Realia Completes its €149M Capital Increase

2 January 2019 – Eje Prime

Realia has completed its capital increase. The real estate firm owned by the Mexican magnate Carlos Slim has completed its €149 million capital increase with a final injection of €42.1 million, according to a statement filed by the company with Spain’s National Securities and Market Commission (CNMV).

In its latest expansion phase, the company has issued 175.4 million new shares in total, for a nominal value of €0.24 and an issue premium of €0.61 per share. The company’s share capital has thereby been consolidated at €197 million, divided into 820 million shares.

Since Slim took control in 2015, Realia has undertaken three capital increases in total. The latest is the operation closed today, which was approved in November to try to decrease the company’s debt, which amounts to €672 million, and to provide a financial boost to its real estate businesses.

Slim controls 70.76% of Realia’s capital, 33% in a direct way and 36.98% through the construction group FCC, which is also led by the Mexican businessman. The real estate company also has an asset portfolio spanning approximately half a million square metres, which includes one of the Kio Towers in Madrid.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake

Sareb Invites 20 Investors to Participate in the Sale of its Socimi Témpore

20 December 2018 – El Economista

A formal process is being launched after initial interest was received from three buyers, including one that stood out from the US fund TPG.

On Tuesday, Sareb opened a formal process to sell Témpore, its rental home Socimi, according to confirmation provided by sources in the sector speaking to El Economista. The bad bank, which has not engaged an external advisor for this divestment process, has invited 20 investors to participate.

In November, Nicolás Díaz Saldaña, CEO of the residential company, acknowledged that a Data Room had been enabled containing information about the Socimi and that access had been granted to it for five investors interested in the acquisition of Témpore.

In the end, three offers were received, of which the ones from Ares and TPG stood out, the latter being the highest. In light of the expressions of interest, Sareb decided to raise the matter to its Board of Directors, which yesterday launched an orderly sales process in which investors may participate by invitation only.

According to the same sources, Sareb has not imposed any conditions regarding what percentage of its stake is for sale (it held 98.38% at the end of June), and so it will be open to all offers.

The Socimi has just carried out what will be its last non-monetary capital increase subscribed by Sareb amounting to €150 million to acquire 1,769 assets in total, of which 850 are rental homes. The operation, which forms part of the right of first refusal agreement (ROFO), which Sareb and the Socimi signed, allows Témpore to double in size to reach €325 million.

Growth plan

Before announcing the sales process, Témpore had a growth plan underway with the aim of achieving a portfolio worth €500 million and in this way having sufficient volume to make its debut on the main stock market. That was explained at the time by Díaz Saldaña, who noted that in order to continue growing, “we will have to look for financing, be it from the bank or an alternative, such as a bond issue”.

Amongst the different options, the Socimi is analysing the purchase of whole buildings of rental homes and is also studying the acquisition of developments under construction that are currently in the hands of Sareb. In addition, it is considering buying turnkey projects through delegated promotion. “In the case of the latter, the first projects would be with Sareb, given that at the moment, for the other property developers that we have spoken to, it is more profitable for them to sell in the retail market”, said the CEO.

Meanwhile, yesterday, Sareb announced the sale of some land in the Torre Salses area, in Lleida, for the construction of a large shopping centre, spanning more than 60,000 m2. Eurofund Capital Partners has paid €8.3 million for that plot, whose sale was agreed in 2016.

Original story: El Economista (by Alba Brualla)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Xeresa Golf Completes a €4.7M Capital Increase

12 December 2018 – Alicante Plaza

The company that owns the Villaitana hotel complex in Benidorm, Xeresa Golf, has completed the capital increase that it launched in August, after emerging from creditor bankruptcy by fulfilling the agreement and acquiring the plot on which the resort was constructed, which was initially occupied on a concession basis. Thus, as reflected in the Official Bulletin of the Mercantile Registry (Borme) of Alicante on Tuesday, the company has subscribed a €4.7 million capital increase (the total amount), and so the resulting subscribed share capital amounts to €9.2 million, more than twice the figure before the operation.

