Tag: capital injection

Corpfin Injects €83.7M into its Inbest Portfolio During First Year

25 April 2019 – Eje Prime

Corpfin Capital Real Estate has already injected more than €80 million into its various Inbest companies during their first year of operation.

Specifically, Inbest has received capital injections amounting to €83.7 million over the last 12 months. The most recent amounted to €5.3 million for Inbest Prime Assets and was registered in the Mercantile Registry yesterday.

The aim of the increases is to finance the investment operations that the vehicle has planned. The Inbest companies invest in high street buildings to transform them into flagship stores.

Original story: Eje Prime (by Marta Casado Pla)

Translation/Summary: Carmel Drake

Urbas will Receive up to €6M from its Major Shareholders

22 January 2019 – Expansión

Urbas, a company specialising in the promotion and management of land, has signed an agreement with its reference shareholders Robisco Capital Markets and Quamtium to push ahead with the repayment of its debts. By virtue of this agreement, its shareholders are guaranteeing its financial stability and allowing it to obtain liquidity in exchange for shares in the company. In this way, the shareholders are going to inject up to €6 million into the company in exchange for up to 1.75% of the share capital.

These shareholders own almost 28% of the company each, according to the latest registers from the CNMV.

Specifically, Robisco and Quamtium are going to sign a line of credit for a maximum of €2 million to equip the company with the liquidity it needs to make its current payments, at least, until the end of 2019. Moreover, the shareholders have committed to acquire debt from Urbas’s suppliers and creditors up to a maximum of €4 million.

In exchange, Robisco and Quamtium are reserving the right to acquire part of the share capital through the share subscription, said the company to the CNMV. The increases will be undertaken at a maximum nominal value of €6 million, equivalent to 1.75% of the share capital. “The agreement allows us to consolidate the structure of the balance sheet and improve the financial ratios, at the same time as strengthening the activity, developing the businesses and ratifying the trust and commitment of the main shareholders”, said Juan Antonio Acedo Fernández, who was recently appointed as the President of the Group.

Original story: Expansión (by R. Arroyo)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Who Are The New Owners In Spain’s RE Sector?

11 April 2017 – Cinco Días

Two weeks ago, Neinor Homes debuted on the stock market, the first residential property developer to do so in a decade. (…). Who is behind the current transformation of the sector?

Neinor Homes was created just two years ago by the US fund Lone Star, which purchased the former real estate arm of Kutxabank for €935 million. The Texan firm injected capital, bought land, renewed the image and put its first cranes in place to surf the top of the wave of the recovery in the house construction segment. The company debuted on the stock market, much more quickly than it had initially planned, with a valuation of €1,300 million, and an excess of demand over supply of 4.3 x, from large investors.

The real estate company led by Juan Velayos, as CEO, and Juan Pepa, as Lone Star’s strong man in Spain, has demonstrated investors’ appetite for residential construction – the last segment to recover in the real estate sector. Experts indicate that demand for homes in Spain will amount to around 150,000 properties per year, compared with the 50,000 units that are currently being constructed. This is a space that nobody has occupied in recent years, following the death of classic developers such as Martinsa-Fadesa, Reyal Urbis, Astroc, Nozar and Habitat.

But Neinor is just the first of many. It is being followed by the US fund Värde Partners, possibly the most active in terms of purchases in Spain, which created Dospuntos using its own land and the basis of the former real estate business of Grupo San José. Last month, it starred in its latest large acquisition, purchasing Vía Célere, the property developer created by Juan Antonio Gómez-Pintado, for €90 million. (…).

And following both of them is Aedas, backed by the fund Castlelake, which is also proving very active in creating an enormous bank of land. These three real estate companies alone are expected to invest around €5,000 million in land, purchases and investments. And the latter two may well follow in Neinor’s footsteps with stock market listings.

These new property developers are replacing the Socimis in the newspaper headlines (…), which since 2014 have been active in the first segment to experience the recovery, namely, rental assets: large office buildings, commercial premises, shopping centres, hotels and industrial warehouses.

The leader in that sector is Merlin Properties, which has become one of the leading real estate companies in Europe, with a portfolio of assets worth €9,800 million. (…).

The other large Socimi that has attracted international capital since 2014 is Hispania, managed by Grupo Azora, a Spanish fund backed by Concha Osácar and Fernando Gumuzio. (…). It has become the largest purchaser of hotels in Spain, with a giant portfolio worth €1,800 million.

Lar España, managed by Grupo Lar, and Axiare, chaired by Luis López de Herrera-Oria are the other large Socimis on the main stock market, which have created net assets worth more than €1,200 million in record time. But they are not the only ones. Attracted by the tax benefits, many wealthy families have also used this legal structure to organise their assets. Examples include the Montoro Alemán family with the Socimi GMP (…).

