Generali Buys Calle Arenal, 4 in Madrid

24 October 2018 – Expansión

Yesterday, Generali Real Estate, the real estate arm of the Italian insurance firm, announced the purchase of a property at number 4 Calle Arenal in the centre of Madrid. Dating back to the second half of the 19th century, the building is home to a Petit Palace boutique hotel.

With eight floors and a total surface area of 3,600 m2, the building includes commercial premises at street level and on the first floor, whilst the hotel offers its services on the upper floors. This is the second operation that Generali Real has undertaken in the area following its purchase of the property located at Preciados 9 early this year, which was historically occupied by El Corte Inglés. That building was chosen by Pull&Bear for its largest store in the world after Generali’s manager renovated the entire property.

In the operation, Generali has been advised by DLA and Arup, and the vendor by CBRE. Neither the name of the former owner nor the amount of the consideration paid have been revealed. In Spain, Generali Real manages a local portfolio, primarily in Madrid and Barcelona, whose value exceeds €1 billion.

Original story: Expansión

Translation: Carmel Drake

Gazeley Purchases a 75,000 m2 Industrial Plot in Toledo

19 October 2018 – Eje Prime

Gazeley has returned to the Spanish market. The logistics warehouse and distribution park investor and developer group has acquired a 75,000 m2 plot in the Toledo town of Illescas on which it will build a 36,000 m2 warehouse. The company is planning to complete the project in 2019.

Moreover, the company has opened new offices in Madrid. Oscar Heras, Construction Director at Gazeley, will assume the role of Director of the subsidiary Gazeley España, which, until now, has stayed away from Spanish real estate activity after selling all of its assets in the country in 2016.

Then, the company was going through a bad time: it had accumulated more than 1.5 million m2 in more than a dozen platforms. Moreover, that same year, the Spanish subsidiary recorded a net profit of more than €16 million, which it used to offset losses from previous years, exceeding €11 million.

Now they are back, because, according to Heras, “it is a time when there is more demand for logistics warehouses than ever”. The company’s intention is to continue growing in Spain.

In Europe, Gazeley has a portfolio of assets spanning 17 million m2, concentrated in the United Kingdom, Germany, France and the Netherlands and leased (96%) to clients such as Amazon, UPS and Volkswagen. The company forms part of the GLP group, which is listed on the Singapore stock market, with more than $50 billion in assets under management.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake

Apollo Engages Goldmans to Sell Altamira for c. €600M

8 October 2018 – Eje Prime

Apollo is getting down to work to divest Altamira and, to this end, has engaged Goldman Sachs to execute the mandate. The US fund renewed its contract with the investment bank and has now distributed the sales document for the servicer to potentially interested parties for an amount that ranges between €500 million and €600 million.

The real estate asset and loan manager, Altamira, is primarily owned by Apollo, which holds 85% of its share capital, whilst the remaining 15% stake is in the hands of Santander. The intention of the fund is to officially launch the sale over the coming weeks and to close the operation during the first quarter of 2019, according to reports from Expansión.

Just over a year ago, Altamira’s portfolio was valued at close to €1 billion, but the amount has varied depending on the assets under management at any given moment. At the end of 2017, the package of assets that the company had under management amounted to €50 billion.

Similarly, the principal value of the servicer is the long-term contract that it has with Santander, as well as the contract for the management of assets owned by Sareb. Potential buyers of Altamira include funds such as Deutsche Bank, Bain Capital, Kennedy Wilson, Baupost and Castlelake.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake

Axactor Buys 1,500 Assets From a Spanish Bank Worth €102M

17 September 2018 – Eje Prime

Axactor is continuing to heat up its Norwegian capital with Spanish real estate. The Scandinavian fund has purchased a portfolio containing almost 1,500 foreclosed assets from a Spanish bank whose value amounts to €102 million. With this deal, the European company has now completed seven operations in the Spanish real estate sector.

The portfolio, called Omega B, has been transferred to Axactor under the joint venture format: the financial entity, whose name has not been revealed, will retain ownership of 25% of the assets, whilst the remainder will pass into the hands of the Norwegian fund.