It is not the first capital increase that Xeresa Golf has undertaken in its checkered history. In recent years, the firm founded at the time by the entrepreneurial Cremades family from Gandía, has resorted to “accordion operations” to wipe its debt, and to add or expel shareholders (the firm was created with several representatives of the jet set amongst its minority shareholders), and, on the penultimate occasion, to articulate the entry of its current majority shareholder, the hotel management company HI Partners, which owns 80% of its share capital.

Nevertheless, this new increase has basically been covered by its current shareholders (the hotel company owned 80% and the Cremades held onto 20%), according to sources. In fact, the shareholders of Xeresa Golf had preferential subscription rights, which, according to the same sources, they exercised. HI Partners acquired the majority of the company in 2017 (…) by offsetting the loan that the firm owned by the Cremades family held with Banco Sabadell, which was the owner of the hotel management platform at the time (and which was created specifically to manage the hotel assets that the entity had had to assume).

Just a year ago, the bank sold its hotel division to the US fund Blackstone, which is the ultimate owner of the 17 hotels that comprise the portfolio of HI Partners, including the asset in Benidorm (…).

Owner of the plot

This new capital increase comes shortly after Xeresa Golf has become the owner of the plot on which Hotel Villaitana stands (two four- and five-star hotels and several golf courses) in the PEDUI of Terra Mítica. Xeresa Golf submitted the best offer in the auction for the plots convened by the Consell, although in reality only two bids were made and the other one came from HI Partners. In fact, the capital increase was carried out for a similar amount to the price offered by the hotel owner to acquire the land on which it stands: €4.8 million plus taxes.

Similarly, the company that owns the hotel complex managed by the chain Meliá has overcome another milestone in the last year, that of definitively emerging from the creditor bankruptcy that it entered in 2012 (…).

Original story: Alicante Plaza (by David Martínez)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Barcino Purchases a Property in Barcelona for €2.4M

4 December 2018 – Eje Prime

Barcino is going shopping in the Catalan capital. The Socimi, which made its debut on the stock market in December, has acquired an asset comprising nine homes and one office, located at number 105 Calle Hospital in Barcelona. The operation has been closed for almost €2.4 million, according to a statement filed by the company with the Alternative Investment Market (MAB).

The company has financed the purchase using funds obtained from the capital increase that it carried out in September, amounting to €9.7 million. In addition, the occupancy rate of the asset amounts to 89%, according to a statement filed by the group with the stock market regulator.

Barcino is in the process of growing its residential portfolio. Its most recent acquisition was at the beginning of October when it purchased a property in the Catalan capital for €2.8 million. In May, the company invested €2 million in the purchase of around twenty assets, also in Barcelona, the city where it centres all of its operations. Most of its buildings are rental homes, but it also owns offices buildings and commercial premises, located throughout the metropolitan area of the Catalan capital.

Before the end of 2017, the Socimi disbursed €1.6 million to acquire a residential building on Calle Girona. The company’s Board of Directors comprises Mateu Turró, in the role of President, and Francesc Ventura and Ralph Weichelt, as directors. Barcino was valued at €19.1 million when it made its debut on the MAB.

Specialising in real estate investment and management, the Socimi is controlled (50.01%) by Barcino Management and managed by a company linked to the firm Vistalegre Property Management.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake

Meridia III Buys a Logistics Platform in Madrid for €15M+

5 December 2018 – Eje Prime

Meridia III has added another asset to its logistics portfolio. Meridia Capital’s Socimi has acquired an industrial platform in Alcalá de Henares (Madrid) for €15.25 million, according to a statement filed by the company with the Alternative Investment Market (MAB).

The warehouse has a surface area of 26,400 m2 and is located on the Corredor de Henares axis, the place that accounts for the largest volume of logistics stock in the whole of Spain.

The Socimi, which debuted on the stock market at the end of 2017, has financed the operation using a €10.3 million loan with a term of seven years, according to a statement filed by the company with the stock market regulator. Moreover, with this acquisition, the logistics portfolio of Meridia III now spans almost 100,000 m2.

