Sabadell Puts its Property Developer Subsidiary Up For Sale with Assets worth €1.2bn

5 February 2019 – La Vanguardia

Banco Sabadell announced on Tuesday that it is putting its subsidiary Solvia Desarollos Inmobiliarios up for sale. The property developer owns assets worth around €1.2 billion. The assets are mostly plots of residential land, located in prime areas of Madrid, Barcelona and other major cities, as well as 130 work-in-progress real estate developments.

Less than a week ago, the President of Banco Sabadell, Josep Oliu, announced at the presentation of last year’s results that “we are going to continue with our asset divestment policy”. On this occasion, Sabadell has chosen the investment bank Rothschild, according to the relevant fact sent to the CNMV, to circulate the sales prospectus amongst possible buyers. According to market sources, large funds such as Blackstone, Cerberus, Värde and Oaktree, amongst others, may be interested in buying the company.

The entity, led by Francisco Pérez, has around 40 employees, who will also exit Sabadell’s orbit. The sales process may last six months. Firstly, the candidates will have to submit offers and then a competitive process will be carried out.

This sale is running in parallel to the sale of 80% of the real estate manager Solvia. In theory, an agreement has been reached to sell that firm to Lindorff Holding Spain, which belongs to the Swedish fund Intrum, for €300 million. That price may increase by an additional €40 million if certain conditions established in the sales agreement are fulfilled.

Original story: La Vanguardia (by Conchi Lafraya)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Urban View to Debut on the MAB with a Valuation of €38M

23 January 2019 – Eje Prime

Urban View is finalising its debut on the MAB. The rental home Socimi is going to start trading on the Alternative Investment Market (MAB) on Friday for a price of €7.20 per share, which represents a valuation of €38 million.

The group, created in March 2017, is owned by the Urban Group holding company, which specialises in the acquisition and management of residential real estate assets. The firm will make its debut on the MAB with a portfolio of 454 assets, including homes, garages, commercial premises and a warehouse, through a dozen family Socimis.

The assets owned by Urban View Development are distributed across five autonomous regions: Cataluña and Madrid, which account for 96% of the portfolio; the Balearic Islands, Andalucía and the Community of Valencia. Currently, 31.7% of the company’s homes are leased.

Original story: Eje Prime 

Translation: Carmel Drake

Vía Célere Completes its Merger with Aelca to Create a Giant Firm with Land for 25,000 Homes

16 January 2019 – El Confidencial

Vía Célere has completed the integration of the real estate assets (land and property developments) of Aelca, to become one of the largest property developers in Spain with a gross asset volume (GAV) of €2.2 billion and a land bank for the construction of 25,000 homes. From today, the company has the capacity to deliver an estimated 2,000 homes in 2019 and 5,000 homes in 2021.

To put that into context, Metrovacesa owns land for the construction of 38,000 homes, has a GAV of €2.6 billion, and so it is still the largest property developer in Spain. Meanwhile, Aedas has land for 14,521 homes and a GAV of €1.6 billion, whilst Neinor, with a GAV of €1.7 billion, has land for another 13,500 units.

Following the operation, Värde is now the owner of 75% of the shares in Vía Célere, whilst the other minority shareholders (Marathon, Attestor, BAML, Barclays, DB and JPM) own the remaining 25% stake. The company is also strengthening the diversification of its asset portfolio with 38% in Madrid, 20% in Málaga, 11% in Barcelona, 9% in Sevilla, 5% in Valencia and 17% in other provinces across the rest of Spain.

The purchase of Aelca by Vía Célere was made with one clear objective in mind: to grow the company so as to be able to list it on the stock market, given that the transaction has allowed the company chaired by Juan Antonio Gómez-Pintado (pictured above) to incorporate assets worth €1.3 billion (…).

Future stock market debut?

Since then, the rumours regarding the possible stock market debut of Vía Célere have been constant (…). In fact, it was initially scheduled for the spring of 2018, but it was always known that the property developer needed to be larger to be able to compete in the market with Neinor, Metrovacesa and Aedas (…).

Original story: El Confidencial 

Translation: Carmel Drake

Azora Launches a Vehicle to Invest €250M in Last Mile Logistics Hubs

9 January 2019 – Eje Prime

Azora is launching itself into the last mile logistics sector. The real estate manager has launched a vehicle to invest €250 million in premises located in the centre of cities with the aim of facilitating urban distribution and responding to the boom in e-commerce.

According to the company’s plans, the first investments will take place during the first quarter of this year. Azora will be responsible for the vehicle and will hold a minority stake in it. Meanwhile, the consultancy firm CBRE will be responsible for designing it and for supplying the real estate services, according to Expansión.

Until now, Azora and CBRE have identified almost thirty assets that fit their investment objectives until 2021. Currently, both companies are holding negotiations to purchase those properties, which include disused furniture stores, parking lots, dealerships, workshops and shopping centres inside the M-30 in Madrid and within Las Rondas in Barcelona. The properties must also have a surface area of more than 800 m2.

The assets will subsequently be leased to major logistics operators and to other transport companies, as well as to merchants and distribution companies under long-term lease contracts.

With more than €4.5 billion in assets under management, Azora is continuing to back the real estate sector after breaking its alliance with Hispania. Since then, the company has taken advantage of its experience in the sector to back the residential rental segment through the creation of a joint venture with CBRE Global Investment and Madison to achieve a portfolio of 10,000 homes within the next few years.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake

Realia Launches a €149M Capital Increase

15 November 2018 – El Economista

Realia has launched a capital increase amounting to €149 million, with preferential subscription rights, through which Carlos Slim is going to make a new capital injection into the real estate company that he controls in Spain.

This increase follows another two that the firm has carried out since 2015, when the Mexican magnate took control of the company and which have been used to clean up the firm and reduce its debt.

By virtue of the new operation, Realia is going to issue 175.45 million new shares at €0.85 per share, a price that represents a discount of 7.5% with respect to the firm’s current share price, which closed trading on the stock market on Thursday at €0.923.

The operation is going to be launched once approval has been received from Spain’s National Securities and Markets Commission (CNMV). Current shareholders will have preferential subscription rights, which means that they may request new shares at a rate of three new shares for every eleven that they already own.

Carlos Slim controls 70.76% of Realia’s share capital, 33.8% in a direct way and 36.9% through FCC, a construction group that he also controls. The Mexican businessman has participated in all of the capital increases that Realia has undertaken until now.

Realia is launching a new capital increase after reactivating its construction and house sale business, which has been suspended since the start of the crisis.

The company also has a portfolio of assets spanning a surface area of around 500,000 m2, comprising office buildings and shopping centres, including one of the Kio Towers in Plaza Castilla, Madrid.

The real estate firm, which has suspended its dividend since 2009, closed the first nine months of this year with a profit of €24 million and a turnover of €70 million. The firm has total debt amounting to €672 million.

Original story: El Economista 

Translation: Carmel Drake

MAB’s Director Encourages Socimis to Generate Trust to Attract Investment

30 October 2018 – Finanzas

The Director General of the Alternative Investment Market (MAB), Jesús González Nieto (pictured below), has today encouraged the Socimis to “generate trust” through the transparency of their corporate governance arrangements to attract new investors and “to depend on the market for growth”.

González Nieto closed a conference about Socimis at the headquarters of the CEOE by underlining that generating trust is a task for everyone so that the real estate investment formula, which has been on the Spanish stock market for five years, can become increasingly well known.

In his opinion, the French and British markets have many more small investors in the real estate sector thanks to the structures that they have, which are similar to Socimis, and so he expects growth in the Spanish market if the entities can manage to provide good information about that possibility of stock market investment.

At the moment, 61 Socimis are trading on the MAB, whilst another five trade on the main stock market.

The Director General of Renta 4 Banco, Jesús Sánchez-Quiñones, has inaugurated a process for the concentration of Socimis over the coming years and has said that “they are avoiding stock market crashes”, due to their strong expectations and lower liquidity.

Representatives from eleven Socimis participated in the conference, ten on behalf of Socimis that are trading on the MAB and one that will make its debut soon: Park Rose Iberoamericana, which will start trading on 15 December.

The President of Park Rose, Luis Alberto Akel, explained that his firm has Chilean capital and is diversifying its real estate investments in Chile, the USA and Spain.

The CEO of Témpore, Nicolás Díaz Saldaña, warned that “there is a lot of international interest in the Spanish residential sector”, and, after reminding the audience that his Socimi arose as an “additional mechanism for the divestment of assets by Sareb”, he said that when that operation concludes, they will go “and look for new investors”.

