Tag: Bilbao

Idom Hires Savills to Sell its Headquarters in Madrid and Bilbao

3 December 2019 – The Basque engineering firm, Idom, has given a mandate to the consultancy Savills Aguirre Newman to sell its headquarters in Madrid and Bilbao. The firm intends to stay on in the offices, in what is known as a sale and leaseback operation.

The firm’s headquarters is located in the neighbourhood of Montecarmerlo in Madrid, while the property in Bilbao is on the Deusto canal in front of Zorrotzaurre.

Idom is reportedly negotiating with two investment funds. The sale could potentially be worth more than €80 million.

Original Story: Expansión – Rebeca Arroyo / Marian Fuentes

Adaptation/Translation: Richard D. K. Turner

Millenium Acquires Hotel Meliá Bilbao for €49.2 Million

8 November 2019 – Millenium Hotels has acquired the Meliá hotel in Bilbao for 49.2 million euros, according to a note sent to the Alternative Stock Market (MAB).

The hotel is located between the Euskalduna Palace and the Guggenheim, in the Basque Country. The previous owners of the asset included the Riberas family, which controls Gestamp. Meliá will continue to manage the hotel business.

Original Story: Cinco Dias – A. S.

Adaptation/Translation: Richard D. K. Turner

Bilbao’s Municipal Housing Company Buys 40 Flats for Social Housing in Bolueta

23 January 2019 – Cadena Ser

‘Viviendas Municipales de Bilbao’ has purchased 40 flats for social housing from the public company Visesa in one of the buildings that forms part of the urban regeneration project that is being constructed in the Bolueta neighbourhood for €2.7 million.

The operation forms part of the collaboration agreement between the two entities to promote social housing, according to comments made by the Town Hall of Bilbao in a statement.

The building comprises a 28-storey tower, containing 108 homes, and a 9-storey block containing 63 homes. The flats purchased are located in block 9, in doorways 1 and 3.

Eight homes will be used to house people relocated from the urban planning operation and the rest will be awarded to people registered on the housing list in Etxebide who fulfil the housing need requirements, on the basis of the number of members, income, number of years registered in the area and number of years on the register itself.

The homes will be assigned to different pre-established groups: those over 65, young people under 35, victims of gender violence, and those over 35 who have been on the list for more than 10 years, plus a general allocation.

Original story: Cadena Ser

Translation: Carmel Drake

Patrizia is On The Hunt for New Purchases in Bilbao, Sevilla & Valencia

10 December 2018 – Eje Prime

Patrizia Immobilien is confirming its interest in the Iberian real estate market. The German investment manager, which has been present in Spain and Portugal since 2015, has set itself the short-term objective of entering Bilbao, Sevilla, Valencia and Oporto, through the purchase of new assets, according to comments made by Borja Goday, the Director General of the company in the Iberian Peninsula, speaking to Eje Prime.

Until now, the company has invested €870 million in total in real estate in the Spanish and Portuguese markets. Madrid, Barcelona, Málaga and Lisbon are the cities in which Patrizia is already present, “with minimum investments of €15 million but where that figure could exceed €500 million if the operation is worth it”, explained the executive.

In fact, the manager participated in the process to acquire one of the office buildings that comprise the Cuatro Torres Business Area in Madrid. Moreover, the company not only invests in the office segment, it is also committed to other markets such as the residential, retail, hotel, logistics and alternative asset segments (including student halls, complexes for the elderly and parking spaces).

Currently, Patrizia’s asset portfolio in Spain includes Serrano 90, located on Madrid’s golden mile and Gran Vía 21, also in the Spanish capital, which houses a hotel and a retail premise. Nevertheless, the latest major operation by the manager on the peninsula was the purchase of an industrial plot spanning 66,424 m2 in Toledo for €37.5 million. The other three logistics platforms that the company owns in Spain are located in Madrid and Barcelona.

Patrizia and its great interest in Spanish property

With its headquarters in Madrid and a staff of eleven, Patrizia arrived in Spain just three years ago. “At the end of 2017, we purchased Triuva and Rockspring, two companies that already owned assets on the peninsula”, explained Goday, who added that “the rapid growth of the group in both the Spanish and Portuguese markets is due to those two acquisitions”.

“Spain is still an attractive market, we still have demand and that is why we are launching new operations on such a frequent basis”, said the director. Since the beginning of the year, the manager has been on the hunt for capital from Spanish institutional investors, although, as Goday explains, it is not an easy task, since “they do not invest from one day to the next”.

One of Patrizia’s other plans on the peninsula is to strengthen its presence in the rental market. “It is a segment that we like a lot and for that reason, if we find an appropriate residential or office building, then we would not rule out buying it”, explained the executive. Nor does the group rule out alliances with Socimis or the acquisition of a property developer to grow in the Spanish residential sector. In this sense, Goday says that “a good opportunity has not presented itself yet” and that “it would all depend on the quality and location of the land that they own”.

Patrizia is currently present in more than twenty European countries, including, besides Spain and Portugal, important markets such as Italy, France, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Belgium and Luxembourg. The group’s main focus of activity is Germany, where it launched its activity 32 years ago and where it is a listed company (…).

Original story: Eje Prime (by B. Seijo)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Deutsche Bank, APG & CBRE GI Enter Spain’s Residential Rental Market

7 December 2018 – Expansión

The large international investors have placed their focus on the residential market and, specifically, on the rental segment. The success of this sector, together with labour mobility, the difficult access to housing and changes in living habits mean that, increasingly, renting is an option over buying in Spain, and that has fuelled interest from capital in the sector.

Blackstone, the largest real estate investor in Spain, was one of the first funds to back the residential rental sector with the purchase of 18 developments comprising 1,860 units from the Municipal Housing and Land Company of Madrid (EMVS) in 2013, but it has not been the only one. The Dutch pension fund APG, in conjunction with Renta Corporación; the German bank Deutsche Bank; and the international fund manager CBRE GI have been some of the most committed investors in this market in recent months.

In this way, APG reached an agreement in the spring of 2017 with the Catalan real estate company Renta Corporación to launch Vivenio, a Socimi specialising in housing, with the aim of acquiring assets worth €1 billion in Madrid, Barcelona and the provincial capitals. The Socimi is going to close a particularly active year for acquisitions, with a total investment of €400 million and is planning to repeat that amount in 2019 to reach a total portfolio of €1 billion in just over two years. One of the largest purchases it has made this year was the batch of 1,100 homes that belonged to the manager Aquila Capital, headquartered in Hamburg, for €240 million.

With the aim of diversifying its portfolio and entering this growing segment, the international fund manager CBRE GI joined forces with Azora, the Spanish manager founded by Concha Osácar and Fernando Gumuzio, with experience in this sector, and the New York investment firm Madison to invest €750 million over the next two or three years. That three-way alliance started with a portfolio of 65 buildings and a total of 6,458 homes and has the aim of reaching, at least, 10,000 units.

Another large investor that is betting heavily on the Spanish residential sector is DWS, the asset management subsidiary of the German bank Deutsche Bank, which has prepared a budget of €500 million to acquire between 1,000 and 2,000 homes in Spain. In that case, it is backing new build developments and it will do so through three formulae: delegated development, the acquisition of construction projects from other property developers and direct development. The objective is to maintain the assets in its portfolio and rent them out. In that case, the vehicle will not be a Socimi because German regulation of the funds from which the capital proceeds do not allow that. 60% of the investment will be made with own funds and the rest, bank financing. The plan is to invest primarily in Madrid and Barcelona, but they will also study plots in cities such as Bilbao and Sevilla, provided the rental market is very liquid.

Meanwhile, Catella Asset Management Iberia (CAMI), the Spanish subsidiary of the Swedish fund manager is intending to reach 2,000 units by 2020. The manager, which will add 1,000 homes to its portfolio at the beginning of 2019, entered the residential rental market two and a half years ago and has invested around €160 million in the business to date. It plans to double that figure to reach 2,000 homes within two years.

Another real estate company that has teamed up with foreign funds to grow in this segment has been Elix. The firm, which is dedicated to the purchase of buildings, their renovation and the sale of homes by unit, has signed an alliance with KKR and Altamar to invest in buildings, renovate them and dedicate them to the rental market. Its aim is to invest €200 million in Madrid and Barcelona through the Socimi Elix Vintage.

Finally, Redevco has created a new fund to invest €500 million in residential projects in several European markets, including Spain (…). Redevco is planning to build a pan-European residential portfolio comprising approximately 2,500 units.

Original story: Expansión (by Rebeca Arroyo & Marisa Anglés)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Corestate to Invest €100M in Student Halls By 2019

4 December 2018 – Eje Prime

Corestate is growing in Spain three years after its arrival. The Luxembourg-based fund manager is going to invest €100 million in the development of new student halls in the Spanish market between the end of this year and 2019, according to comments made by Christopher Hütwohl, the Head of the company in the country, speaking to Eje Prime.

Currently, the group has several plots in its sights, located in the main provincial capitals of Spain. “Valencia, Málaga, Pamplona, Sevilla, Madrid, Barcelona, Bilbao and Alicante are on our radar”, explained the executive, who also confirmed that between December and the first quarter of next year, the company plans to close at least three operations.

Corestate’s main objective involves becoming one of the top three players in the student hall market in Spain. “It is a segment that still has a lot of potential, which is why we do not want to limit ourselves to a specific number of projects”, says Hütwohl. In fact, the director confirmed that the company plans to develop around three developments in each city, with capacity for between 200 and 350 beds, “except for in Alicante due to the limitations of that territory”.

Similarly, the group has the intention of expanding its range of investments in Spain from 2019 onwards. “Now we are very focused on the market for student halls, but we also want to undertake more operations, especially in the office, retail and residential segments across the whole Iberian Peninsula”, explained the executive. In this way, Hütwohl made clear the company’s objective of entering the Portuguese market before 2020.

Corestate sweeps across Europe

This year, Corestate has undertaken one of the largest operations in Europe in the market for student halls of residence with the purchase of CRM Students for €17 million. It is the largest manager of student halls, which operates in the United Kingdom, with 24,000 beds spread across 145 cities. “The type of collaboration that we will carry out has yet to be determined, but thanks to that acquisition, we have exceeded the 30,000-bed threshold in the European market”, said the executive.

Headquartered in Luxembourg and with 560 employees, Corestate has 41 offices around the world, located in cities such as Frankfurt, London, Madrid, Singapore and Zurich. In Spain, the company’s team comprises three people, a number that will grow as new projects are delivered.

The company led by Michael Bütter ended 2017 with revenues of €195 million and the group expects to achieve a turnover of €230 million in 2018. The gross operating profit (EBTIDA) amounted to €123 million in 2017, whilst the net result amounted to €93.3 million.

Original story: Eje Prime (by B. Seijo)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Solvia Sells 3 Hospitals Leased to Quirón for c. €200M

31 October 2018 – Eje Prime

Solvia is making cash with its real estate portfolio. The servicer of Banco Sabadell has sold three buildings in Barcelona, Bilbao and San Sebastián, which are all leased to the hospital group Quirón. The operation has been signed with a domestic investor, whose name has not been revealed. Moreover, the consideration paid for the assets has not been disclosed either.

Owned by the German giant Fresenius, Quirón has long-term rental contracts for these three properties. Solvia said that there has been a lot of interest in the operation from players both at home and overseas.

Hospital Quirón Barcelona is located just five kilometres from the centre of the Catalan capital. The property, constructed in 2006, was renovated in 2017 and contains 187 beds in total.

Hospital Quirón Vizcaya, meanwhile, is located in the town of Erandio, ten kilometres from the centre of Bilbao. That building is home to 110 beds.

Finally, Hospital Quirón San Sebastián (pictured above) forms part of a former palace dating back to 1936 and, subsequently, was converted into a hospital comprising a complex of three buildings. That hospital is located just two kilometres from the centre of the city and has 60 beds in total.

Original story: Eje Prime 

Translation: Carmel Drake

ASG Homes is Looking for Land in the North of Spain

24 October 2018 – Eje Prime

ASG Homes is raising its head and looking north in its growth plan for Spain. The property developer, a subsidiary of the German group ActivumSG, is analysing residential projects in cities such as Bilbao, San Sebastián, Santander and A Coruña. “We are opening ourselves up to other areas”, says Víctor Pérez Arias, CEO at ASG Homes speaking to Eje Prime. At the same time, ASG Homes is already thinking about launching its sixth fund next year, once it has fully invested the current one

The group’s fifth fund, which specialises in the residential segment in Spain and Germany, still has €200 million to invest, of the almost €500 million that it was created with. To date, the real estate manager has invested around €250 million through ASG Homes.

The objective of the company is to use up the funds during the first quarter of 2019. To this end, the property developer is accelerating its investments so that a dozen projects are ready to come out of the oven “in the very short term”.

Amongst the plans already underway, the firm is constructing and renovating buildings in Valencia, Sevilla, Alicante, Salamanca, Estepona (Málaga) and Alcalá de Henares. In total, a portfolio of seven projects, to which an eighth will soon be added in Marbella.

With more than half a million m2 of land located all over Spain, ASG Homes has the capacity to build up to 5,000 homes, of which more than 2,000 units are already being marketed. Nevertheless, the manager aspires to double the size of that portfolio to 10,000 homes and, in this sense, the property developer is looking to the north of the country, and to Valladolid.

One of the reasons for this open-mindedness is the “uncertainty in terms of the timings” that the fund is finding in several of the provincial capitals where it already has a presence, says Pérez Arias. “There are some cities where we have decided to not invest again because of the problems imposed by some of the public administrations”, complained the director.

The search for opportunities in the north forms part of phase 3 of the fund, as described by the company, which also involves scanning the first rings and outskirts of two of the large capitals where it already has a presence, Madrid and Sevilla. Barcelona does not form part of the roadmap for ASG Homes, which is only investing in large volume projects, for the time being. “We back developments with a minimum of 200 homes”, says Pérez Arias, who forecasts that the last key for the twenty or so developments that his firm is planning to build with its current vehicle will be handed over in 2022 (…).