In recent months, the company has also been undertaking some significant investments in the Spanish office market, such as its purchase in March of a building in the financial district of Madrid for €26.5 million. That property, which has a surface area of 7,500 m2, is located at number 4 Calle Juan Hurtado de Mendoza, close to Paseo de la Castellana. Moreover, in Barcelona, the Catalan manager leased its new building in the 22@ district to the international consultancy firm Everis.

On the other hand, according to the company’s latest accounts, Meridia III recorded a loss of €522,124 to June, which means that said indicator had decreased by 76% with respect to the first half of 2017. In addition, the company recorded revenues of €8 million during the first six months of the year, whereby doubling its turnover in comparison with the same period a year earlier.

Moreover, the company completed a €14.2 million capital increase at the end of November. The company’s new shares are going to be issued for a nominal value of €13 million plus an issue premium of €1.2 million.

Original story: Eje Prime 

Translation: Carmel Drake

Firmum to Increase Share Capital by €60M to Buy More Parking Lots

3 December 2018 – Eje Prime

Firmum Capital is stepping on the accelerator to increase its portfolio of parking lots in Spain. The Spanish parking lot manager is on the verge of closing a €60 million capital increase to finance new purchases in the domestic market.

Through the financing round, the company will increase its investment capacity to almost €210 million, and will also open up its capital to new shareholders. The firm undertakes its investments through the company APK Gestión de Aparcamientos.

Firmum was created in 2016 by Cristian Abelló, Bernardino Díaz-Andreu and Fernando Pire, who have generated a portfolio comprising 64 parking lots distributed over a dozen Spanish autonomous regions, according to El Economista.

In total, Firmum owns 27,000 parking spaces in the market, which following the financing round, will be increased with more assets in Spain and Portugal. The current investors in the manager include Banco Sabadell, through Sabadell Asset Management, and Altamar Capital Partners.

Last year, the fund invested €80 million in the purchase of 39 assets, which added 15,676 parking spaces to its portfolio. That investment plan comes at a time when these types of alternative assets are booming.

This segment is attracting interest from many funds and institutional investors, who are willing to pay high prices for parking lots in the centre of provincial capitals, tempted by their long-term returns. In Europe, there are around 305 million public parking spaces and 53,650 private multi-storey parking lots, according to a report compiled by Catella.

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

Qatari Sovereign Fund Becomes Colonial’s Largest Shareholder

8 November 2018 – Europa Press

Colonial has approved a capital increase at an extraordinary shareholders’ meeting, whereby enabling the Qatari Sovereign Fund to become the Socimi’s largest shareholder since it will see its stake in the company double to 20%.

Qatar is becoming the largest shareholder of the second largest Socimi in Spain, a firm that owns office buildings in Madrid, Barcelona and Paris worth €11 billion, through an agreement reached with Colonial to exchange the shares of its French subsidiary Société Foncière Lyonnaise (SFL).

Specifically, Colonial is going to give Qatar the own shares that it issues during the capital increase and, in exchange, the fund is going to hand over the 22% stake that it holds in SFL.

In this way, Qatar will double its presence in Colonial from its current position of 10% to the aforementioned figure of 20% and will become its largest shareholder. Meanwhile, the real estate firm will increase the controlling stake that it holds in SFL from 59% to 80.74%.

It is an operation worth €718 million, which Colonial is framing in the context of simplifying the group’s shareholder structure and of strengthening its position in SFL and in France, a company and market that it considers to be “strategic”.

The real estate company is tackling this transaction after completing the merger of the Socimi Axiare and at a time when it is immersed in a full growth strategy through investments in purchases and the new build developments.

In the case of Qatar, it is strengthening its position as the largest shareholder of the second largest listed real estate firm in the country, in line with the commitment that many large international funds are making to the Spanish real estate sector. Moreover, it will retain an indirect stake in SFL.

No changes on the board

These shareholder exchanges will not have any impact on the Board of Directors of Colonial, given that the Qatari fund will retain the two seats that it has had on the management board for a while, when it had a larger stake, according to a statement made by the President of the Socimi, Juan José Brugera, after the meeting.

Brugera said that the operation was approved unanimously by all of the shareholders, whereby ruling out any bad feeling on the part of Colonial’s largest shareholder until now, the Mexican group Finaccess, not only for losing its status (as the largest shareholder), but also for seeing its stake diluted from 18% to 16% as a result of the capital increase.

