Cerberus Teams up with Kronos to Bid For Banco Sabadell’s Land Portfolio

19 June 2019 – Eje Prime

Cerberus and Kronos are joining forces in an attempt to acquire Banco Sabadell’s land. They are holding negotiations regarding how they would divide the plots, which are worth around €850 million in total, in the event that the US fund emerges victorious from the bid to acquire Sdin Residencial’s land portfolio.

In theory, Cerberus would hold onto the land that is ready for development as well as those plots already under construction (64% of the total). Meanwhile, Kronos would take ownership of the rest, including the reparcelled and sectorised plots, for which urban planning permission has been granted.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation/Summary: Carmel Drake

Apollo Submits an Offer for El Corte Inglés’s Entire Real Estate Portfolio

23 May 2019 – Eje Prime

According to financial sources, in April, the fund Apollo Global Management submitted a bid for the whole real estate portfolio that El Corte Inglés has had on the market since the beginning of the year. However, the offer did not convince the management team of the department stores.

Since then, the ECI group has opened up the possibility of allowing interested parties to bid for part of the portfolio so as to maximise the value of the properties. However, the risk with that option is that some properties will end up being left unsold.

With the deadline for bids closing today, nothing is being ruled out. In fact, Apollo could still win if it was willing to increase its offer.

The portfolio contains 95 assets and includes shopping centres, offices and other types of assets such as parking lots, land and homes.

Original story: Eje Prime 

Translation/Summary: Carmel Drake

Cerberus Receives 3 “Low” Offers For its Stake in Haya Real Estate

24 May 2019 – El Confidencial

Cerberus may be forced to revise down its price expectations for the sale of its real estate platform Haya Real Estate. The US fund had been hoping to receive more than €1 billion for the servicer, which is one of the largest in Spain, but so far the offers it has received amount to just €700 million.

There are currently three candidates in the running, namely, the Italian firm doBank, the US fund Centerbridge and the Asian fund Centricus, according to financial sources – all are familiar faces in the Spanish market and are willing to buy the servicer, but not for the asking price.

The reason is that considerable uncertainty exists over the renewal of Haya’s contract with Sareb, despite Cerberus’s efforts to diversify and grow the servicer’s portfolio with purchases such as the Apple Portfolio from Santander last year, and the agreement to purchase and manage almost all of BBVA’s property. Haya also administers assets for Bankia, Cajamar and Liberbank.

Nevertheless, Haya’s main client is still Sareb, for which it manages €21 million in debt and properties, which account for around half of the platform’s assets. That figure will fall to around a third following the agreement with Divarian, formerly Anida (BBVA), but Sareb wants to significantly reduce both the perimeter of management and the fees that it pays Haya, which would hit the servicer’s revenues hard.

As such, the funds in the running to purchase Haya are requesting protection clauses to cover themselves in the event of the various outcomes from the negotiations with Sareb, which are expected to conclude in September. Whether Cerberus will manage to sell its servicer before then remains to be seen.

Original story: El Confidencial (by Jorge Zuloaga & Ruth Ugalde)

Translation/Summary: Carmel Drake

Operación Calderón: Azora Set to Buy 2 of Atlético’s Plots for Rental Homes

23 May 2019 – El Confidencial

Azora, one of the largest rental home managers in the country, has made a surprise appearance in the home stretch of the process to sell the plots of land owned by Atlético de Madrid.

The company owned by Concha Osácar and Fernando Gumuzio has submitted a binding offer to the football club to buy two of the three plots that form part of Operación Calderón and, according to sources in the know, the bid fulfils all of the requirements of the team. As such, Azora looks set to take over the bulk of the land that the reds and whites are selling by the river.

The rental home specialist has declined to comment on the reports, but all indications are that it plans to build rental homes on the two plots, to boost the growing rental market in the Spanish capital. It would thereby follow in the footsteps on the fund Ares, which has just signed an agreement with Stoneweg to build a block of rental homes on a plot on Paseo de la Dirección, in the north of Madrid.

Indeed, the Spanish-Swiss firm is one of the favourites to acquire the third plot of land in Operación Calderón, which Azora did not bid for. The cooperative manager Concovi is also in the running for that site.

Atlético de Madrid expects to raise around €180 million from the sale of the three plots and 11% of the residential space will be dedicated to social housing properties.

Original story: El Confidencial (by Ruth Ugalde)

Translation/Summary: Carmel Drake

Ibosa Bids for the DGT’s Former HQ in Madrid to Build Luxury Flats

22 May 2019 – Idealista

The cooperative manager Ibosa is one of the parties interested in acquiring the former headquarters of the Traffic Department (DGT) in Madrid, located at number 125 Calle Arturo Soria, where 43 luxury flats are going to be built.

The Socimi Jaba I Inversiones Inmobiliarias put the building up for sale recently after acquiring it in 2014 for €19.2 million. The property is currently vacant having been previously leased to the DGT and Vodafone.

The office building has a gross leasable area of 5,526 m2 and comprises a ground floor plus 4 upper floors. It has 148 underground parking spaces and is located in one of the most sought-after neighbourhoods of Madrid. The asking price reportedly amounts to less than €25 million and the sale is expected to close next month.

If it is successful, Ibosa plans to build 43 high-end homes with 2-, 3- or 4-bedrooms. Each property will have a garage and storeroom and the sales prices will start at €554,000, with an average price per m2 of €5,900. The urbanisation, known as Residencial Capella, will have common areas such as a swimming pool and gym.

Original story: Idealista (by P. Martínez-Almeida)

Translation/Summary: Carmel Drake

ADU Purchases the Mestalla Plots from Valencia FC for c. €115M

17 April 2019 – Idealista

The manager ADU Mediterráneo and CONCOVI (the Confederation of Housing Cooperatives in Spain) has reached an agreement with Valencia CF to purchase the plots on the site of the current Mestalla stadium.

It is the largest land transaction to be signed for a decade in Valencia, with a surface area of 97,225 m2, of which 55,769 m2 will be dedicated to residential use and 41,456 m2 for tertiary purposes.

According to the newspaper Las Provincias, the consideration for the deal could amount to more than €115 million. Valencia FC will move to its new stadium during the 2022-2023 season. CBRE will exclusively manage the sale of the tertiary and residential properties.

Original story: Idealista 

Translation/Summary: Carmel Drake

ADU Submits a Bid Exceeding €100M for Valencia CF’s Mestalla Plots

10 April 2019 – El Desmarque

The Cooperativa ADU has submitted a bid to Valencia CF amounting to more than €100 million for the Mestalla plots. Valencia CF was hoping for more, but this represents the best offer it has received so far and so the football club is considering it very carefully.

According to sources, ADU is the best-positioned candidate, but the club still needs to analyse the offer, including its financing terms and collection guarantees, in detail, before Peter Lim gives his approval.

ADU Mediterráneo, owned jointly by the brothers Casares and José Luis Santa Isabel, has been given permission by the club to launch an offer to determine the degree of interest from cooperative members in buying the homes that it plans to build on the site. That will be key in determining the success of the bid.

Original story: El Desmarque (by David Torres)

Translation/Summary: Carmel Drake

Ibosa Sells the 85 Flats on Madrid’s Most Sought-After Plot in Record Time

18 March 2019 – El Economista

Last year, Ibosa was awarded one of the most sought-after plots of land in Madrid following a closely fought battle. This year, the property developer is in the news again as it has managed to sell all of the future homes that are going to be built on the site in less than two months.

The cooperative manager was awarded the plot, located on the corner of Calle Doctor Esquerdo and Calle de los Astros, just 800m from the Retiro Park, in November 2018 after submitting the highest bid (€33.5 million) and fighting off competition from 16 other players.

The competition for the homes themselves has been just as fierce with all 85 being sold in just 50 days. That achievement is all the more impressive when you consider that the homes have an average price of €5,000/m2, including parking space and storeroom.

The development, known as Residencial Becrux, is going to comprise 85 homes with between one and four bedrooms, with constructed surface areas of between 52 m2 and 245 m2. The total budgeted investment amounts to €55 million and the homes are expected to be handed over during the first quarter of 2022.

Original story: El Economista (by Alba Brualla)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Aedas Homes Evaluates the Purchase of ‘Solvia Desarrollos Inmobiliarios’

28 February 2019 – Idealista

Aedas Homes is evaluating the possible purchase of Sabadell’s property developer, Solvia Desarrollos Inmobiliarios (SDIN). The listed real estate firm, controlled by the US fund Castlelake, is interested in acquiring the property developer and its land from Banco Sabadell for more than €1 billion.

Other large funds and property developers have also expressed their interest, including Cerberus, Oaktree and Bain Capital (through its property developer Habitat), but Aedas is deciding whether to bid just for the land or for the company as well. Last week, Neinor announced that it was withdrawing from the process.

Last year, Aedas handed over 231 new homes and purchased land for the construction of another 2,600 units. This year, it plans to purchase land for the construction of at least 1,000 homes and expects to hand over 1,055. By 2022, the property developer intends to reach its cruising speed in terms of the handover of new homes.

Original story: Idealista 

Summary/Translation: Carmel Drake

Neinor Withdraws from the Purchase Process of ‘Solvia Desarrollos Inmobiliarios’

28 February 2019 – El Español

Neinor Homes is not going to be one of the candidates that submits an offer to acquire Solvia Desarrollos Inmobiliarios (SDI), the subsidiary of Banco Sabadell. The real estate company has been studying the operation for a while but has concluded, following its initial analysis, that the numbers do not fit with its investment philosophy.

That is according to explanations provided by Neinor’s CEO, Juan Velayos, who acknowledged that he has the sales prospectus on his desk but that at the moment, “it is not a priority” for him. We are talking about a company that has a portfolio of 300 buildable plots and which the bank led by Jaime Guardiola put up for sale in January.

Velayos himself acknowledges that he “loves the portfolio”, but he’s not so convinced by the numbers being seen in the market”. (…). “I’m afraid that it is not going to be for us from the perspective of a disciplined investor”, he said. The first valuations of SDI’s land are in the region of €1.3 billion, given that the portfolio also includes 130 real estate developments in different areas with 5,000 homes under construction.

Indeed, the price of land is one of Neinor’s obsessions. Over the last year, it has purchased 2,400 plots in which it has invested €95 million. Neinor’s CEO believes that his firm has adopted a prudent policy in this regard (…).

As a result, it looks like Neinor will not be one of the candidates to bid for Sabadell’s subsidiary in the end. The bank is awaiting possible expressions of interest for its land company. The intention is to receive binding offers before the end of this quarter and to settle the sale during the month of April.

Interested parties

In terms of the parties that are interested in SDI, they include some of the main international funds such as Cerberus, Värde, Oaktree and Blackstone (…).

The sale of SDI comes after Banco Sabadell sold Solvia, its real estate servicer for €300 million, for which it obtained capital gains of €185 million (…).

Original story: El Español (by Arturo Criado)

Translation: Carmel Drake