Tag: Calle Ríos Rosas

Madrid’s Offices Record Highest Occupancy Rates For 10 Years

29 November 2017 – Eje Prime

Offices are getting increasingly busier. In Madrid, the real estate sector is recording pre-crisis figures, with an occupancy (take-up) rate during the first nine months of the year of 359,000 m2, the highest volume for a decade.

This indicator is also encouraging the leasing of workspaces. According to a report from the consultancy firm Knight Frank, the Madrilenian office market is aspiring to close 2017 with half a million square metres of space leased, in large part, thanks to the 3.1% growth rate of Spain’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). This data consolidates the Spanish capital as a point of reference for the sector across the country and makes it one of the fastest growing markets in Europe.

The volume of investment in this segment of the tertiary sector as at September 2017 was €928 million, with British and US investors increasing their activity by the most this year. That fact has caused the domestic quota to decrease from 80% to 65% in just twelve months.

The availability of office space in Madrid has decreased by 11.6% during the same period; the expectation is that over the next two years, the pipeline of stock will increase by 325,000 m2. Of that future space, 26% is already leased, most notably, the 36,000 m2 of space that the British company WPP acquired on Calle Ríos Rosas, where the former headquarters of Telefónica was located, and the 48,000 m2 of space that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is going to make use of at number 8 Plaza del Marqués de Salamanca.

In terms of the economics, the high demand in this market in the Spanish capital is resulting in an increase in prime rents in the city, with an upward trend that saw rental prices reach €29.50/m2 during the third quarter.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake

M&G Real Estate Buys 16 Santander Branches For €56.2M

25 May 2017 – El Economista

The fund manager M&G Real Estate has signed another deal in Spain, this time to become Banco Santander’s new landlord. Specifically, the firm has just signed an agreement with the Socimi Uro Property to acquire 16 of the financial institution’s branches for which it has paid €56.2 million.

The operation, which was closed at a premium with respect to the most recent valuation of the transferred portfolio, also includes the granting of a call option over another branch, which may be executed in the short term.

According to the Socimi, which owns approximately one-third of Banco Santander’s branches, the portfolio that M&G has purchased generates annual rental income of €3.04 million and comprises seven branches from the so-called Blue portfolio and nine from the Green portfolio.

The classification of the branches into these portfolios reflects the maturity dates of the corresponding rental contracts. Thus, in the first case (Blue portfolio), the lease contracts are due to terminate in 2045, 2046 and 2047, and may be extended for another seven years. In the case of the assets included in the Green portfolio, the lease contracts are due to mature between 2036 and 2038.

These terms of 30 and 20 years, respectively, match the British manager’s investment strategy, given that it seeks safe, long-term operations. In this way, the firm’s first operation in Spain was closed in 2015, when it acquired Telefónica’s former headquarters in Madrid, located in the heart of the city on Calle Ríos Rosas. It paid €175 million for that property, which is now the headquarters of WPP.

Following the sale, Uro will continue to own a portfolio of bank branches whose approximate value amounts to €1,893 million. When the Socimi debuted on the stock market, in March 2015, it managed 1,136 Santander branches, nevertheless, in April 2015, it sold a portfolio of 381 branches to Axa Real Estate for €308 million, leaving 755 branches, which cover a surface area of more than 340,000 m2.

Original story: El Economista (by Alba Brualla and Javier Mesones)

Translation: Carmel Drake