Tag: Citi

Grosvenor Purchases the MB One Building in Madrid for €80M

15 April 2019 – Eje Prime

Grosvenor has reached an agreement with Blackstone to acquire the MB One building, known for housing Citi’s headquarters, in La Moraleja (Madrid) for €80 million.

The US fund currently owns the property through Chameleon, a company that has put all of its assets up for sale.

MB One has a surface area of 22,129 m2, distributed over four modules and five storeys.

This represents Grosvenor’s return to the office market and accompanies its activity in the luxury residential market in Spain, where it plans to invest €200 million in projects in the neighbourhoods of Salamanca and Chamberí.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation/Summary: Carmel Drake

WeWork to Launch its ‘Custom Buildout’ Business in Spain

28 March 2019 – Idealista

The US co-working company WeWork is studying the rental of entire buildings in Spain to dedicate to its custom buildout business. The service offers large corporations assets fitted out and managed by the brand. The company is already looking at potential properties in Barcelona.

WeWork now has ten co-working office spaces in Madrid and Barcelona (5 in each city), but its plan is to offer large corporations a new service that would house their headquarters and manage all of their needs, leveraging the firm’s know-how in the office management segment.

According to its business model, WeWork speaks to its clients first to understand their needs and desires. It then searches for the best offers, assumes the risks of a long-term contract and the capital investment, and manages the property for the company on an on-going basis, offering services such as fresh fruit, water and security, as well as events for employees.

In this way, the firm would start to compete directly with stalwarts of the sector such as CBRE, JLL, Savills Aguirre Newman and Cushman&Wakefield.

WeWork already offers this service to several corporates around the world, including Starbucks, Facebook, Adidas, Salesforce, Blackrock and Citi, amongst others.

Original story: Idealista (by Custodio Pareja)

Translation/Summary: Carmel Drake

Cerberus Postpones Haya’s IPO until its Purchase of BBVA’s RE Portfolio has been Signed

26 April 2018 – Eje Prime

Cerberus is putting the brakes on Haya Real Estate’s stock market debut. The US fund, owner of the real estate servicer, has decided to suspend the process to convert its company into a listed entity until after it has signed the agreement that it reached last year to administer €13 billion of BBVA’s toxic asset portfolio, which is expected to be signed before the end of the year. In addition, the investment firm is waiting to see what decisions its partner Sareb will take regarding a portfolio worth €10 billion that it has recently put up for sale.

The fund, a giant in the sector with almost €40 billion in real estate assets, had planned to complete Haya’s stock market debut before the summer and it had even requested permission from Spain’s National Securities and Market Commission (CNMV) to seal the admission process on the stock exchange.

A few months ago, Cerberus engaged the services of Rothschild to lead the process to convert Haya into a listed company, whilst JP Morgan and Citi were making a Public Sale Offer to the servicer, hoping to obtain a valuation of around €1.2 billion for the fund, according to El Confidencial.

The US firm did not want Haya to debut on the stock market without being sure that Sareb’s mega-operation is not going to affect the valuation of its servicer. Currently, Cerberus manages €24 billion in assets for the so-called bad bank, which accounts for 60% of Haya’s portfolio. That percentage will decrease significantly when BBVA’s €13 billion real estate portfolio enters the equation.

In light of this move, the question now arises as to whether Cerberus will choose to maintain the same strategy of debuting on the stock market with the assets of third parties or to include the properties that are going to be transferred from the bank as its own.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake

Altamira Hires Borja Ortega from JLL to Lead its International Expansion

11 April 2018 – El Confidencial

Altamira is stepping on the accelerator to become the leading servicer in the south of Europe and, to this end, has hired a heavyweight from JLL as the Head of International Expansion and member of its Executive Committee. Borja Ortega (pictured below), Director of Capital Markets at the real estate consultancy is going to join the company controlled by Apollo in May.

The first major challenge that he will have to handle is Altamira’s entry into Italy, a market that the company led by Julián Navarro has been analysing for a while to consolidate its position in the Mediterranean region, having already made its debut in Portugal and Cyprus.

The servicer entered Portugal a year ago by purchasing Oitante, a company created to manage Banif’s assets, a move that allowed it to take over the management of more than €1.5 billion in assets.

In Cyprus, last summer, the servicer created a joint venture with Cooperative Central Bank (CCB), the second largest bank in the country with €7.6 billion in financial and real estate assets, in which Altamira holds a 51% stake and which has been operational since the beginning of this year.

Heavyweight from JLL

Until now, as Head of Capital Markets, Borja Ortega has led the firm’s direct investment activities (the traditional business), its financial advisory practice (portfolios, debt, mergers and acquisitions) and its private wealth business.

Some of the most important operations that he has managed in recent times include the process to sell the Adequa office complex to Merlin and the sale of Edificio España, operations that helped his division to record growth of around 50% in the last two years.

Moreover, Ortega launched the private wealth division, which is one of the first to channel the arrival of wealthy Latin American investors in the Spanish real estate market, and he collaborated in the sale of €30 billion in toxic assets from Santander-Popular to Blackstone, an operation in which the fund was advised by JLL.

Following the arrival of the Socimis, which have now begun to consolidate in the market with the takeovers of Axiare by Colonial and of Hispania by Blackstone, and the boom in residential property development, with the stock market debuts of Neinor, Aedas and Metrovacesa, the next major movement in the sector is expected in the field of the servicers.

As we await possible mergers, for the time being, Haya Real Estate is the first firm in the sector to set its sights on the stock market, by engaging Rothschild, JP Morgan and Citi to coordinate its debut later this year. Meanwhile, Altamira has opted to create a large international platform before taking the next step, whilst Solvia has created its own property developer.

Anticipa, the servicer of Blackstone, has swallowed up Aliseda as part of the aforementioned operation involving the purchase of toxic assets from Santander, whilst Servihabitat has appointed a new CEO and it is expected that the complex balance of powers between CaixaBank and TPG will tip in one direction or the other within the next few months, as part of the recently launched process of consolidation in the sector.

Original story: El Confidencial (by Ruth Ugalde)

Translation: Carmel Drake

CaixaBank: “The Banks Have Lost €150bn Due to ‘Real Estate'”

26 January 2018 – Eje Prime

The banks have lost no less than €150 billion due to real estate. That is according to Juan Antonio Alcaraz, Director General of CaixaBank, speaking on Thursday. Moreover, the director described a panorama that has “changed radically” in the mortgage market, basically because “people no longer think about buying (a home) and, even less so, about taking out a mortgage”, said Alcaraz.

The current situation of the banks with respect to real estate is that of reconstruction. “Our portfolio has recovered somewhat, but it is much smaller than before”, acknowledges the director, who recalls “the years when 900,000 new homes per year were being built in Spain, whereas now just 80,000 p.a. are being constructed”.

In 2017, CaixaBank undertook property developer loan operations worth between €15 billion and €20 billion. The decline in demand for these types of loans from banks has had an impact on the emergence of “new players, which have caused the figure of the property developer loan to disappear for certain vehicles”.

Moreover, at the meeting between professionals in the sector at Madrid’s IESE, Alcaraz recalled that there is still a shortage on the demand-side for the purchase of new build homes in Spanish society: “Three-quarters of the transactions closed in the residential sector involve second-hand homes”. That fact had an impact in 2017 given that Spain’s banks granted “around 60,000 new mortgages”, much fewer than in the past.

In terms of the emergence of real estate projects, which have been booming in recent years with the arrival of new property developers, the CaixaBank representative says that “there is not a single project that has not been performed for lack of financing”, although he clarifies: “The problem is what type of projects we are talking about and what is being financed”.

“On the stock market, there is space for many more companies in the sector”. Having recently arrived from London, where he works as a Director of Real Estate Investments for the bank Crédit Suisse, Jaime Riera spoke about overseas funds, the largest investors in the Spanish property market. “The whole world understands that it is a cyclical sector and that, leaving aside the recent political events, there is consensus over the strong performance of the real estate business”, said Riera. Nevertheless, the executive has diagnosed “less potential for transactions in the retail sector”.

Another established connoisseur of the British market, Fernando Bautista, European Director of Real Estate Investment at Citi, highlighted at the same meeting that the weight of the real estate sector on the British stock exchange “is much greater than on the Spanish stock market”. For that reason, and after recalling that “without Anglo-Saxon demand, we would not be talking about the Socimis today, or about Neinor and Aedas”, said that “there is room for lots more companies on the Spanish stock market”.

The legal certainty of the new mortgage law

Drafts are already being prepared by the Government for the processing of a new mortgage law, news that is welcomed by the banks. “A new law would give us the legal certainty that we do not have at the moment”, said Alcaraz, who indicates that “the crisis has generated a very high degree of uncertainty over residential assets and mortgages. That is very harmful to us in economic terms”.

Original story: Eje Prime (by Jabier Izquierdo)

Translation: Carmel Drake

CNMC Approves Sabadell’s Sale of Hotel Socimi to Blackstone

4 December 2017 – Eje Prime

The sale of Sabadell’s hotel Socimi has been given the go-ahead. Spain’s National Markets and Competition Commission (the CNMC) has given the green light to the first phase of the sale of Banco Sabadell’s hotel subsidiary, HI Partners, to the US fund Blackstone for €630.7 million.

