Tag: Alicante

Urbania Developer: Panamanian Capital Promotes 20 Developments in Valencia

31 July 2018 – Eje Prime

Numerous Spanish real estate entrepreneurs crossed the pond when the Spanish property sector crashed at the end of the 2000s. One of the property developers who got on a plane when the walls of the real estate sector were starting to crack in Spain was Juan Antonio Claveria. That Valencian businessman is now back on his home turf with Urbania Developer, a Panamanian real estate company that is planning to “have up to twenty projects under development over the next three years in the Community of Valencia”, explained Claveria to Eje Prime.

The Spanish businessman is the CEO of Urbania Developer, a company listed on the Panamanian stock market, which he created last year together with his partners, the local investors Yasser Williams and Omar Fricentese. “The company’s share capital is 100% private”, highlighted Claveria.

The three have recently teamed up with the Valencian builder José Vicente Roig, who has included the assets of the former property developer Patrimonios del Levante in the group. With those, the real estate company has launched its growth plan in the Community of Valencia, where the firm already has eight projects underway or on the verge of being executed.

“We are interested in towns with between 200,000 and 300,000 inhabitants”, explains Claveria, who is also attracted to “those suburbs that have between 40,000 and 80,000 inhabitants, which are well connected by metro”. Public transport links and the proximity to the capital of Valencia are the key aspects of the investment policy that Urbania Developer is going to carry out. It is turning its back on the overheating of prices that is being recorded in the centre of the city.

Torrent, Paterna, Mislata, Benimamet and Paiporta are the towns on the outskirts of Valencia where Urbania Developer has residential projects underway at the moment. Nevertheless, “we are now finalising the purchase of new plots of land”, said Claveria, who indicated that his company could close around half a dozen operations soon.

Moreover, the property developer has already expanded its business to the south of Valencia with the purchase of a “small plot” in Alicante. Size is important for the company, which projects developments comprising “between eight and thirty homes”. “In Castellón, we are also looking at plots”, said the businessman, who wants to focus solely on the Community of Valencia in this first phase of his arrival in Spain (…).

Currently, the property developer has more than 5,000 homes built or under construction in Panama, the epicentre of the company’s business,  as well as in Paraguay and Nicaragua. In the Panamanian market alone (“the Switzerland of Latin America”, according to Claveria), the property developer manages 2.2 million m2 of residential land spread over 18 projects.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake

M&G Teams Up With Quadratia to Invest in Residential Assets on the Alicante Coast

30 July 2018 – Alicante Plaza

The strategy being pursued by the investment funds to create joint ventures with local property developers through which to star in the resurgence of the real estate sector has reached a new high in the province of Alicante with the alliance between the British fund M&G Investments, a subsidiary of the insurance company Prudential, and the Alicante-based consultancy Quadratia. After starring in one of the largest land purchase operations in the province, with the acquisition from Sareb of the debt associated with the PP-27 of La Vila at the end of last year, M&G and Quadratia have decided to take their partnership to the next level. To this end, they have formed a joint venture company to invest in unique projects on the Costa Blanca and other points along the Spanish Coast: Quadratia Investment Partners (QIP)

“Following the successful launch of the Allonbay Village project in the El Torres de la Vial cove”, explain sources at the company, the British fund has teamed up with the Alicante-based property developer “through its fund DOF IV to back the development of unique residential projects along the Mediterranean coast”. The objective of Quadratia Investment Partners is “to acquire urban land and projects under construction, primarily in the hands of financial institutions in complex situations”, to manage that land and develop unique residential properties close to the sea. The target audience of these projects will be domestic and overseas buyers looking for second homes.