Not to mention the large international real estate funds, such as Blackstone, Cerberus, Iba Capital, TH Real Estate, Orion, HIG and GreenOak, which, together with the Socimis, have been and are the most active players in terms of acquisitions.

The Barcelona-based firm Inmobiliaria Colonial has also undergone a comprehensive clean-up, with the segregation of its toxic land and residential business, to become the second-largest real estate company in the country, after Merlin. (…).

Meanwhile, Metrovacesa has headed in the opposite direction. After transferring its tertiary business to Merlin, it is now getting ready to become one of the major players in the residential sector, with the backing of BBVA and Santander. Similarly, the Mexican magnate Carlos Slim has revived Realia, also giving new life to the dead activity of house construction.

Other key players in recent years have been the banks’ platforms or servicers, such as Aliseda, Anida, Solvia, Altamira and Servihabitat, which have been managing the real estate portfolios of the financial institutions and promoting housing developments. (…).

Original story: Cinco Días (by Alfonso Simón Ruiz)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Procisa Group Undergoes A Corporate & Financial Makeover

30 December 2016 – Expansión

Procisa, the group owned by the Cereceda family, which in turn owns La Finca, the business and luxury residential complex, in Pozuelo de Alarcón (Madrid) has embarked upon a profound corporate and financial restructuring process involving: a capital injection amounting to €395 million; the entry of the US fund Värde; and the strengthening of its corporate governance.

In terms of the corporate changes, from now on, the company will be organised around the Grupo La Finca holding company, which will in turn own three separate companies: La Finca Global Assets, dedicated to the real estate business and to the operation of the high-end office market; La Finca Casablanca, which will construct the largest luxury residential development containing more than 500 homes; and La Finca Real Estate, upon which the group’s future development will hinge.

Under the framework of this operation, the US fund Värde, owner of Dospuntos (the former real estate division of Sanjose) and owner of a stake in Aliseda, Banco Popular’s real estate asset manager, has acquired 39% of La Finca Global Assets. The US private equity firm, which manages more than $40,000 million in assets around the world, has been one of the most active investors in Spain since the outbreak of the crisis.

Portfolio

By virtue of the agreement signed yesterday, Värde, which must have paid around €130 million for its stake, will become a shareholder of the current office buildings in the portfolio and of the new projects in this area of the business. In addition to the La Finca business park, La Finca Global Assets’s properties include a property located on Calle Marcelo Spínola – a business centre comprising seven seven-storey buildings – and another property on Calle Martínez Villergas, comprising three seven-storey buildings.

Meanwhile, the La Finca business park, covering 220,000 m2 of premium rental space, comprises 20 buildings, 16 of which are used as offices plus the remaining four, located in the centre of the complex, which are used to provide the necessary services to the users of these offices. The complex’s current tenants include technological companies such as Orange and Microsoft.

In terms of the injection of funds, the company has signed a financing agreement with a syndicate led by Société Générale, CaixaBank and Santander amounting to €395 million, which it will use to pay off existing debt and tackle new projects. According to the latest available balance sheet, Procisa’s debt amounts to €525 million.

Specifically, the subsidiary La Finca Casablanca is planning to construct a development containing 515 luxury and exclusive homes, a shopping and leisure centre, as well as sports facilities and a golf course, in the south of Pozuelo de Alarcón.

New directors

Meanwhile, the group owned by the Cereceda family has strengthened its corporate governance by hiring some new directors. Susana García-Cereceda, the current Chairman of Procisa and one of the heiresses of the family empire created by the businessman Luis García Cereceda, who died in 2010, will lead the holding company and each of its subsidiaries, as the CEO.

In addition, Grupo La Finca will hire Jorge Morán as the Vice President of the holding company. (…). Moreover, Värde will join the Board of La Finca Global Assets with the appointment of three board members. (…).

Original story: Expansión (by Rebeca Arroyo)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Merlin Makes A Proposal To Buy A 30% Stake In Testa

20 April 2015 – Expansión

Strategic alliance / The listed real estate company, which is increasing its share capital by €614 million, has made a proposal to the construction group Sacyr to acquire 30% of its subsidiary, which will also become a Socimi.

The scarcity of well-located real estate has led many investors to design imaginative solutions in order to invest. That is the case of Merlin Properties. The largest Socimi (listed real estate investment company or ‘sociedad cotizada de inversión en activos inmobiliarios’) on the stock exchange, with a market capitalisation of €1,714.6 million and an asset portfolio worth €2,417 million, wants to increase its assets through the purchase of a significant stake in a company and it has focused its attention on Testa, the equity subsidiary of the Sacyr group.