Original story: Eje Prime (by J. Izquierdo)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Hispania to Convert the Café La Granja Building in Bilbao into a Hotel

10 October 2018 – El Correo

Thanks to the significant investments carried out in recent years, the investment fund Hispania has become the largest hotel group in Spain. It has outperformed traditional companies in the sector such as Meliá, HI Hoteles and Hoteles Globales in terms of the number of establishments and rooms. At the height of its expansion phase, boosted at the end of last year by the purchase of the Alua chain – which saw it acquire seven resorts in the Canary Islands and the Balearic Islands for €165 million – it has set its sights on Bilbao. Just a week after another high-profile fund, the Madrid-based Millenium Group announced its intention to convert Banco Santander’s headquarters on Gran Vía into a luxury hotel, Plaza Circular is now going to witness the transformation of one of the Bizcayan capital’s most iconic buildings: the site that formerly housed Café La Granja.

The hostelry establishment, which started life on 31 July 1926 and which was acquired by the real estate firm Navarra Fitbox two years ago, has been closed since 8 February 2017 when, unexpectedly, it pulled down its shutters for the very last time. The insurance company Helvetia sold the property for almost €7.5 million. After 90 years of uninterrupted activity, the historical café has only re-opened its doors since then on a sporadic basis to host one-off events of a cultural nature, such as book fairs. The offices and insurance companies that used to occupy the upper five floors have been evicted, starting back in 2010 (…).

Hispania is going to strengthen the hotel supply in Bilbao, which is experiencing a genuine frenzy, with the planned opening of seven new properties over the medium term. The fund has been planning its debut in the town for a while, but its intentions have always focused on this area, which will draw a new Bilbao with the arrival of the fashion giant Primark and the launch of the Regional Government’s international entrepreneurship centre in the former BBVA tower, which was sold for €100 million two weeks ago. The arrival of the AVE and the strong commercial positioning have pushed up prices considerably in this area. Like in the case of the building work to be carried out on the site of Santander’s former headquarters, the transformation of La Granja will have to be approved by the Town Hall’s Heritage Committee, which has not yet assessed the project, given that it is an artistic building. That procedure may be completed this month (…).

Original story: El Correo 

Translation: Carmel Drake

El Corte Inglés Values its Real Estate Assets at €17.1bn

25 September 2018 – Expansión

The properties owned by El Corte Inglés are worth €17.147 billion, according to the most recent valuation entrusted by the company to Tinsa for the end of its financial year, February 2018. That is the valuation that the company shared with investors interested in the placement of €600 million of its bonds.

This real estate portfolio, which according to previous reports was worth almost €17.0 billion, comprises 94 shopping centres, of which two are located in Portugal. These shopping centres account for 87% of the total value of the company’s assets. El Corte Inglés warns investors that this valuation may have to be adjusted in the future, given the illiquid nature of its real estate assets.

Tinsa’s study segments the distribution company’s shopping centres by value. Two of them are worth more than €500 million each, and another two are worth between €400 million and €500 million. The bulk of the centres, 45 to be precise, have a valuation of between €100 million and €200 million. Six of the centres are worth between €300 million and €400 million.

32% of the value of the real estate assets of El Corte Inglés are located in Madrid, whilst 10% are located in Barcelona. Málaga and Valencia are home to 6% each; Sevilla another 4%; and the other Spanish regions, the remaining 42%.

The bulk of the valuation of El Corte Inglés’s real estate portfolio, €14.964 million, corresponds to its stores and shopping centres

The company highlights that it owns the largest portfolio of real estate assets of any of the companies in its sector in Europe. The total surface area of its real estate assets spans 3,994 million m2.

This independent valuation entrusted to Tinsa does not include the real estate operations carried out by El Corte Inglés since February of this year. In August, the company sold two shopping centres located in Madrid (Princesa) and Bilbao (Gran Vía) to Corpfin Capital Real Estate for around €100 million.

Quarterly results

The results of El Corte Inglés remained practically stable YoY during the first quarter of its financial year, which finished at the end of May. According to the unaudited provisional accounts, the company lost €50 million during that quarter, compared with losses of €51 million during the same period in 2017.

The company’s sales grew slightly, with net revenues of €3.417 billion, just above the €3.413 billion recorded during its first quarter last year.

According to the unaudited provisional data at the end of July 2018, corresponding to the first five months of the financial year, sales fell by 0.1% YoY and EBITDA decreased by 0.6%.

This result is explained by a decrease in revenues in the retail and technological departments, which were partially offset by an increase in sales in its travel agency and insurance departments.

El Corte Inglés explains to investors interested in its bonds that sales of clothing were hit during that period due the unusual climate this year (…).

Original story: Expansión (by A. Roa & D. Badia)

Translation: Carmel Drake