Díaz Saldaña has indicated that he would like for Témpore to be listed on the main stock market and the Director General of GMP Property, José Luis García de la Calle, also noted that his firm has considered that option, but that the growing “demands” of the MAB are already broad enough, without having to implement audit and remuneration committees.

Meanwhile, the CEO of Castellana Properties, Alfonso Brunet said, “We are getting ready to comply with the requirements of the main stock market”.

The CEO of Vitruvio, Joaquín López-Chicheri, highlighted that “the Socimis allow us to diversify risk” and to be present in the four segments (residential, commercial, offices and logistics), whilst other participants in the conference indicated that they prefer to focus on a niche market.

In this way, José Nistal, from the Socimi Almagro, explained its specialisation in the purchase and rental of flats for the elderly, where the tenants have an average age of 84.3 years.

The latest Socimi to join the MAB, Azaria, in September, focuses exclusively on the long-term, stable, rental of offices and its only asset, for the time being, is the headquarters of El Páis, which is leased until 2033, explained its manager, Teodoro Díez.

Sergi Mirapeix, from Tander, explained that his firm only invests in commercial premises in the most central areas of cities (currently, it is present in four: Barcelona, Santander, Bilbao and San Sebastián) and Jorge González, the representative of the Socimi Asturias, has indicated that its sole objective is to focus on large retail parks.

Josep Turró, from Barcino, said that his firm is going to seek to diversify as much as possible, by “adaptating to demand”, and Fabrizio Agrimi, from Vbare Iberian, said that his Socimi is committed to “added value, without property developer risk”.

Original story: Finanzas 

Translation: Carmel Drake

The Venezuelan Capriles Family Creates a Socimi: Kowo Real Estate

26 October 2018 – Idealista

Increasingly more families are deciding to channel their investments in property through Socimis. Whilst in August, it was the Koplowitzs who decided to create their own investment vehicle using that structure, now, it is the Venezuelan Capriles family that is throwing itself into the real estate market with its first Socimi, Kowo Real Estate, according to explanations provided by sources in the sector speaking to Idealista News.

In recent years, the Capriles family has become one of the most active in terms of investment in luxury housing through the company Gran Roque Capital. On its shoulders stand the recovery of three developments in Madrid, in the Chueca area (two on Calle Fernando VI and the other on Calle Barquillo). At the end of last year, the company started to market homes on Calle Pablo de Aranda in the El Viso area with the aim of reaching €11,000/m2.

Now, the company is pushing ahead with one of the vehicles of the moment in the real estate sector. The businessman Miguel Ángel Capriles has launched Kowo Real Estate Socimi, with the aim of buying and developing real estate assets of an urban nature for their subsequent rental.

But this is not the first time that the company has considered launching a Socimi. At the beginning of this year, the family announced that it was finalising the constitution of a Socimi to position itself as a leader in the tourist accommodation segment The initial investment in that project amounted to €40 million, according to the business plan provided by Edric Capriles.

The Bluemoon apartments are owned by that Socimi, according to reports from La Celosía. They are located in the El Carmen neighbourhood of Valencia, a stone’s throw from the cathedral and its first commitment in Spain. The company invested €5 million in that aparthotel, comprising homes for tourist use of a residential nature. In addition to Valencia, Málaga and Sevilla are also in the spotlight of the Venezuelan investors.

The real estate business of the Capriles family in Spain comprises luxury housing development and renovation projects. Its corporate network in Spain contains more than twenty companies dedicated to real estate development (Craski Inversiones, Madriski Inversiones…), the sale and purchase of real estate assets on their own behalf (Gran Roque Capital and Invecap Inversiones Inmobiliaria) and the rental of real estate assets (MACL Castellana 56).

Between them, all of those entities own total assets worth €125 million. Invecap Inversiones Inmobiliarias is the most important entity, with total assets of €53.3 million and from which almost all of the other entities depend. The latter, moreover, is the sole shareholder of the recently created Socimi.

Original story: Idealista (by Custodio Pareja)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Renta Corporación’s Profits Rose by 14% to €11.7M in September

24 October 2018 – Eje Prime

Renta Corporación closed September with good results. The Spanish real estate group recorded a profit of €11.7 million to September, up by 13.6% compared to the same period in 2017, according to a statement filed by the company with Spain’s National Securities and Exchange Commission (CNMV).

Similarly, the company recorded total revenues of €49.1 million during the first nine months of the year, exceeding its turnover between January and September 2017 by 46%. Meanwhile, Renta Corporación’s EBITDA amounted to €12 million, up by €3 million compared to the previous year.

The sale of several properties in Barcelona and Madrid means that Renta Corporación closed September with an increase in its turnover. Currently, the group’s business portfolio amounts to €179 million. Moreover, the company manages assets for sale in partnership with several real estate funds, with an estimated investment amount of €35 million.

In terms of the purchases made by the group between January and September, highlights include the acquisition of fifteen residential-use properties comprising 1,095 turnkey homes, through its Socimi Vivenio. Those assets are located in Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Palma and Málaga and involved the disbursement of €533 million for the company.

Renta Corporación is currently in a process of growth. At the beginning of October, the company announced that it is going to build homes on the site of Esteve’s former headquarters in Barcelona, an asset that it has just purchased from Iberdrola Inmobiliaria.

Orignal story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake

Blackstone’s Socimi Torbel Debuts on the MAB at €11.45/Share

5 July 2018 – Voz Pópuli

Torbel Investments, the new Socimi owned by the US fund Blackstone, is going to make its debut on the Alternative Investment Market (MAB) this Thursday at a price of €11.45 per share, giving the company a market value of €92.2 million.

Torbel, the second Socimi that is going to be managed by Anticipa Real Estate, owns a portfolio of 2,495 assets – 2,165 of the properties are flats and family homes, and the remainder are commercial premises, parking spaces and storerooms -, which have a combined market value of €218 million.

These assets are distributed throughout Spain, with the Community of Valencia accounting for the largest share – it is home to 36.5% of the total between the provinces of Valencia and Alicante -, followed by Cataluña, with 17.8% of the total, and Madrid with 15.9%. The remaining 30% are located in Andalucía and Castilla-La Mancha.

All of these assets, whose overall occupancy rate amounts to around 58% (tenants are being sought for the remaining 42%), proceed from the Empire portfolio that Blackstone purchased from Banco Sabadell between 2016 and 2017; they are managed by the US fund’s subsidiary Anticipa.

Anticipa Real Estate was constituted in 2014 after passing into the hands of Blackstone and has been an evolving entity ever since. It has gone from being a servicer that managed assets for third parties to being a management platform of real estate assets and mortgage loans, all with the aim of becoming the leading residential rental manager in Spain.

Torbel is the fourth residential Socimi that Blackstone has debuted on the stock market in Spain following Fidere Patrimonio, Corona Patrimonial and Albirana Properties.

Original story: Voz Pópuli 

Translation: Carmel Drake

Sabadell Receives 7 Offers to Liquidate its Doubtful Debt

28 June 2018 – Expansión

In the end, seven international funds have presented offers to Banco Sabadell to be awarded one or more of the four portfolios that the entity has put on the market this year to liquidate almost all of its problem asset balance. The funds in question are Cerberus, Lone Star, Blackstone, Oaktree, Deutsche Bank, Bain Capital and CPPIB, although not all of them have bid for all of the assets, given that three of the funds are only interested in the foreclosed properties and the four others only want to purchase the non-performing loans (NPLs).

On the advice of KPMG and Alantra, Sabadell has set itself the objective of divesting toxic assets worth €10.8 billion this month, before the summer. That figure is equivalent to 72% of the bank’s total problem assets, which amounted to €14.9 billion at the end of the first quarter. Of that total figure, €7.5 billion are doubtful balances and €7.4 billion are foreclosed.

This volume of non-performing assets, which is weighing down on the entity’s balance sheet, has been packaged into four portfolios called Challenger (€5 billion), Coliseum (€2.5 billion), Makalu (€2.4 billion) and Galerna (€900 million). Just over half, €5.8 billion, are assets inherited from the purchase of CAM, and, as such, they form part of the Asset Protection Scheme (EPA). As a result, the divestment of three of the portfolios (Coliseum, Galerna and Makalu) must first be approved by the Deposit Guarantee Fund (FGD), which is the entity that will cover 80% of the losses generated by those protected portfolios.

Original story: Expansión (by Sergi Saborit)

Translation: Carmel Drake