Since its arrival in the Spanish real estate market in 2017, Axactor has accumulated more than 8,000 assets under management. One of the largest operations that the Norwegian fund has completed in the last year was the acquisition of a portfolio of problem assets from Banco Sabadell worth €900 million.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake

Optima Retail Buys Store in Marbella for €3M as part of €60M Investment Plan

12 September 2018 – Eje Prime

The retail sector in Marbella is attracting attention from investors. Optima Retail, one of the funds owned by the Spanish real estate and energy consultancy Optima Global Services, has acquired a retail outlet in Puerto Banús for €3 million. The operation forms part of the fund’s investment plan, through which it intends to disburse €60 million between now and 2019, according to explanations from Javier Alcalde, CEO of the group, speaking to Eje Prime. The objective will involve the firm spending €30 million in 2018 and another €30 million in 2019.

Launched in 2017, Optima Retail has just signed the purchase of the store located at number 17 Muelle de Benabolá in Puerto Banús from a family office. The asset, which has a surface area of 100 m2, is, and will continue to be occupied; it is let to the multi-brand footwear firm RKS. The operation has been advised by the real estate consultancy Catella.

The store displays the characteristics that the fund Optima Retail seeks for its portfolio: located in a prime area or provincial capital, as well as prices that do not exceed €4.5 million. The fund currently owns six units, located in cities such as Segovia, Vigo, Marbella and León.

Founded in 2004, and headquartered in Madrid, Optima Global Services comprises a group of companies dedicated to the real estate and energy sectors. One of the company’s areas of operation is the creation and management of real estate funds, both for external clients and on its own behalf. The company operates in a number of sectors, from retail to residential, to industrial, to hotel and including alternative assets such as hospitals and student halls.

Besides Optima Retail (its youngest vehicle), the company also operates through the fund Vastned, based in Amsterdam. In that case, Vastned focuses on assets located on prime streets of European cities, with Madrid and Barcelona amongst its targets in Spain. For example, Vastned’s assets in the Spanish capital include the properties at number 15 c/Ortega y Gasset and number 37 c/Fuencarral.

Optima Global Services also manages a portfolio of six shopping centres in Spain, located in Madrid (La Dehesa), Valencia (Mercado de Campanar), Zaragoza (Plaza Imperial), Córdoba (Connecta), Ciudad Real (Puerta del Ave) and Vigo (Travesía de Vigo). The company manages assets worth €600 million.

Original story: Eje Prime (by P. Riaño)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Haya Real Estate Negotiates Contracts with Sareb & BBVA Ahead of its IPO

31 July 2018 – Europa Press

Haya Real Estate, the Spanish real estate servicer owned by the US fund Cerberus, has linked its possible IPO in Spain to the “visibility” that it obtains over the negotiations that it is holding to renew its contract to manage the real estate assets of Sareb and to take over the contract of BBVA.

That is according to the firm’s Finance Director, Bárbara Zubiria, speaking during the presentation of the servicer’s half-year results.

With respect to Sareb, Haya Real Estate is currently offering the bad bank various alternatives ahead of the termination, in mid-2019, of its contract to manage some of the bad bank’s assets.

In terms of BBVA, the firm is waiting for the entity to decide whether to award it the management of the assets that it is going to transfer to a joint venture owned by the bank together with Cerberus.

For the time being, during the first half of the year, Haya Real estate saw its revenues rise by 20% to €130.2 million, boosted by an “increase” in the commissions that it charges for its activity and management.

Meanwhile, the EBITDA grew by 16% to €64.9 million, according to reports from the company.

During the first half of the year, the servicer led by Carlos Abad managed assets amounting to €38.8 billion, on which it closed transactions worth €2.4 billion, up by 58% YoY.

In financial terms, at the end of the period, the firm had corporate debt amounting to €463 million.

Spain’s first listed servicer

Haya Real Estate is continuing to weigh up the pros and cons of its leap onto the stock market even though two of the three real estate companies that had announced their debuts, Azora and Testa Residencial, postponed their own IPOs and have opted to list on the MAB instead.

In the event that it does make its stock market debut, the firm led by Abad will become the first of its kind to list on the stock market in Spain and one of the first in Europe.

The servicer of Cerberus is not a real estate company, but rather a company that manages and develops real estate assets for third parties, in this case, primarily assets that were foreclosed by the financial institutions during the crisis.

Constituted in 2013, the firm currently manages loans and real estate assets worth almost €40 billion. Some of the entities that have entrusted the firm with the management of their assets include Cajamar, Liberbank, BBVA, Sareb and Bankia, amongst others.

Original story: Europa Press

Translation: Carmel Drake

Apollo, CPPIB & ADIA Are Open to Offers for Altamira

12 July 2018 – Voz Pópuli

The ownership of the real estate company Altamira may change hands over the coming months. The company controlled by the fund Apollo has hung up the “For Sale” sign after the refinancing and restructuring of its contract with Santander, signed just a few days ago, according to financial sources consulted by Voz Pópuli.