Following its constitution, QIP has already acquired another plot in the La Tellerola sector of La Vila on the beachfront, taking advantage of its strong presence in this municipality, and it has entered the market in Calp, with the purchase of two plots, one of which is going to be used for the development of a building with 100 homes, standing more than 25 storeys high, with views over the Peñón de Ifach and Playa del Arenal. But the new investment group’s interest is not limited to the Costa Blanca. According to the same sources, the firm is looking for land with the same characteristics on the coast of Valencia, and is also already closing several operations on the Costa del Sol, a market that is similar to that of Alicante but which “warmed up” first, according to their explanations.

According to the sources, the consultancy firm Quadratia has specialised in working as a local expert for various investment funds (on behalf of which it undertakes the integral management of projects), including Kronos Homes and ASG Homes, which have also starred in several operations in the sector in the province. In this case, however, the partnership with M&G Investments goes further: the Alicante firm has acquired a “significant” stake in the share capital of the new group, and the CEO of Quadratia, Enrique Gallego, has been appointed to the new group’s Board of Directors. Moreover, the former director of Mediterranean, Pablo Lucas Guerrero, was recently appointed as an independent director, to support this same investment strategy on the Costa del Sol, where the group has now completed its first investment in the Torrox-Nerja area: a 131-home development with panoramic views over the sea (…).

With more than GBP 240 billion under management, M&G is the investment fund management company of the Prudential plc insurance group, listed on the London Stock Exchange and member of the FTSE 100, with more than 160 years in the insurance, investment and loan businesses. In terms of Quadratia, it is led by the second generation of Grupo Alicante Urbana. Founded in 2014, it makes contact with investment funds interested in the residential sector in the province of Alicante and provides them with a comprehensive range of legal services (…).

Original story: Alicante Plaza (by David Martínez)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Taylor Wimpey Enters Sotogrande & Strengthens its Presence in Ibiza

28 May 2018 – Eje Prime

Taylor Wimpey España is entering one of the most luxurious urbanisations in Spain. The Spanish subsidiary of the British real estate group is backing Sotogrande, synonymous with luxury housing, in its business plan for 2018, which also includes the launch of around twenty developments in the Balearic Islands, Costa del Sol and Costa Blanca, the three markets where it already has a presence and “in which we will continue working”, says Reyes Coll, Marketing Director at Taylor Wimpey in Spain, speaking to Eje Prime.

So far this year, the real estate company has launched eight new projects. Four of them are located on the Costa del Sol, three in Mallorca and the eighth is in Alicante. The aim of the company is to “launch between five and ten more promotions before the end of the year”, says Coll.

Taylor Wimpey’s main business in Spain is second homes for foreigners, which account for more than 90% of the company’s housing reservations.

In the Balearic Islands, where land is scarce and prices are growing rapidly, the company is finalising the requirements necessary to bring three new projects onto the market: Cala Lliteras, Cala Vinyes and Cala Gració. The latter is located in Ibiza, an island on which the real estate only has 22 homes to date, in Can Misses. The other developments in the Balearic region are located in Mallorca (…).

Almost twenty developments on the market

Without taking into account the aforementioned projects and those in the pipeline, the real estate company already has 19 developments up for sale in the country. Mallorca and the Costa del Sol are the two regions where most of its developments are located, with seven residential projects up for sale, whilst the company has five urbanisations on the market on the Costa Blanca.

Taylor Wimpey España’s business depends on foreigners interested in buying a second home in the country. This profile of buyer is growing again in line with the recovery of the economy. Indeed, the company recorded a 10% increase in its portfolio of international clients. “German, Scandinavian, British, Russian and Belgian buyers all stood out”, explains Coll. The General Council of Notaries explained recently in a report that those nationalities account for the fact that 20% of the homes purchased in Spain are acquired by foreigners. In 2017 alone, the company completed operations involving new homes with buyers from 32 different countries.

In the case of buyers from the United Kingdom, players in the Spanish residential market were fearful of the consequences that Brexit might have on sales. Nevertheless, sources at Taylor Wimpey explain that reservations from Brits have increased over the last nine months.