Testa is almost entirely owned by Sacyr (99.93% stake). The remaining shares are listed on the stock exchange. For the last few months, the company chaired by Manuel Manrique has been looking for a partner to inject capital into the subsidiary. The search by its ally eventually led Sacyr to propose a public offering of shares (OPS or ‘oferta pública de suscripción’) aimed at institutional investors in order to strengthen Testa’s balance sheet. The goal is to place 30%.

Although the stock exchange placement has already been proposed, the possibility that Merlin will acquire that percentage for around €500 million and become the preferred partner in Testa is gaining momentum, according to sources close to the process.

Both companies would lead the real estate company’s new phase, whereby Sacyr intends to convert Testa into a Socimi and so benefit from the tax advantages afforded by that company structure. This option would also allow Merlin to acquire a stake in Testa and comply with the regulations that permit Socimis to own subsidiaries or stakes in other companies of that type.

Merlin’s interest in acquiring a stake in Testa has not put a stop to the OPS for the moment. The amount of the transaction, whereby the construction group would end up controlling a 70% stake, is valued at around €500 million, according to various analysts.

The Socimi chaired by Ismael Clemente, has more than enough financial muscle to handle any transaction. On Wednesday, Merlin announced a capital increase worth €613.7 million. The real estate company will complete this transaction less than a year after it was first listed on the stock exchange, since it has already invested the €1,250 million it secured on its debut in the market. Now, the Socimi, owned by UBS, Marketfield and Gruss Capital, is evaluating new investments amounting to €2,000 million. “The company has a portfolio of projects and potential investments amounting to approximately €1,950 million, of which €170 million correspond to assets and investments being analysed on an exclusive basis or as part of a due diligence process; and another €1,780 million relating to assets and investments in the analysis phase”, says the company in an admission prospectus for the new shares published yesterday in the CNMV. The capital increase will carry preferential subscription rights and will take place between 18 April and 2 May.

Assets

Testa owns real estate assets worth €3,180 million, according to the latest appraisal performed as at 31 December 2014. These include the Torre Sacyr, in the Cuatro Torres Business Area complex in Madrid and Diagonal, 605 in Bacelona. The company owns two office buildings on the Paseo de la Castellana (in Madrid), at numbers 193 and 83, where the construction group has its headquarters. Moreover, it owns a number of shopping centres in Malaga and the Balearic Islands, as well as residential housing blocks, which it rents out. In 2014, it recorded a turnover of €187.9 million.

Original story: Expansión (by R. Ruiz)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Iberdola Injects €617m Into Its Real Estate Arm

3 February 2015 – Cinco Días

The company has conducted a capital increase of €154 million.

Iberdrola has recapitalised the debt that it held with its real estate subsidiary, Iberdrola Inmobiliaria. The energy group has injected €616.7 million into its subsidiary through a capital increase of €154.2m and an issue premium, explained the company. In this way, Iberdrola Inmobiliaria “cleans up its balance sheet and is made stronger to face its new challenges”.

The group’s real estate subsidiary, chaired by Ignacio Sánchez Galán, recorded losses of almost €70 million in 2013 and turnover of more than €45 million, according to the most recent company accounts filed with the Companies Registry. The company held debt, primarily with its parent company, amounting to more than €500 million, according to those accounts.

Iberdrola Inmobiliaria was created in 1993 from the merger of Iberdrola’s real estate companies. During the 1990s, it grew its business as a residential developer. By the end of the decade, it had focused on three main areas: the development of housing; the development and operation of rental property; and the management and development of land.

During the years leading up to the burst of the real estate bubble, the company undertook some major investments and also launched businesses overseas. In 2006, it invested €240 million in the construction of a shopping centre in Valencia, together with local constructors, Gesfesa and Valencia Residencial. That same year, it approved a €200 million investment in the Porta Firal project, located at the entrance of the Gran Via Fair (in l’Hospitalet), which was in the middle of its own enlargement program.

In 2007, it recorded turnover of almost €400 million and approved a €300 million investment in a geographic expansion plan. In July of that year, it acquired a 35% stake in the tourist resort Puerto Peñasco (in the state of Sonora, on the west coast of Mexico) for €43.12 million. In 2008, it bought residential land in Bulgaria for €44.6 million for the development of a tourist resort.

The economic crisis thwarted the expansion plans of the energy company’s real estate subsidiary, which nevertheless continued to operate throughout the worst crisis to hit the Spanish real estate sector in decades. In 2010, Iberdrola injected €400 million into the subsidiary, in a similar operation to the one just undertaken. In 2013, it acquired a minority stake in Sareb.

Original story: Cinco Días (by Alberto Ortín Ramón)

Translation: Carmel Drake