The operation was agreed in October through the company Halley Hodco, which is controlled by the US investment fund. The sale of the Socimi will generate a net profit of €55 million for Sabadell and will improve its capital ratio by 22 basis points this year.

A few months ago, the Catalan bank engaged Credit Suisse, Citi and JP Morgan to work on the possible IPO of the hotel chain, but in the end, the financial institution decided to completely divest the company.

In addition to Blackstone, the fund Brookfield also bid for the purchase of the company, which was created only two years ago. HI Partners has a portfolio of 29 assets and is worth €1 billion. Its hotels include the Abora Catarina in Maspalomas (Gran Canaria); the Ritz-Carlton Abama and the Jardín Tropical, both in the province of Tenerife.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake

Santander Wants To Sell RE Assets Worth €6,000M In 1 Year

30 October 2017 – Voz Pópuli

Banco Santander does not want to stand idly by following the sale of Banco Popular’s real estate. After the completion of that operation (the largest ever real estate transfer in Spain), the entity chaired by Ana Botín wants to continue accelerating its real estate clean up. In this way, it plans to reduce its real estate exposure by more than €6,000 million over the next year.

That would mean that Santander’s real estate balance would decrease by half, given that it currently amounts to around €12,300 million in gross terms (excluding provisions).

According to the bank’s CEO, José Antonio Álvarez, speaking at the results presentation, the objective is for the entity’s real estate exposure “to be immaterial” by the end of 2018.

This immateriality means having a net balance of between €1,000 million and €2,000 million left on the balance sheet within 14 months, besides the rental properties, explained the banker. That, in turn, means selling around €6,000 million (in gross terms) and leaving around €6,000 million on the balance sheet.

The numbers

In this way, Santander España’s net exposure to the real estate market is €5,900 million. The entity has an average coverage ratio of 52% over these assets, which means that their gross value is €12,300 million.

Of those €5,900 million, €3,372 million are foreclosed assets, €1,203 million are rental properties and €1,325 million are delinquent real estate loans.

In August, Santander agreed to transfer almost €30,000 million (in gross terms) of Popular’s property to Blackstone. Specifically, the bank sold 51% of a new real estate company, for €5,100 million and retained ownership of the remaining stake.

In terms of the rest of the real estate assets on its balance sheet, Santander could undertake similar operations, although it will also continue to analyse sales through the retail network and the option of putting properties on the market through Socimis. Both the Spanish bank and its competitors are under pressure from the ECB to get rid of the real estate on their balance sheets as soon as possible.

Meanwhile, Santander is negotiating with Värde Partners, owner of 51% of WiZink, to repurchase Banco Popular’s customer card business and to sell it Barclays and Citi’s business in return.

Original story: Voz Pópuli (by Jorge Zuloaga)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Sabadell Sells Its Hotel Management Company To Blackstone

17 October 2017 – Expansión

Sabadell has sold 100% of the share capital in HI Partners, its hotel management platform, to Halley Holdco, an entity controlled by funds advised by subsidiaries of Blackstone. The transaction price amounted to €630.73 million, according to a statement filed by the bank with the CNMV. Nevertheless, the definitive valuation will be subject to “possible non-material adjustments” and “is conditional upon obtaining the necessary authorisation from the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV)”.

Sabadell will recognise a net gain of €55 million in its results for this year as a consequence of the sale. Moreover, it will improve its maximum quality capital ratio (CET 1 without full implementation of Basel III) by 22 basis points. In June, its capital ratio amounted to 12.67%, in accordance with the calendar for the gradual adaptation of the rule, and to 12.1% assuming the full application of Basel III (fully loaded).

HI Partners is one of the largest managers of hotel assets, including debt, in Spain, with 29 properties in its portfolio and 4,793 rooms in total. Its establishments include the Hotel Ritz-Carlton Abama, in Guía de Isora (Tenerife); the Hotel Abora Catarina, located in Maspalomas (Gran Canaria); and the Hotel ME Sitges Terramar (Sitges), the Hotel Hilton Sa Torre, in Llucmajor (Mallorca); and the Abba Acteon, in Valencia.

Before the summer, Sabadell engaged the investment banks Citi, JP Morgan and Credit Suisse to sound out the market regarding the possible placement on the stock exchange of its hotel management subsidiary.

In addition to Sabadell’s majority stake, HI Partners’ other shareholders include the company’s management team, comprising Alejandro Hernández-Puértolas, Sergio Carrascosa and Santiago Fisas. Its most recent operations involve several agreements with the Canary Islands-based hotel group Lopesan, from which it purchased the hotels ‘Ifa Dunamar’, ‘Ifa Continental’ and ‘Ifa Beach’.