40% growth in post-crisis reserves

The end of the real estate crisis has also arrived for Taylor Wimpey España, whose reservations grew by 40% in 2015 and have continued to increase ever since (…).

According to its roadmap, the company is not planning any changes to the line of business that it has operated for sixty years. The property developer will continue to specialise in the construction of apartments and terraced homes in the most touristy areas of the country and will finance them solely using own funds.

Original story: Eje Prime (by J. Izquierdo)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Santander & Blackstone Hold Onto the Real Estate Company GAC40

18 May 2018 – Voz Pópuli

Project Quasar Investment, the company created by Santander and Blackstone to bring together Banco Popular’s real estate assets worth €30 billion, has absorbed the company ‘Gestión de Activos Castellana 40’ (GAC40), whose debt amounting to €220 million Popular forgave on 30 December 2014, a move that caught the attention of the European Central Bank.

According to sources familiar with the operation, GAC40 filed for creditor pre-bankruptcy after it found itself in the cause of dissolution, but that measure was cancelled after the formal agreement was reached to transfer Popular’s assets to Project Quasar Investment in March. Sources consulted describe the operation as a “bargain”, given that Santander and Blackstone have effectively acquired GAC40’s assets at a discount of almost 69% and without the burdens that was weighing it down.

The Hispania Buildings in the centres of Murcia and Alicante are just two of the assets owned by GAC40. The company also owns the following shopping centres: La Fuensanta in Móstoles (Madrid); Juan de Borbón (Murcia); and Hispania, in Orihuela. Moreover, it has one supermarket in Totana (Murcia) and another one in Vinarós (Castellón), as well as a hotel in Cartagena. Although most of the properties are occupied, the mortgage charges that had been hanging over them since the real estate boom meant that their sale was unfeasible, according to the sources consulted.

The properties form part of Grupo Hispania, which the businessman Trinitario Casanova, the same person who agreed the sale of Edificio España in Madrid to the Riu group last year, sold in 2008 to José Ramón Carabante – the former shareholder of real estate companies from the boom and the founder of the only Spanish team to have operated in the Formula 1 arena, Hispania – for €650 million.

Carabante abandoned the management of Grupo Hispania in 2011 and was replaced by José Fernando Martínez Blanco, an expert in the liquidation and restructuring of companies. According to the sources consulted, Martínez Blanco was appointed by Banco Popular to acquire Carabante’s companies.

Martínez Blanco changed the registered name of the companies acquired from Carabante to ‘Gestión de Activos Castellana 40’ (GAC40) in 2012. The firm was weighed down by a debt amounting to €562.5 million, with Banco Popular as the main creditor. Until the absorption of GAC40 by Santander and Blackstone, Martínez Blanco had continued as the administrator of the company.

Forgive and refinance

GAC40 has remained active all these years thanks to financial support from Popular, which has been forgiving and refinancing the company’s debt year after year.

On 30 December 2014, Banco Popular’s Board of Directors decided to waive GAC40’s debt. That decision caught the attention of the European Central Bank, which conducted an inspection and identified “deficiencies” in the authorisation of the operation, as this newspaper reported.

The most recent refinancing of GAC40’s debt happened a month after the intervention of Banco Popular and its sale to Santander. On 6 July 2017, the company agreed “as the primary financial creditor”, to “convert the debt into a participation loan amounting to €19.4 million”.

With that debt conversion agreed just a month after Popular’s intervention, GAC40 was able to correct the critical situation that it found itself in. According to the company’s accounts for 2016, to which this newspaper has had access through Insight View, the company was in cause of dissolution with a negative goodwill balance of €221 million and financial debt of almost €250 million.

Original story: Voz Pópuli (by Alberto Ortín)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Benidorm Fever: TM Sells 15 Apartments in Just One Day

10 May 2018 – El Confidencial

More than 40 homes have been reserved in just two weeks. And fifteen of them in the first 24 hours. TM Grupo Inmobiliario, the owner of the largest batch of land located one street from the beach in Benidorm, one of the most sought-after markets along the coast at the moment, has put the first units up for sale of what is going to be its most ambitious project ever.

