Deloitte: Hotel Inv’t Will Exceed €3,000M In 2017

7 November 2017 – Expansión

The extraordinary tourism data in Spain, the interest from investors in real estate assets and the purchase by international funds of hotel portfolios has catapulted investment in the Spanish hotel segment so far this year to €2,600 million. That figure is 21% higher than the total amount recorded in 2016, and is very close to the record figure of €2,700 million recorded in 2015, according to The Hotel Property Handbook report, prepared by Deloitte España.

In this way, the hotel sector now accounts for 35% of total real estate investment in the tertiary sector (non-residential assets) in Spain. The firm forecasts that, by the end of this year, the investment volume figure will have easily surpassed the €3,000 million threshold.

In terms of the main operations of the year, the purchase by the US fund Blackstone of the HI Partners hotel portfolio, comprising 14 establishments, from Sabadell for €630 million and the acquisition by the British fund London & Regional of four Starmel hotels – a joint company formed by Meliá and Starwood Capital in 2015 – for €230 million, have given the investment figure a real boost.

Record operations

These operations have been accompanied by several one-off hotel transactions, such as Edificio España, which was acquired by RIU in June for €272 million (…).

Other noteworthy operations so far this year include the purchase of Hotel Silken in Barcelona by the British fund Benson Elliot for €80 million and the acquisition of 55% of Hotel Diagonal Mar in Barcelona by Axa for €80 million.

For Javier García-Mateo, Partner at Deloitte Financial Advisory, institutional investors are seeing the opportunity to build large portfolios of holiday hotels in Spain, to integrate them into their international platforms in the Caribbean, South America and South-East Asia, developing a direct channel and obtaining greater negotiating power with tour operators. “In the end, Spain is establishing itself as the world’s main tourist market”, he says.

In this sense, we are seeing the natural migration of traditional hotel owners, who are divesting property to focus on management, such as in the case of the Meliá chain, which is making way for overseas investors who have greater financial muscle and so can launch more ambitious projects, explains Patricia Pana at Deloitte Financial Advisory.

In this context, the large tour operators are also participating in the investment fever and are buying assets in order to carry out a vertical integration of their business (…).

Interest from investors is partly driven by the record number of visitor arrivals – more than 84 million international tourists are forecast to visit Spain this year – and the strong evolution of key performance indicators such as the average daily rate (ADR), revenue per available room (RevPAR) and the occupancy rate.

Peak returns

Specifically, the ADR in Spain reached an average of €82.30 in 2016, up by 5% YoY; the occupancy rate rose by four percentage points to 66%; and RevPAR increased by 10% to €53.90.

The challenges for the sector now include improving the hotel portfolio to allow for an increase in prices. “If we compare our hotels with those in other urban and vacation destinations, the price per room of Spanish hotels still has a lot of potential, provided that renovation and transformation projects are carried out with the help of the main operators”, says Ana Granado, Director at Deloitte Financial Advisory (…).

Original story: Expansión (by Rebeca Arroyo)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Funds Snatch Leadership in Hotel Investment from Socimis

2 November 2017

The Spanish sector is experiencing its moment of glory this year. Forecasts indicate that the number of visitors will reach 80 million, a record that will place Spain ahead of France in the rankings. This, added to the positive operational data coming from the hotels, has led investment funds to intensify their commitment to hotel assets, taking the lead from socimis as the principal investors in the sector. Thus, compared to last year, the disbursement of funds to acquire hotel establishments or platforms has grown by 119%, to exceed €1.25 billion at the end of October, compared to 569 million that was transacted throughout 2016.

In the same period, the socimis have decreased their activity by 76%, going from being the leading investor in the area last year, with 26.3% of the total investment amount, to accounting for only 5.26% of the total disbursed by the end of October this year, according to JLL’s data.

The leadership of the socimis in recent years has been buoyed by Hispania’s intense activity, which in just three years has managed to position itself as the principal non-operating owner of hotels in Spain, with 11,296 rooms spread over 39 establishments. The company owned by George Soros has until the end of the year to continue to increase its portfolio, and as explained Javier Arús, the socimi’s director of investments in the hotel segment, it has 200 million euros for new purchases during this period.

However, another socimi, Foncière des Régions, starred in the most significant operation of last year. The French company took over Merlin Properties’ hotel portfolio for 539 million euros, and positioned itself as the primary investor of 2016, snatching at the last moment the title from the platform HI Partners (HIP), which at that time still belonged to Sabadell and had closed operations for a volume of just over 223 million euros. This year, the firm has slowed down a bit and to date has paid out 179 million for new assets.

In 2017, however, the funds have been the undisputed leaders, and Blackstone has managed to position itself first by buying, precisely, HIP for €630 million, attracted by its mainly tourism-based portfolio. With this, the fund retained the necessary structure to manage other hotel assets that it already had in its portfolio, such as those of Banco Popular and future acquisitions that could be made in other countries such as Italy and Portugal.

KKR is another of the funds that have moved into the market by purchasing the Mallorcan chain Intertur Hotels together with Dunas Capital. Its portfolio of five hotels will be managed by Alua Hotels & Resorts, which is backed by another fund, the British Alchemy Special Opportunities. The also British Benson Elliot entered the hotel rankings at the beginning of the year with one of the most sizeable operations of 2017, when it acquired the hotel Silken Diagonal, in Barcelona, for 65 million euros.

On the other hand, the activity of private investors has been growing year after year, with an increase of 78% over the last two years, nearly assuming the dealership position, only losing out to investments funds after Blackstone’s operation.

Original Story: elEconomista.es – Alba Brualla

Translation: Richard Turner

Irea: Madrid Led Ranking For Hotel Investment In 2016 (€445M)

2 October 2017 – El Boletin

The strong outlook for tourism in Madrid is continuing to attract interest from investors, as shown by the fact that the Spanish capital was the largest focus for hotel investment in 2016, with a total volume of €445.3 million, according to the report “Five Keys Madrid vs Barcelona 2016 – 2017”, published by Irea.

Last year, Madrid recorded 13 transactions in total, the most notable of which involved the sale of Hotel Villa Magna to the Dogus Group. During the first half of 2017, the city of Madrid registered 6 hotel transactions, whereby doubling the number recorded in 2016, with a total volume of €312.9 million. By far the most significant operation in H1 2017 was the purchase of Edificio España by Riu Hotels, which is going to convert the property into a 650-room hotel in the heart of Madrid.

Meanwhile, Barcelona was relegated to third place in the hotel investment ranking in 2016, behind Madrid and the Canary Islands, but ahead of the Balearic Islands, with a hotel investment volume of €214.6 million. Six hotels were sold in the Catalan capital, containing 1,028 rooms in total.

Nevertheless, that investment figure represented a decrease of 38.8% with respect to the maximum reached in 2015, explained in large part by the price rise effect resulting from the hotel moratorium approved by the city’s Town Hall. The first half of 2017 was very active in terms of hotel transactions, with the sale of five hotels and a total investment of €230.2 million. The main transactions involved the purchase of 55% of Hilton Diagonal by AXA REIM (for a price per room of more than €300,000) and the acquisition of Silken Diagonal by Benson Elliot and Highgate.

Demand

Madrid also led the domestic ranking for the number of travellers last year and came second (after Barcelona) in terms of the number of overnight stays, with 9.0 million and 18.1 million, respectively. For another year, the Catalan capital was the leading destination in terms of overnight stays in 2016 (19.6 million); it received 7.5 million travellers, which represents an average stay of 2.6 days (vs. 2 days in Madrid).

The report highlights that in both markets, the behaviour of international demand has been excellent and it notes the growth of 10.2% in the case of Madrid during the first half of 2017, confirming the upwards trend driven by overseas tourists (…).

Supply

In terms of the hotel supply, Madrid recorded a total of 68,790 beds in the highest category (an almost identical figure to that of Barcelona) (…), with 5-star establishments accounting for 15% of the city’s hotel beds in 2016.

Although the statistical data do not reflect it yet, the recovery in the construction of new hotels in the capital is already evident – according to the report – and will be noted in the data for the coming years, given that short-medium term forecasts for Madrid indicate that more than 4,400 new hotel beds are going to available soon, led by major hotel chains and international investment funds, who are backing the city, given the strong outlook for its tourism sector (…).

Key indicators

The positive trend that Madrid has recorded in terms of demand, together with the stable evolution of its hotel supply, has led to the growth of operating results in recent years. The Spanish capital recorded an average RevPAR of €63.30 in 2016, up by 6.1% compared to 2015 and up by 32% compared to the minimum level recorded in 2013 (…).

Meanwhile, the profitability indicators for the hotel sector in Barcelona have also grown significantly in recent years. Revenue per available room experienced average annual growth of 2.3% during the period 2008-2016 (…). In 2016, RevPAR in Barcelona amounted to €95.90 (…) up by 5.2% compared to 2015.

Original story: El Boletin (by E. B.)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Irea: Hotel Inv’t In H1 2017 Amounted To €1,655M

10 July 2017 – Reuters

Attracted by encouraging forecasts in the hotel sector, domestic and international investors alike purchased 79 hotels in Spain during the first six months of 20176, for a combined amount of €1,655 million, according to a report presented on Friday by the consultancy firm Irea.

The consultancy said that the figure for the first half of this year exceeds the volume recorded during the same period a year earlier by more than double and “should allow the sector to break the historical record for investment reached in 2015, when more than €2,600 million was spent”.

The strong interest in the hotel segment is being driven by a significant increase in hotel rates and sustained demand from tourists.

Spain received almost 28 million international tourists during the first five months of 2017, which represents an 11.6% increase compared to the first five months of last year, when foreign visitor numbers exceeded historical records for the second year in a row.

Spain received a record 75.5 million tourist visits in 2016 and Cehat forecasts that this year the figure will exceed the threshold of 80 million visitors.

According to Irea, investment in the hotel sector was split almost equally between the holiday segment (52%) and the urban segment (48%).

Two deals stood out in the urban sector during H1: the purchase of 55% of the Hilton Diagonal (4* – 433 rooms) by Axa Investment Managers and the acquisition of Hotel Silken Diagonal (4* – 240 rooms) by Benson Elliot and Highgate, both of which were closed for prices of more than €300,000 per room, said Irea.

Meanwhile, in the holiday segment, the star buy was London & Regional’s purchase of a portfolio of 4 hotels containing 2,050 rooms in total from Starwood and Melià, for an estimated amount of €240 million.

According to data from Spain’s National Institute of Statistics, there are 15,855 hotels in Spain, with a total of 822,002 rooms.

Of the 31.5 million overnight stays recorded in May (the latest figures available), 71.3% corresponded to foreign guests and the remaining 28.7% related to domestic customers.

The expectations of another record summer have boost hotel rates in recent months. According to the latest report from Trivago, hotel prices in Spain rose by 14% YoY on average in June to reach €134 per night.

Original story: Reuters

Translation: Carmel Drake

British Groups Invest Heavily In Spain’s RE Sector

9 May 2017 – Expansión

The Grosvenor group is embarking on its first residential project in Spain, developing luxury homes in Madrid. It is following in the footsteps of other compatriot companies such as Intu, Taylor Wimpey and Benson Elliot.

One of the latest real estate companies to show its commitment to Spain has a history that spans 340 years. The firm in question is Grosvenor, the centuries-old British firm, which closed its first investment in the Spanish residential sector about two months ago.

The project chosen by Grosvenor for its arrival in Spain is a luxury residential development on the Golden Mile of Madrid. To this end, Grosvenor, through its subsidiary Grosvenor Europe, completed the purchase of a plot of land measuring around 820 m2, located at number 53 on Calle Jorge Juan, for the development of six exclusive apartments and one penthouse with views over the Retiro Park. (…).

Grosvenor’s operation on Jorge Juan forms part of a joint venture signed by the Asian firm Amcorp in July 2016, whereby it undertook to invest €70 million during the first phase. “We hope to build a significant real estate portfolio in Spain during 2017”, said sources at the British group, which was founded in 1677 by Sir Thomas Grosvenor, and which is nowadays one of the largest landowners in the United Kingdom.

In light of this commitment to Spain, Grosvenor, which has four divisions through which it operates in Europe, Asia, America and the United Kingdom, has strengthened its office in Madrid, led by Fátima Sáez del Cano, by hiring Miguel Silmi, who formerly served in interim roles at firms such as Altamira, owned by Banco Santander. (…).

Investment

Grosvenor’s commitment to Spain is not a unique case amongst the large British groups. “Investors from the United Kingdom have always liked the Spanish real estate market and they have invested throughout the economic cycle. For example, Heron International, which is known today for the shopping centres that it built in Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia, used to hold a significant portfolio of office buildings in Madrid, in the 1990s”, said Javier García-Mateo, Partner in Financial Advisory at Deloitte. (…).

Meanwhile, Benson Elliot has been present since 2011. That fund has just closed the purchase of the Hotel Silken Diagonal, together with the joint venture between Walton Street and Highgate. Previously, BE had purchased two other assets in Barcelona, which it has now sold. “Another British firm, London Regional, has purchased hotels and offices in Spain and has also taken advantage of the cycle to sell them at a profit”, said Rafael Bou, Partner in Real Estate at PwC.

“Having invested more than €2,147 million since 2011, British funds are the second most significant international investor in the Spanish real estate market, after the United States (…)”, according to Savills. During the first quarter of 2017, British firms have already made real estate purchases amounting to €550 million, according to Deloitte.

One example of this commitment is the return of British Land to Spain, which last year purchased the Nueva Condomina shopping centre in Murcia, and the more than €120 million that has been invested by the UK & European Investment group in operations in Madrid, Barcelona and Marbella. (…).

In addition to real estate companies and investment funds, some of the large British insurance companies are also placing their focus on the Spanish real estate sector, such as the case of Prudential and Aviva, which just closed the purchase of the Tormes shopping centre in Salamanca.

Original story: Expansión (by Rocío Ruiz)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Benson Elliot, Walton St & Highgate Buy Hotel Silken Diagonal For €80M

4 May 2017 – Real Estate Press

The British real estate fund Benson Elliot and the joint venture created by Walton Street and Highgate, have completed the purchase of the Hotel Silken Diagonal, located in the 22@ district of Barcelona, which will be managed by Highgate.

The establishment, which is located on the Barcelonan avenue in the 22@ district, has 240 rooms spread over nine floors and will now be renamed the Gates Hotel Diagonal Mar Barcelona.

Benson Elliot reached an agreement with the owner, a group of investors led by Oak Hill Advisors, at the end of last year. Nevertheless, it has only just formalised the operation, with the participation of the other two investor partners.

The new owners have decided not to disclose the amount of the operation, but, according to real estate sources, the figure amounts to around €80 million.

It is the second operation that Benson Elliot and Walton Street have completed after they acquired a portfolio of eight hotels worth €420 million in October 2015. Moreover, three years ago, the British fund purchased a plot of land on which to build offices, which it sold to Colonial last year for €45 million. In addition, it sold an office building located in Poblenou to a fund managed by UBS for €80 million.

Benson Elliot was founded in 2005 and is headquartered in London. It specialises in real estate investments and currently has €1,500 million in assets under management.

Original story: Real Estate Press

Translation: Carmel Drake

Colonial To Build 24,500 m2 Office Skyscraper In 22@

16 February 2017 – La Vanguardia

Colonial has started construction of the largest turnkey office building in the Catalan capital in recent years in the 22@ district of Barcelona. The office will have a surface area of 24,500 m2, distributed over 17 completely open-plan floors – there will not be any pillars – measuring around 1,800 m2 each. The real estate company will invest €77 million in the project and construction is expected to be completed by the middle of 2018.

At a press conference on Monday, Colonial’s Director of Business, Alberto Alcober, explained that this building will seek to offer the highest qualities in terms of spatial and environmental design – it will become the first office building in the city of Barcelona to receive the LEED Platinum certificate – whereby allowing it to differentiate itself from the existing supply of office buildings in the city.

The property is located on Calle Ciutat de Granada, 150, next to Plaza de Glòries; it will have a 100m long façade covered with ceramic tubes in green and natural tones, and the façade that overlooks the interior of the block will be covered with vegetation to help it blend in with a municipal park that is due to be built there.

The property, whose design is being led by the studio Batlle i Roig Arquitectura, will also have garden terraces. It is being marketed exclusively by Cushman & Wakefield, which has already secured a pre-lease contract with the Norwegian group Schibsted to occupy 10,200 m2 – 9,400 m2 of office space and 800 m2 of terrace – spread over six floors, to house between 700 and 800 employees.

Schibsted will hereby bring together the workforce that currently occupies three buildings in the Barcelona area – two in the capital and one in Sant Cugat de Vallès – and increasing its surface area by 30%. To this end, it has signed the largest pre-lease agreement in the city in the last 10 years for a building under construction. (…).

Besides Schibsted, which owns websites such as Infojobs, Vibbo, Fotocasa, Habitaclia, Milanuncios and Coches.net, the future office building is receiving lots of interest from other potential tenants, according to its promoters.

This project forms part of the investment plan announced by Colonial in 2016. The real estate group acquired it from the fund Benson Elliot for €45 million and will spend €32 million on the construction work.

Original story: La Vanguardia

Translation: Carmel Drake

Benson Elliot Buys Hotel Silken In Barcelona For €80M

7 October 2016 – Expansión

A major operation and better gains for Bank of America Merril Lynch in Barcelona. The US entity is finalising the sale of Hotel Silken Diagonal for €80 million to a group of investors led by the British fund Benson Elliot. Bank of America will generate capital gains of €50 million from the property in just one year, given that it took over the hotel in 2015 when it foreclosed the debt relating to the property, amounting to €27 million.

According to sources close to the operation, the sale has not been signed yet, although the vendor has entered into an exclusivity period with the purchaser group.

Bank of America Merril Lynch ended up with the mortgage loan following the crisis of the Urvasco group, the parent company of the Silken hotel chain, after it filed for bankruptcy.

The property has 240 rooms and a four-star rating. It is located in the 22@ district of Barcelona, next to the Torre Agbar, and it has a management contract with Silken. The operation has been advised by JLL, which declined to comment on the operation yesterday.

The amount (€80 million) that Benson Elliot has paid together with another investor group, whose name has not been revealed, has been described as exorbitant by several sources in the real estate sector, who point out that the building is located away from the city centre in Barcelona, in an area that suffered a lot at the beginning of the crisis.

Nevertheless, the same sources also indicate that the hotel moratorium applied in Barcelona last year by the mayoress Ada Colau, together with the strong investor appetite for assets in the Catalan capital and the shortage of buildings on the market, have driven up the price of the few properties that have come onto the market. Bank of America put this asset on the market a few months ago and several international investors submitted bids for it.

Original story: Expansión (by Marisa Anglés)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Land Shortages Curb Investors’ Return To RE Development

2 March 2016 – Expansión

CBRE, the Urban Land Institute and Esade gathered together representatives from several real estate groups yesterday in Barcelona; they all agreed about the lack of assets for sale in the market. Benson Elliot, Colonial, Merlin Properties, Vía Célere and Unibail Rodamco have suffered in the last two years from the avalanche of investors that have set their sights on Spanish real estate and have exacerbated the lack of assets on the market. The CEO of Unibail Rodamco in Spain, Simon Orchard, said that “we are forced to develop, because the type of product that is in demand does not exist”. The Director of Merlin Properties, Luis Lázaro agreed with him, “no warehouses have been constructed in Madrid for ten years, but the demand is there, which is leading us to construct turn-key projects”.

The CEO of Colonial, Carmina Ganyet, added that “the lack of quality products does not only relate to the location of buildings, it also manifests itself in terms of their features”, and as such, the group allocates around 20% of its investment to new construction projects, which also offer much higher returns, of 10% and 15%. The Head of Benson Elliott in Spain, Gregg Gilbert, said that his fund is looking for “this kind of return on all of its projects”. And the founder of Vía Célere, Juan Antonio Gómez Pintado, added that the biggest problem is the lack of land and “the government is lagging behind in this regard”.

Original story: Expansión (by M. A.)

Translation: Carmel Drake

A UBS Fund Buys The ‘Cornerstone’ Office Complex For €80M

22 July 2015 – Expansión

A fund managed by the Swiss group UBS has purchased the Cornerstone office complex, in the 22@ district of Barcelona, for €80 million. The asset was previously owned by the British fund Benson Elliot.

The building was developed by Benson Elliot and its construction was completed in 2013. A year and a half after opening, it has an occupancy rate of 70% and its tenants include ADP and Henkel. The transaction was advised by Cushman & Wakefield.

The office complex has a total surface area of 20,700 m2 and is located in the neighbourhood of Poblenou in Barcelona, known as the 22@ district, one of the new business areas in the city.

Original story: Expansión (by Marisa Anglés)

Translation: Carmel Drake