Original story: Expansión

Translation: Carmel Drake

Blackstone & Brookfield Submit Bids To Buy HI Partners

5 October 2017 – Eje Prime

Sabadell may be selling off its hotels. The Catalan bank has received two offers from two international investment funds to divest its hotel chain, HI Partners. The interested parties are Blackstone and Brookfield, who have submitted bids to purchase all of the assets owned by Sabadell’s subsidiary.

HI Partners has been preparing its debut on the stock market, for which it has engaged Credit Suisse, Morgan Stanley and Citi. With a value of €1,000 million and another €850 million of debt under management, Sabadell was committed to listing the company on the stock market this year. But according to El Confidencial, that decision could now be up in the air.

The bank chaired by Josep Oliu has been running the hotel chain for the last two years, under the leadership of Alejandro Hernández-Puértolas and Santiago Fisas. Its portfolio comprises around thirty hotels, including The Ritz-Carlton Abama and the Jardín Tropical, in Tenerife, and the recently inaugurated Hotel Axel, in Madrid.

A year ago, the subsidiary of Sabadell purchased three hotels in the Canary Islands from Grupo Lopesan, in a three-way operation with the construction company Sacyr and the island-based holding company.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake

Liberbank Finalises Property Sale To Ensure Success Of Capital Increase

4 October 2017 – Cinco Días

Liberbank does not want to follow in the footsteps of Popular and is taking firm strides to avoid that fate. Its focus now is on shaking off the property that it still holds following the crisis, in order to project the image in the market that it has cleaned up its books and to ensure the success of its upcoming capital increase. In this way, the entity is finalising the sale of a large part of its portfolio of foreclosed assets this week, in parallel to the capital increase, which its General Shareholders’ Meeting is expected to approve on 9 October.

The entity led by Manuel Menéndez is working against the clock to ensure its independence. The CNMV has given it until 30 November to extend, for the third time, a veto on short positions that it imposed in June, a few days after Popular’s future was resolved. Sources close to the operation expect the first stage (the sale of a portfolio worth €800 million) to be closed this week. Or within 15 days, at the latest, since in that case, it would be performed in parallel to the start of the capital increase.

Liberbank received the first binding offers at the beginning of last week. And from those, it has selected three funds: KKR, Bain and Cerberus. The latter is the firm that acquired the bank’s real estate subsidiary, Mihabitans, in the summer, through Haya Real Estate. It spent €85 million on that purchase. The market described the operation as a “success” and uses it as an example for the upcoming sale of the toxic property.

Haya is exclusively managing the current foreclosed real estate assets on Liberbank’s balance sheet, as well as any future foreclosed real estate assets that end up being incorporated onto the bank’s overall balance sheet or onto those of any of its real estate subsidiaries. According to the accounts for the first half of the year, Liberbank held €3,115 million in foreclosed assets on its balance sheet, with a provision coverage ratio of 40%. Of those, €1,741 million are finished homes, €1,162 million are plots of land, €480 million are homes under construction and €402 million are offices and warehouses.

This new sale of foreclosed assets, dubbed ‘Operación Invictus’, will be closed for a price of around €400 million. Although the book value of the real estate assets in the portfolio is €800 million, the sale will be closed at a discount of at least 50%. Santander closed the sale of 51% of Popular’s property to Blackstone at a discount of 66%.

With the aim of wiping out the losses that this sale will generate and of getting rid of a large part of its real estate portfolio, once and for all, the Board of Directors of Liberbank proposed a capital increase on 6 September, which they are now trying to safeguard. The bank hopes to raise €500 million through the operation. The objective is for the bank’s default ratio to amount to 3.5% by 2019 and for the coverage ratio on its non-performing assets (doubtful loans and foreclosed assets) to rise to around 50%. At the end of June, Liberbank recorded figures of 11.3% and 40% for these ratios, respectively.

With a balance sheet of €40,000 million, Liberbank is the smallest entity of those supervised by the ECB, together with Banco Crédito Social Cooperativo, the parent company of Cajamar. One of Liberbank’s other missions is to increase its return on equity (ROE) to 8% by 2020, compared with the figure of 2.7% recorded during the first half of this year. It is the second time that the bank has increased its share capital since it started trading on the stock market in 2013. The previous capital increase, in May 2014, saw it raise almost €500 million.

Then, the bank responsible for coordinating the operation was Deutsche Bank; now it is being managed by Citi. Last time, the injection of fresh funds allowed the entity to early repay €124 million that the FROB (Fund for Orderly Bank Restructuring or ‘Fondo de Reestructuración Ordenada Bancaria’) had injected it with; to strength its top-tier capital ratio to more than 10%, as if the Basel III requirements were completely applicable; and to bring forward the payment of dividends to its shareholders.

Original story: Cinco Días (by Álvaro Bayón and Pablo M. Simón)

Translation: Carmel Drake