In January, the Alicante-based company acquired 165,000 m2 of land in Benidorm, which will initially, in its first phase, be home to two buildings comprising 132 homes each, containing two-, three- and four-bedrooms. The appetite for buying homes in the city has been so great that in just two weeks, 15% of the units that are going to be built in this first phase have already been reserved.

The prices of the two-bedroom homes range between €275,000 and €325,000, whilst the prices of the three-bedroom homes range from €325,000 to €400,000. To give us an idea, on the market at the moment, you can find properties ranging from small apartments costing just €20,000, to detached homes costing as much as €4 million. The reality is that, since its origins as a tourist destination, Benidorm has always been suitable for all kinds of budgets.

In fact, the town boasts the most expensive property prices per square metre in the region, with an average of €1,585/m2 – for new build and second-hand homes – above the prices paid in neighbouring Altea, Calpe and l’Alfàs del Pi, according to data from Tinsa. Although prices have fallen by almost 44% since their peak, it is one of the places in Spain that is enjoying a fair wind. In the last year, prices have risen by 11%, according to the latest report from the appraisal company about the coastal market.

The land, acquired in January this year, is located one street back from Playa de Poniente in Benidorm – right opposite the In Tempo skyscraper, marketing of which will also begin shortly – and around 1,200 homes are planned for the site. In addition to the residential area, the overall project will also include commercial and social use plots. Moreover, the land is located next to the Sunset Drive development, another one of TM’s projects in Benidorm, which has been completely sold.

The project was chosen in accordance with the bases of an ideas tender held for that purpose, to provide an avant-garde serene and long-lasting image, characteristic of the environment in Benidorm. The winning studio was Gea Arquitectos, which has already collaborated with TM on other developments (…).

The buildings are going to be located on the highest part of the plot and their layout is going to be designed to maximise the sea views as you go up (…).

Given its design, TM’s project is reminiscent of Promora’s Delfín Tower, which is going to occupy the last available plot on the beachfront in Benidorm. The main difference between the two stems from the fact that the latter is a luxury housing project, comprising 44 homes containing two-, three- and four-bedrooms, spread over 22 floors. Almost 50% of the properties have been sold and the project holds the record for the most expensive home ever sold in Benidorm. According to different sources, the home is located on the 16th floor and the buyer, a foreigner, paid just over €2 million for it.

Original story: El Confidencial (by E. Sanz)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Socimi Castellana Properties Buys Habaneras Shopping Centre for €80.6M

9 May 2018 – Eje Prime

A new retail operation has been closed in the world of the Socimis. Castellana Properties has completed the purchase of the Habaneras shopping centre in Torrevieja (Alicante), for €80.6 million, from the listed real estate investment company (Socimi) Heref Habaneras.

The shopping centre has a gross leasable area of 24,158 m2, spread over three floors and contains 70 stores, according to the purchaser, which has highlighted that the centre’s occupancy rate stands at 94%.

In a statement, the CEO of Castellana Properties, Alfonso Brunet, added that last year the Socimi acquired eleven retail parks in Spain worth around €300 million, making it “a strategic player in the real estate sector and, specifically, in the retail segment”.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake

Sacyr Claims €518.5M from Government of Murcia for its Ghost Airport

23 April 2018 – El Confidencial

Sacyr wants to take the conflict with the Region of Murcia over the private airport in Corvera to its logical conclusion. The construction company chaired by Manuel Manrique is claiming €518.5 million from the Regional (Partido Popular) government for the suspension of the concession to operate the airport infrastructure, which has ended up in the hands of the public entity Aena. The company in which the Murcian owner of El Pozo also owns a stake is demanding twice the amount that it cost it to construct the property.

According to an internal document from Sacyr, the ‘Concessionaire Company of the Airport for the Region of Murcia’ (‘Sociedad Concesionaria del Aeropuerto de la Región de Murcia’ or SCAM) filed a report on 17 January urging the autonomous government to issue a resolution to award the concessionaire a settlement of €518.5 million. That petition comes almost five years after the Government, now chaired by Fernando López Miras, terminated the contract for an alleged breach and a month after the Murican Executive agreed the management of the private airport with Aena – which is controlled by the State – for the next 25 years.

The claim is based on three concepts. The first relates to the investments and costs incurred by SCAM, in which Sacyr holds an 80% stake, for the development and execution of the concession contract. That sum amounted to €256.69 million as at 22 March 2016, the date immediately prior to when the Region of Murcia took ownership of the asset, plus an additional €1.97 million for the maintenance work carried out by the construction company until 30 September last year.

Sacyr and its shareholders, which include Banco Sabadell and Grupo Fuertes (El Pozo), the largest industrial group in Murcia, are also claiming €35.1 million in extra costs borne by the company resulting from the early termination of the concession contract, amounts that “must also be updated at the date of their reimbursement and/or settlement”. Finally, the company is demanding €224.82 million for the profit forgone or forecast loss, as assessed by an independent expert, whose identity has not been revealed by Sacyr.

The Corvera airport was awarded to Sacyr in 2007 (…). Nevertheless, after construction was completed in 2012, it could not be opened due to insurmountable differences that were so great they even led to the intervention of the Guardia Civil.

After long disputes (…) and some unsuccessful negotiations, the regional Government expropriated the airport and awarded it again at the end of last year. The winner was Aena (…), which undertook to manage the airport in exchange for closing the San Javier military airfield, closer to the Mar Menor and just 30 km from Corvera.

The new airport, which is expected to begin operation in December, is going to be called Juan de la Cierva, in honour of the Murcian man who invented the gyroplane. The infrastructure is expected to receive 800,000 international tourists during its first four years and will be able to handle 3.5 million passengers per year. Initial forecasts indicate sales of €495.8 million during the 25-year concession. Its largest competitor will continue to be the airport in Alicante, which handles more than 12 million users per year.

Original story: El Confidencial (by Agustín Marco)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Tinsa: Málaga Leads Resurgence of Spain’s Real Estate Sector

5 April 2018 – Málaga Hoy

The main star of the resurgence of the real estate sector in Spain is Málaga. A report published yesterday by the appraisal company Tinsa reveals that “the province of Málaga, with 35 house sales for every 1,000 homes in the last year, is the region with the highest volume of activity in the whole country”, ahead of Alicante and the Balearic Islands.

This research compares the number of house sales and new home permits with the volume of existing housing stock in order to “identify the most dynamic markets in proportion to their size”. In terms of planned homes, Málaga is one of the provinces that is growing the fastest with 4.8 licences approved for every 1,000 homes in the last year, a similar volume to that of Alicante and Vizcaya, although the highest number of permits in proportion to the existing stock was seen in Madrid and Guipúzcoa.

Málaga is a very sought-after market for the main domestic and international property developers and that can be seen through the high number of residential projects that are currently underway both in the capital as well as at various points along the coast, primarily in Estepona. Several directors in the sector commented recently to this newspaper that Málaga is on everyone’s agenda, at the same level as Madrid and Barcelona, and that the province can expect to see multi-million euro investments.

Logically, that supply is being built because there is demand, although it is unique in the case of Málaga because, in this province, buyers looking for primary residences compete with investors looking for properties to lease to tourists and foreigners who want to acquire second homes on the coast where they can stay for several months at a time. There is tension and that drives up prices and decreases the average transaction term.

According to Tinsa’s report, the average price per square metre in the province of Málaga during the first quarter of this year was €1,479/m2, up by 5% compared to the previous year, including both new and second-hand homes. That represents a considerable boost, but, as the research itself points out, this average price is still 42% lower than the peak reached in the last decade at the height of the bubble. According to the appraisal company, that price increase means that the average mortgage taken out by buyers in Málaga amounts to €120,465 with a monthly instalment of €561, the highest in all of Andalucía.

Homes are more expensive but the time needed to sell them is less because there are increasingly more clients who are willing to pay the asking price. During the first quarter of this year, the average sales period for a home in the province of Málaga was 7.4 months, according to data from Tinsa, whilst over the last three years, the average has amounted to around nine months.

Original story: Málaga Hoy (by Ángel Recio)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Socimi Elaia Buys Former Staff Residence from BBVA for Hotel Conversion

12 February 2018 – Idealista

Real estate investment companies are continuing to star in real estate operations in Spain. On this occasion, the protagonist has been one of the latest companies to have debuted on the stock market: Elaia Investment Spain.

That vehicle, controlled by the Ruggieri family, one of the most wealthy in France, started trading its shares in October with a market value of €120 million. It specialises in assets linked to tourism and holds residential buildings, tourist apartments and hotels in its portfolio.

And it is in that sector that the Socimi plans to continue investing. On 7 February, it reached an agreement with BBVA to purchase the entity’s former employee residence in the town of Alfaz del Pi, in the province of Alicante.

The operation has been signed for €8.7 million and allows the Socimi to add more assets to its portfolio. The property has 140 rooms and spans a constructed surface area of more than 12,000 m2, located on a plot measuring 30,000 m2.

In this way, the complex has a large garden area, swimming pool, solarium, parking, tennis and frontón court, as well as a Social Club measuring almost 350 m2. With these facilities and its good location already in the bag (the residence is located just 200 metres away from the Playa del Albir, one of the most touristy municipalities in the Costa Blanca), the aim of the Socimi is to convert the property into a hotel complex.

According to confirmation provided by the French-controlled company to the Alternative Investment Market (MAB), the Socimi is in the process of marketing the property for its lease and the refurbishment work is in the process of being prepared.

According to explanations given by Manuel Climent, Director of transactions at JLL Hotels & Hospitality Group, who has acted as the advisor to the selling bank, “this operation confirms the interest from international investors in Spain and more specifically in holiday destinations. In 2017, more than 62% of the total transacted volume in holiday locations involved operations whose buyers were international. We expect this trend to continue during 2018, taking into account the strong operating results in the market and the growth forecasts”.

Original story: Idealista

Translation: Carmel Drake

La Sella Group Sells ‘Hotel Denia La Sella’ to Investment Vehicle Managed by Alantra

7 February 2018 – Press Release

Christie & Co has advised on the sale of the Hotel Denia La Sella Golf Resort & SPA, a 5-star hotel located in Denia, province of Alicante.

The 5-star Hotel Denia La Sella Golf Resort & SPA, located only 7 kilometres away from the centre of Denia, is one of the most luxurious establishments in Alicante. The asset has 178 fully equipped rooms and 8 suites, 2 restaurants (Asador Montgó and Segaria Thai Restaurant) and 2 bars. It also has more than 1,400 m2 available for events, a spa and gym area, an outdoor pool and an adjoining golf course, which has also been acquired together with the asset.

The Hotel, always managed by the former owners and known as Marriott La Sella Hotel, was under a franchise agreement with Marriott Hotels International until December 2016.

The new owner of the asset is a vehicle managed by Alantra, a firm specialising in financial advice and asset management whose investors have seen the hotel as an opportunity to reposition the asset. Going forward, the property will be managed on a rental basis by ‘Gestión de Activos Turísticos’ (GAT).

GAT has extensive experience in the hotel sector, managing hotels in several other domestic destinations (Hotel Cándido 4 * in Segovia, Hotel Buenavista 5 * in Toledo) (…).

Original story: Press Release

Translation: Carmel Drake