Allianz Acquires the Castellana 200 Complex for €250M

12 April 2019 – Expansión

Allianz is going to be the new owner of the Castellana 200 office and retail complex located just a stone’s throw from Plaza Castilla in Madrid. The Socimi Silvercode, in which the Canadian pension fund manager PSP and Drago Capital both hold stakes, is going to sell the property to Allianz Real Estate for €250 million, five years after buying it from Reyal Urbis for €144 million.

The complex, which was developed by Reyal Urbis in 2009, comprises 20,295 m2 of office space, 6,415 m2 for commercial use and 844 parking spaces. It has additional buildability of 14,000 m2 for a hotel or residential project, which is currently suspended, although that space is excluded from the operation. Castellana 200 is currently managed by Drago Capital.

Original story: Expansión (by R. A.)

Translation/Summary: Carmel Drake

Allianz RE Negotiates the Purchase of Castellana 200 for c. €250M

2 April 2019 – El Economista

The office and retail complex Castellana 200 in Madrid is on the verge of changing hands once again. Its owner, the pension fund of the Canadian armed forces, PSP, is negotiating its sale with Allianz Real Estate in a deal that could amount to €250 million.

The property is listed on the MAB through the Socimi Silvercode, which made its debut on the stock market in 2016. The company’s majority shareholder is Java International, (97.51%), which is in turn owned by PSP Britannia (87.76%) and Enavap Investments (9.75%). The latter is controlled by Luis Iglesias, founder of Drago Capital, which is the current manager of the complex.

Castellana 200 was last sold in July 2014 for €144 million, after opening its doors in April 2013. It is located on Paseo de la Castellana, just 300 m from Plaza de Castilla, and comprises two office buildings, spanning more than 20,000 m2, plus a shopping centre measuring 6,416 m2 and 817 parking spaces. There are also plans for a hotel in the pipeline with a surface area of 18,000 m2.

Through this deal, Allianz Real Estate, the strategic real estate division of the Allianz Group, would strengthen its position in Spain, a market it first entered in 2016.

Original story: El Economista (by Alba Brualla)

Translation/Summary: Carmel Drake

Allianz Invests €400M in Student Halls of Residence in UK

22 June 2018 – Eje Prime

Allianz is joining the wave of student halls of residence. Allianz Real Estate, the real estate arm of the insurance group, is preparing to invest €400 million in the sector in the United Kingdom. The company has created a joint venture with Greystar Real Estate Partners and the Public Pension Investment Board (PSP Investment) to promote Chapter, a brand of halls of residences for students in London.

Chapter is owned by Greystar, a US group specialising in this type of accommodation. Allianz has acquired a stake in Chapter’s share capital, together with PSP Investment, one of the largest pension fund managers in Canada. The insurance company is going to disburse GBP 350 million (€399 million) for the operation.

With this alliance, Chapter will double its size to 10,000 beds in five years. Greystar will continue to manage its portfolio, which currently contains 5,100 beds in ten locations in the centre of London. The next one to be added to the portfolio, in September, will be located in White City, West London.

“This joint venture with Greystar and PSP Investments demonstrates our strategic commitment to scale our global business with high-quality halls of residence for students in established markets”, explained Olivier Téran, Director of Investment at Allianz Real Estate. In the operation, which is pending approval, Allianz has been advised by Savills and Herbert Smith Freehills.

Original story: Eje Prime 

Translation: Carmel Drake

Värde Acquires 40% Of La Finca Global Assets For €103M

15 February 2017 – El Economista

The US fund Värde is making progress with its plans to consolidate its position within the Spanish real estate sector. Last year, it launched Dospuntos, with the aim of becoming one of the main residential property developers in the country, and now it has acquired a stake in the real estate company Procisa (recently converted into Grupo LaFinca), a move that positions it as a key player in the office market in Madrid.

According to industry sources, the fund has paid €103 million for a 40% stake in LaFinca Global Assets, the firm that owns the business-related properties of the real estate company, which is in turn controlled by the García Cereceda family.

Specifically, as a result of this operation, which was advised by Alantra, Värde has become the owner of a portfolio containing 230,000 m2 of rental space – with an occupancy rate of more than 90% – as well as 6,200 parking spaces in Madrid. The jewel in the crown of this portfolio is the La Finca Business Park in Pozuelo de Alarcón, where the real estate company owns the luxury urbanisation of the same name and where many important footballers and multi-millionaires live. The group’s most iconic assets include the Cardenal Marcelo Spinola office complex and the Martínez Villergas Business Park.

LaFinca Global Asset’s new phase started with a €155 million loan from a handful of financial entities, including Allianz Real Estate as the main lender. According to the firm, this long-term loan forms part of a financing arrangement worth €395 million, which will be used to renovate and improve its office assets, as well as to acquire new properties.

“Having a partner like Allianz Real Estate, with its long-term vision and financial stability, supports our company’s strategy”, said Susana García Cerceda, President of Grupo LaFinca.

For Allianz RE, which opened an office in Madrid last year, this represents its third real estate debt operation in Spain.

Original story: El Economista (by Javier Mesones and Alba Brualla)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Allianz Real Estate Enters Spanish Office Market With €155m Loan

14 February 2017 – IPE Real Estate

Allianz Real Estate has entered Spain’s office market by issuing a €155m loan.

The German institution took part in a €395m financing for Spanish property company La Finca.

The loan is the third real estate debt transaction by Allianz Real Estate in Spain and its first office loan in the Spanish market.

Allianz opened its office in Spain late last year.

Its head of Iberia, Miguel Torres, said: “Over more than 40 years, Grupo La Finca has demonstrated its capacity to develop high-quality offices, endowed with the conditions demanded by the companies of today, so we are fully confident in the value of our investment, and we hope to expand our relationship with them in the long term.”

La Finca owns around 230,000 sqm of assets, with an average occupancy rate of 90% leased to a range of tenants.

The firm will focus on managing and growing its existing portfolio whilst refinancing older facilities.

Original story: IPE Real Estate

Edited by: Carmel Drake

Allianz Real Estate Opens Branch In Spain

22 September 2016 – El Economista

The real estate arm of Allianz has arrived in Spain, attracted by the investment opportunities on offer here. Allianz Real Estate has just opened a branch in Madrid to track its operations in the Iberian Peninsula and take responsibility for the management of the properties owned by the group.

To lead the project, the firm has hired Miguel Torres, ex-Arthur Andersen, who has been linked with GE Capital Real Estate since 1995, according to the Commercial Registry. “After the recovery of the real estate markets, Spain and Portgual are once again in the focus of international real estate investors”, explained the CEO of Allianz Real Estate, François Traush, who highlighted that the incorporation of Torres into the team aimed “to identify attractive investment opportunities to allow us to continue constructing a diversified portfolio”, for our shareholders.

With more than 20 years of experience in the real estate and structured financing sectors, Torres joins the company from GE Capital in Mexico, where he served as Director General, leading a team of 50 specialists and an unit with almost €3,500 million in real estate financing. Prior to that, he held various management positions at GE entities in Madrid, New York and Stamford.

Allianz Real Estate’s portfolio contains €41,700 million in assets under management: €29,300 million in direct and indirect investments, plus loans amounting to €12,400 million, based on figures at 2015 year end, when it closed operations amounting to €7,400 million. Its goal is to reach the €60,000 million threshold “within the next few years”.

The company, which has subsidiaries in Germany, France, Italy – into which the operations in Spain will report -, Switzerland and the USA, includes the office in Madrid as part of its regional expansion.

Its investment aspirations cover almost the entire sector: from taking stakes in debt, to investing in listed companies, direct and indirect positions in financing and building a significant property portfolio.

It debuted as a lender in Spain a year and a half ago, with a loan for €133 million that allowed the Socimi Merlin to acquire the Marineda Shopping Centre, which, at the time, was the largest investment in this type of complex since 2008.

The strategic logic is two-fold. The low interest rate environment is causing insurance companies to dust off old commitments to property in light of the meagre returns being offered by public debt and the high capital consumption involved with other investments. Companies such as Mapfre, Mutua Madrileña, Santalucía, Reale and Línea Directa have acquired properties recently and are looking for opportunities, although their involvement as financiers is residual or non-existent, unlike the role performed by multi-national firms such as Axa and Allianz.

The sector hopes that Brussels will smooth the path, easing the burden of callable capital, given that the Juncker Plan itself wants to involve infrastructure projects that Europe needs.

In addition, the real estate sector is presenting itself as an alternative that offers higher returns, especially given the security of their operations. The high expectations of growth in terms of office rents and a notable increase in the number of small operations, is converting this segment of the market into one of the most attractive options. In the case of the most cutting-edge buildings and those located in prime areas, rents may increase by up to 22% over the next three years. For the other more modest assets, the annual yield amounts to around 7%. Similarly, yields of commercial premises amount to around 7.5%,and rents are expected to increase by an average of 2.4% p.a. in Madrid over the next two years.

Original story: El Economista (by Eva Contrerar and Alba Brualla)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Merlin Properties Takes Out A Mortgage On Marineda City

19 February 2015 – La Voz de Galicia

Merlin Properties has taken out a ten-year loan with a fixed interest rate of 2.66%.

Merlin Properties, the listed real estate investment company (Socimi), which acquired the Marineda City shopping centre from its developers (the businessmen Manuel Jove, José Collazo and José Souto) last July, has just signed a loan for €133.6 million and has secured it with the A Corunian retail complex. The loan, signed with Allianz Real Estate, has been taken out for a ten-year term, at the end of which all of the principal will be repaid, at a fixed interest rate of 2.66%, according to a statement sent by the company to the National Securities Market Commission (Comisión Nacional del Mercado de Valores or CNMV).

With this loan, which sources at the company assure will not be used to finance the purchase of Marineda, on which it spent €260 million, Merlin increases its gross financial debt to €1,144 million, which is equivalent to 39% of the value of the company’s assets. Sources at the Socimi say that they are continuing to work on the financing of other real estate assets in their portfolio, whilst ensuring that they do not exceed their leverage limit of 50%.

Marineda City is the largest shopping centre in Galicia and the second largest in Spain by surface area. It was opened in 2011 and has a buildable surface area of more than half a million square metres, of which 196,000 sqm are leasable. The retail complex received 15.1 million visitors in 2014, i.e. 15% more than in the previous year.

Original story: La Voz de Galicia

Translation: Carmel Drake