At least 85% of the real estate firm will go on the market. The servicer currently manages assets worth €54 billion. The US fund Apollo is the entity that controls the majority stake, whilst its ownership is shared equally with two other partners: the largest Canadian fund, CPPIB (Canada Pension Plan Investment Board); and the main Abu Dhabi investment fund, the ADIA (Abu Dhabi Investment Authority) sovereign fund.

Each of them controls 28.3% of Altamira, just like Apollo, although it is the latter who leads the real estate company and chairs its Board.

Divestment

After four and a half years of investment, the main shareholders have decided that now is the right time to sell, given the strong performance of the real estate market and the appetite from large investors to enter the business.

In fact, sources consulted indicate that several international and Spanish investors have already approached Altamira. One of the candidates is Haya Real Estate, a similar platform, owned by Cerberus, which is interested in growing its business ahead of a potential stock market debut.

Another possibility being rumoured in the market is that CPPIB itself may purchase the 56% stake in Altamira currently owned by Apollo and the Abu Dhabi sovereign fund. The Canadian fund entered the market for the acquisition of toxic asset portfolios from the banks last year with a bang, by closing an operation with Sabadell; and this year, it has signed another deal with BBVA.

The possible sale of Altamira comes after the refinancing of the real estate firm agreed with the banks and the renegotiation of the contract with Santander. Thanks to this operation, the shareholders of Altamira are now going to share out a €200 million dividend, according to El Confidencial, which means that the numbers already add up for the funds.

The relationship between Apollo and Santander

Apollo and its two partners already tried to exit Altamira two years ago but failed to reach an agreement with Santander, which made a low offer that was not accepted. Since then, the real estate firm has pushed ahead with its own internationalisation by branching out into Portugal and Cyprus.

Original story: Voz Pópuli (by Jorge Zuloaga)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Santander Cuts the Cost of its Agreement with Altamira in Exchange for Paying Apollo €200M Now

10 July 2018 – El Confidencial

A new twist in the relationship between Santander and Apollo. The Spanish entity and the US fund have restructured the contract that they signed four years ago, when the former sold 85% of Altamira to the latter. As such, they have laid the foundations that will allow for the refinancing of the debt of their shared subsidiary, which specialises in real estate services.

Specifically, the new agreement involves a significant reduction in the commissions that Altamira will charge the bank, in exchange for which Santander will pay Apollo €200 million now. Moreover, a series of agreements made between the two parties means that Apollo will receive another €70 million, according to confirmation from several sources in the know.

Thanks to the cash injection that the reduction in commissions brings, Altamira has improved the conditions of its €270 million syndicated loan that it has signed with Santander, Bankinter, Bankia, Sabadell, Crédit Agricole and Mediobanca. That liability has seen its term improve by two years, to 2023, but without the repayment of the principal, given that Apollo’s aim with all of these changes (the new management contract and the new debt conditions) is to be able to distribute a juicy dividend.

Specifically, according to the sources consulted, the fund wants to take advantage of the new liquidity injection to distribute remuneration of around €200 million. In fact, Altamira’s total financial commitments, which exceed €320 million, will remain the same and will not decrease following all of this restructuring.

It was in January 2014 when Banco Santander closed the sale of 85% of Altamira to Apollo for €664 million, in an operation that included a management contract for the bank’s real estate assets until 2028. That term will be maintained following the new restructuring of the agreement.

Since then, the relationship between the two partners has gone through various phases, which have included an attempt by the bank to buy back 100% of the platform, although that deal never came to fruition for price reasons, and the acceleration made by Santander to rapidly divest all of its property (…).

One strategy, which has involved the transfer of assets to Metrovacesa and Testa, the creation of a joint vehicle with Blackstone, baptised Quasar, to provide an exit for €30 billion in toxic assets and, now, the sales process involving €5 billion in residential and tertiary assets that has been entrusted to Credit Suisse.

This operation forms part of the horizon that the bank defined last year, when it completed Quasar and announced that it was giving itself until the end of 2018 to reduce its exposure to property to an “immaterial” level, in the words of the bank’s own CEO, José Antonio Álvarez.

Nevertheless, this desire to reduce the real estate exposure to zero will have a direct impact on Altamira, given that the portfolio now up for sale accounts for the bulk of Santander’s assets, which are still managed by the servicer.