Original story: Europa Press

Translation: Carmel Drake

Socimi Vitruvio to Sale its Industrial Assets worth €12.8M

2 November 2018 – La Información

The Socimi Vitruvio, which focuses on the residential market, wants to take a new step on its journey and get rid of its industrial assets. In this way, the Socimi, which has Joaquín López-Chicheri as its CEO, will focus on the residential sector, above all, although without neglecting its commercial assets or offices. On the other hand, it will dispose of the least glamorous part of its real estate portfolio, its logistics warehouses.

This part of its business, worth €12.8 million, according to the company’s own accounts, generates a return of 9.3% – the highest of any of its divisions – and has an occupancy rate of 100%. Despite that, the company’s plans involve forgetting about these types of assets, which they consider to be “residual” and “non-strategic”.

“We have always thought that residential is the safest type of asset”, say sources at the company. On the other hand, they recognise that diversification is due, in large part, to the need to generate higher profits to access dividend payments to shareholders. “Residential has the capacity to generate a lower recurring return, unless you assume one more level of risk”, said the CEO of the firm.

Where are this Socimi’s industrial assets located? The firm led by López-Chicheri owns properties of an industrial nature in Mercamadrid and Yunquera de Henares, a town close to Guadalajara.

The first of them, located in the aforementioned distribution platform, has a market value of €2.82 million, which represents a price of €526/m2. The second, on an industrial estate in the town of Yunquera de Henares, Guadalajara has a market value of €5.2 million. That asset has a surface area of 13,587 m2 and a price of €381/m2.

The Socimi that now wants to divest the logistics component of its assets has a “patrimonialist” vision, according to its CEO. In this way, the firm has diversified its assets to reduce risks. “The portfolios that traditional patrimonialist firms have are normally distributed between residential, well-located commercial premises and offices. And that is what Vitruvio has”, said the executive.

This real estate investment company was constituted in June 2014, under the Socimi tax regime. Since then, it has undergone several capital increases – raising almost €30 million in total – to acquire assets and position itself ahead of its stock market debut.

The bell was rung in July 2016, two years after its creation, at a price of €12.63 per share and with 126 shareholders. Nowadays, Vitruvio’s shares are listed on the Alternative Investment Market (MAB) through the fixing system – with two daily auctions – at a price of €13.70 per share.

In January of that same year, the company carried out its largest capital increase to date raising €11.5 million. Thanks to that, the number of assets increased along with their value to exceed €100 million.

Original story: La Información (by Lucía Gómez)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Nyesa Raises Capital with New Investors & an Office Portfolio in Cádiz worth €22M

30 October 2018 – Eje Prime

Nyesa is continuing with its plan to capture investors and increase its share capital and portfolio. The Spanish real estate company has agreed to a capital increase, which will allow the company Olaf y Rubí to become one of its shareholders. Following the operation, Nyesa’s new shareholder will introduce into the company’s portfolio 95 offices in Las Torres De Hércules, in Cádiz, worth €22 million, according to a statement filed by the company with Spain’s National Securities and Markets Commission (CNMV).

The investment, which will see Olaf y Rubí acquire a 21% stake in the real estate company, is conditional upon Nyesa’s largest shareholders (the US group Gaber, the Russian investors Eldarov, Ivanov, Samodurov and the company Fanumceo) considering that the assets in question will pass an urban planning, legal, tax and financial review.

Olaf y Rubí’s portfolio is associated with a mortgage amounting to almost €4.8 million. The new shareholder of the real estate company will subscribe to a line of credit to cover all of the costs relating to the mortgage (…).

Las Torres de Hércules, located in the Bay of Algeciras, were designed by the prestigious Spanish architect Rafael de la Hoz. Their tenants include companies such as the Danish logistics giant Maersk, which houses its headquarters for Southern Europe in the complex.

Standing 126 m above the city, the building was the tallest in Andalucía for several years, until the completion of Torre Sevilla, owned by CaixaBank. The property, which comprises two towers, spans a surface area of almost 20,000 m2 and was acquired by the Socimi Brickstock in September.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake