing the growth opportunities of feeder markets in Europe, analysing issues surrounding accessibility and airport capacity and highlighting which markets are expected to achieve strong RevPAR increases in the coming years making them ideal candidates for investment.

Despite other reports detailing the impact of Brexit, to date, the impact on European tourism remains unseen and Christie & Co predict the general positive outlook for tourism in Europe will translate into increased demand for accommodation. European travellers remain the key source for European destinations with domestic and other European travellers accounting for almost 90% of demand. The established feeder markets including the US, Canada, Japan and Australia continue to generate visitation growth for the European market. India and China are expected to experience healthy GDP growth over the next five years and both have populations over four times the US and affluence continues to rise. Thus, creating tremendous visitation potential for the old continent.

Christie & Co have identified two opportunities for increasing the value of visitation in the European market; firstly, Spain and Greece lag behind Western and Northern Europe in terms of value of visitation per international arrival. Christie & Co sees a real opportunity to boost the value of visitation by improving the quality of the hotel stock. Secondly, there are good branding opportunities across the European market as the hotel stock in the majority of European markets remains currently heavily unbranded and in need of investment.

Airport capacity remains a key challenge as accessibility is one of the key drivers for tourism. Christie & Co have analysed eleven major airports in this report and the findings reveal that seasonality concerns can be mitigated through providing additional flights during the shoulder season, making seasonal destinations more attractive outside of their peak times. If airport capacity is addressed promptly it will create wider development opportunities for hotels and further infrastructure.

Anna Eck, from the hotels consultancy team at Christie & Co comments, “The findings of the report show quite clearly that whilst Europe as a destination remains extremely popular, there is huge opportunity for international brands to grow in the region. Markets such as Iceland, Poland, Demark, Portugal and Sweden provide options for hotel chains whilst Ireland, Spain, Portugal Poland and Sweden would be ideal for opportunistic investors willing to take more risk. These markets are all expected to achieve strong RevPAR increases in the coming years as well as demand growth in excess of supply.”

Carine Bonnejean, Head of Consultancy – Hotels at Christie & Co comments, “We have worked closely with our European colleagues to develop this report and as a pan-European team we are able to offer strategic advice to maximise the potential of our clients’ business and investments. The report finds that certain countries are ideal for different types of investor and we are able to identify which cities in those countries are worth prioritising. Whatever the situation, we help to formulate a strategy to generate the best outcome.”

Original story: Press Release

Edited by: Carmel Drake

Victoria’s Secret & Armani To Open Stores In Plaza Río 2 Shopping Centre

16 October 2017 – Expansión

On Thursday 20 October, the luxury Italian brand Armani is going to open a new store in Madrid. However, the new establishment is not going to be located on one of the capital’s high-end streets, such as Serrano or Ortega y Gasset, but rather in a shopping centre: the new Plaza Río 2.

Located on the banks of the River Manzanares, the Plaza Río 2 shopping centre is the latest project from the French real estate giant La Société Générale Inmobilière (LSGI). With a total investment of almost €200 million, the company has managed to secure tenants for the entire retail space, which measures 38,931m2, out of a total surface area of 127,873 m2.

The new tenants include household name brands, including several belonging to the Inditex group, such as Massimo Dutti and Zara Home, as well as new faces in the shopping centre business in Spain.

Such is the case of the aforementioned Armani group, which will open an Armani Exchange store for the first time in Spain; Armani Exchange is the Italian group’s brand that targets a younger audience.

Meanwhile, the underwear firm Victoria’s Secret, famous for its annual catwalk show with supermodels, will also make its debut in a shopping centre in Madrid with a store in Plaza Río 2.

Until now, the firm, owned by the US group L Brands, has had a presence in two shopping centres in Barcelona, as well as in the airports of Málaga, El Prat and Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas, in the cosmetics and accessories format. Just a few days ago, it opened its first high-street store in the Spanish capital, in premises measuring 150m2 on Calle Fuencarral, which will be joined by its new establishment in Plaza Río 2 next week.

Another first in the new shopping centre will be the H&M Home line. The Swedish firm has reserved a surface area of 3,000 m2, spread over three floors, where it will open a store that will offer its H&M Home household collection for the first time in the centre of Madrid.

Plaza Río 2 is the eighth shopping centre that LGSI has opened in Spain. Through its subsidiary LSGIE, the company has promoted well-known establishments such as Madrid 2 La Vaguada, one of the first shopping centres that ever opened in Spain. In addition to this latest new opening, the group plans to renovate and expand its different assets in the Spanish market, according to sources at LSGIE.

Original story: Expansión (by Rocío Ruiz)

Translation: Carmel Drake