Historically, Altamira’s two main clients have been Sareb, which awarded it the contract to manage €29 billion in assets and property developer loans, and Santander, a base Apollo has been expanding by signing agreements with other entities, such as BBVA, which has entrusted it with a €200 million loan portfolio, and Bain Capital, which has engaged it to manage the €600 million portfolio that it purchased from Liberbank.

In addition, the servicer has committed to expanding internationally to grow in size, a strategy that has already seen it take over €10 billion of assets under management in Portugal and Cyprus, the first two markets into which Altamira has made the leap.

Original story: El Confidencial (by Ruth Ugalde)

Translation: Carmel Drake

German Logistics Giant Hansainvest Set to Invest €300M in Southern Europe

29 May 2018 – Eje Prime

The logistics business is looking to Spain to grow. The giant Hansainvest is preparing to carry out an offensive in the logistics sector in Europe and is planning an investment of between €200 million and €300 million in the logistics sector in markets such as Spain, the UK, Germany and France, according to explanations provided by the company. Its interest in Spain would represent the group’s entry into the country.

The group, which has just appointed Philipp Middendorp to lead the group’s logistics business, is going to start a new round of logistics assets purchases between now and the end of 2019 as part of its growth strategy. In addition to Southern Europe, the company is also going to focus on the Nordic countries and Poland.

According to the company, its wish list includes acquiring core and core plus properties, although “it will also look at possible alternative uses of properties”, explain sources at Hansainvest. “We intend to mainly buy traditional logistics assets, but we will also focus on the acquisition of projects under development”, they add.

“There is a great deal of demand for logistics assets from players in the domestic and international markets. The only way to keep making attractive investments in this context is to broaden our market approach”, they say.

The German logistics group’s asset portfolio comprises residential properties, as well as office buildings. The company also has buildings such as hotels, retail spaces and logistics assets, which is a business that it has decided to develop more over the coming months. In total, Hansainvest manages an asset portfolio worth more than €4.3 billion in 18 countries.

Lack of supply

Hansainvest is going to have to undertake a detailed study of the Spanish market and not let escape any opportunities that arise, given that one of the problems facing this business in the Spanish market is the lack of supply. This means that overall investment in the sector is going to fall by 20% in 2018, although it will still exceed €1 billion, according to a report from the real estate consultancy CBRE.

Leasing is also going to be a problem this year. In Madrid and Barcelona alone, absorption is going to decrease from more than 1.5 million m2 recorded last year to just over 1.2 million m2 this year.

The product shortage is going to lead to the generation of new, but insufficient supply in the two major capitals in 2018. In Madrid, 500,000 m2 of new space ix expected to come onto the market this year, compared with 342,000 m2 in Barcelona.

Nevertheless, cities on the rise in recent years in the logistics market such as Zaragoza, Sevilla and Valencia have minimal supply (…).

Rents on the rise

Of course, the high demand, limited supply and poor outlook for new developments are inevitably leading to an increase in rental prices. That is what happened in 2017, with growth of 5% in Madrid and Barcelona, and in 2018, prices may rise by even more. CBRE’s report points to increases of approximately 7% in the cost of prime assets in Madrid, where prices will reach an average of €5.60/m2/month.

In Barcelona, one of the most expensive cities in Europe in terms of logistics rents, the rental of high-quality warehouses could cost as much as €6.75/m2/month this year, up by 4% compared to 2017.

Original story: Eje Prime (by C. Pareja)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Haya’s Revenues Rise by 12% in Q1 2018 to €56M

24 May 2018 – Eje Prime

Haya is continuing to grow its real estate business. The Spanish servicer, controlled by the US fund Cerberus, recorded revenues of €55.9 million during the first quarter of the year, whereby increasing its turnover by 12% with respect to the same period in 2017. Its EBITDA amounted to €24.4 million during the same period, up by 6% compared to last year.

The volumes of the real estate company amounted to €895.2 million, which represented a YoY increase of more than 40%. The generation of cash by the servicer amounted to €20.2 million, up by 58%, whilst the firm’s net corporate debt stood at €414 million.

Haya, which managed almost €40 billion in real estate assets during the first quarter, was awarded the new Bankia contract a month ago for the management of all of that entity’s toxic assets, including the REO portfolio from the recently absorbed BMN. This week, the servicer placed on the market 4,000 homes from the bank Cajamar.

Moreover, since the beginning of 2018, the company led by Carlos Abad has signed two new contracts for the management of assets with funds and institutional investors. Haya’s next challenge is its debut on the stock market, which Cerberus recently postponed until after the purchase of BBVA’s property portfolio has been signed, which the fund acquired in 2017.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake