Apollo’s Sale of Altamira Enters the Home Stretch with DoBank & Intrum as Favourites

17 December 2018 – La Información

The market for servicers is still in a spin and, following the sale of the majority of Solvia last week, now it is Altamira’s turn. According to assurances provided to La Información by sources close to the process, the US fund Apollo is facing the home stretch of the operation, which is expected to close within the next few days. Of the offers received by the US entity, those submitted by the Italian entity DoBank and the Swedish firm Intrum, have managed to make it through to the final found.

In fact, according to the same sources, it is DoBank, the former UniCredit Management Bank, that has the upper hand, in a transaction that is being led by Goldman Sachs. Currently, the entity is the largest owner of doubtful loans in Italy, and so its experience with this type of company is more than clear. Moreover, the most recent major operation that it carried out was in Greece, with the acquisition of a portfolio of non-performing loans in the Hellenic country worth €2 billion.

In total, the Italian firm currently manages more than €77 billion in loans and has agreements with most entities in its home country. For that, it employs a workforce of almost 1,200 and works with 1,600 external collaborators.

Apollo engaged Goldman Sachs last summer to carry out the sale of its servicer but after months of offers – including from Haya and Cerberus – it has decided to select the aforementioned two entities for the final round. The US fund has decided to take advantage of the good times in the market to divest and obtain profits after four years at the helm of Altamira (…).

Apollo acquired the servicer in January 2014 after paying €664 million in exchange for the 85% stake that it currently owns. Its primary function is based on the recovery management of loans from banks and the management and sale of properties proceeding from that activity. In 2017, the last year for which data is available in the Mercantile Registry, Altamira had more than 500 employees and generated an annual turnover of more than €300 million.

This servicer has become one of the major managers of financial and real estate assets in the country, with more than €53.8 billion in assets and more than 82,000 properties. Its main clients include its shareholder Banco Santander, and Sareb (…).

Intrum has already purchased 80% of Solvia

In the event that the tables turn and it is Intrum that ends up acquiring Altamira, it would be the second operation by the Swedish firm in one week. On Friday, Sabadell announced the sale of 80% of Solvia Servicios Inmobiliarios to Intrum for €300 million, whereby converting the fund into one of the new property giants (…).

The sale of Altamira by Apollo would serve to further close the door to Spain for the Americans. Since the sale of Evo Banco in September – the fund’s other major project in the country – to Bankinter, speculation has been rife regarding Apollo’s withdrawal from the Spanish market (…).

Original story: La Información (by Lucía Gómez)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Meliá Finishes a €30M Renovation of its 900-Room Mega-Complex on the Costa del Sol

10 December 2018 – Diario Sur

Following the comprehensive renovation of the Don Pablo, Don Pedro and Don Marco Hotels, Meliá is preparing to change the brand to Sol Torremolinos Resort, with almost 900 rooms.

Just a few handcrafted details, commissioned in the 1970s, remind visitors of the origins and essence of the hotels Don Pablo, Don Pedro and Don Marco. They have undergone a comprehensive transformation following a €30 million investment to relaunch and consolidate them as the largest hotel complex in the Costa del Sol. The renovation work has taken three years and the only improvements left to make now, during the winter months, are in the spa located in the Don Marco Hotel, which is closed for the season, and in the indoor swimming pool, one of nine in the complex, explained Jaime Floyer, Director of Sol Don Hoteles. He added that Meliá is now preparing to change the brand to be renamed Sol Torremolinos Resort.

The three-hotel complex has modern façades, terraces that look like they end in the sea, a beach club and seven conference rooms, which have been renovated and equipped with the latest technology and with capacity for up to 500 people. It also has bedrooms and completely renovated common areas, plus 50,000 m2 of gardens and swimming pools, where the new work has improved the flow of clients from one hotel to another, to create the largest hotel complex on the Costa del Sol. “It is a resort that is looking to the future, we employ 210 people on average and we have a great diversity of nationalities amongst our loyal client base, with cases of tourists who spend up to five months here in the winter”, explained Jaime Floyer.

The new Sol Torremolinos Resort, on the beachfront, accounts for 5% of the hotel supply in Torremolinos, the town that is first in the ranking on the Costa del Sol by volume of hotel beds. This complex also has the advantage that it has an infrastructure that allows it to position each establishment in different and booming segments. In this way, Don Marco, the youngest of the hotels, inaugurated in 2004, as a four-star, 120-room property, is marketed as an establishment recommended for “adults only”.

By contrast, Sol Don Pedro is more focused on families (…); it opened to the public in 1971 and currently offers 344 rooms (…). Meanwhile, Don Pablo, with 442 rooms, is the big brother of the business (…) and opened its doors in 1974 (…).

In terms of the profile of clients, 25% are domestic, and the rest are from overseas, with Brits (24%) and Belgians (15%) standing out in particular (…).

Original story: Diario Sur (by Pilar Martínez)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Gazeley Purchases a 75,000 m2 Industrial Plot in Toledo

19 October 2018 – Eje Prime

Gazeley has returned to the Spanish market. The logistics warehouse and distribution park investor and developer group has acquired a 75,000 m2 plot in the Toledo town of Illescas on which it will build a 36,000 m2 warehouse. The company is planning to complete the project in 2019.

Moreover, the company has opened new offices in Madrid. Oscar Heras, Construction Director at Gazeley, will assume the role of Director of the subsidiary Gazeley España, which, until now, has stayed away from Spanish real estate activity after selling all of its assets in the country in 2016.

Then, the company was going through a bad time: it had accumulated more than 1.5 million m2 in more than a dozen platforms. Moreover, that same year, the Spanish subsidiary recorded a net profit of more than €16 million, which it used to offset losses from previous years, exceeding €11 million.

Now they are back, because, according to Heras, “it is a time when there is more demand for logistics warehouses than ever”. The company’s intention is to continue growing in Spain.

In Europe, Gazeley has a portfolio of assets spanning 17 million m2, concentrated in the United Kingdom, Germany, France and the Netherlands and leased (96%) to clients such as Amazon, UPS and Volkswagen. The company forms part of the GLP group, which is listed on the Singapore stock market, with more than $50 billion in assets under management.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake

Four Seasons to Invest €600M in a New Resort in Marbella

27 September 2018 – Diario Sur

The Four Seasons hotel chain, one of the world’s leading luxury tourism companies, is preparing to make its debut on the Costa del Sol with a resort in which it plans to invest €600 million. Although this will be the brand’s second project in Spain, given that it has been working on the construction of a 22-room hotel in Madrid since last year, this latest initiative is much more ambitious, both in terms of volume and location.

The resort is going to be built on a plot measuring around 400,000 m2 on the beach front and which occupies land on both sides of the A-7 motorway. It is the last plot of its kind that has not been built on yet in one of the most sought-after parts of Marbella, in the Los Monteros area.

The plot is owned by Villa Padierna, which is, in turn, owned by the Málagan businessman Ricardo Arranz, who has teamed up with the US firm Fort Partners for this development and the Brussels-based real estate firm Inmobel. Four Seasons will participate not only in the management of the hotel, it will also lend its name to the whole development, which will include private residences and villas in addition to a 200-room hotel. The complex will also include restaurants operated by international brands, which will make their debuts in Spain with this project.

It is expected that the urban developments will occupy approximately one quarter of the 400,000 m2 land. The project will be developed by the architect Richard Meier and construction work will begin as soon as the execution has been completed of a partial plan that has already been approved, according to explanations from Arranz.

One of the most notable features being planned is a tunnel underneath the road, which will allow the hotel and the homes that are going to be built to the north of the motorway to have sea views. The corresponding permits for that piece of work have already started to be processed.

Arranz highlighted the transcendence that the arrival of a leading brand such as Four Seasons has for Marbella and the Costa del Sol as a whole. It will be the first firm of its standing to operate in Andalucía and it will play an important role in the battle against seasonality given the large portfolio of clients that it enjoys (…).

Original story: Diario Sur (by Héctor Barbotta)

Translation: Carmel Drake

XPO Logistics Inaugurates its First ‘Last Mile’ Operations Centre in Spain

4 June 2018 – Eje Prime

XPO Logistics, the provider of transport and logistics solutions, is expanding its service in Spain. The group has recently launched two centres in Puerto de Sevilla, which together span almost 10,000m2. Both facilities are located in the Puerto’s ZAL (Logistics Activities Zone) and one of them is going to be the site of XPO’s first last mile operations centre in Spain.

XPO is also working on additional extensions to its last mile network in other Andalucían provinces, including opening an operations centre in Málaga dedicated exclusively to that activity.

This intensive service logistics area consists of specialised delivery, at-home assembly, and installation of large consumer products, such as furniture and household appliances. The 50 loading bays at the plants in Sevilla will be used to support the growing demand for the company’s last mile service, as well as its palleted cargo network (LTL) in Spain and Portugal.

XPO is present in all of the Andalucían provinces, where it operates a total of ten centres, owned and leased, including these two centres in the ZAL of Puerto de Sevilla. The company serves more than 500 clients of varying sizes and sectors across the region. XPO’s palleted cargo network in Spain includes 70 distribution centres and transports more than 4 million pallets per year, making it the national leader in this segment of activity.

Original story: Eje Prime 

Translation: Carmel Drake

Prologis Achieves Full Occupancy at its Logistics Park in Barajas

25 January 2018 – Mis Naves

Today, Prologis, Inc. announced that it has signed a rental agreement for 2,720 m2 with Alfil Logistics and a purchase agreement for 2,720 m2 with Transemer in the Prologis Park Barajas (Madrid). With these operations, the company has reached full occupancy at the logistics park.

Alfil Logistics, a logistics operator that provides services for consumer, food and drinks products; and Transemer, a company specialising in the transportation of goods, have chosen this park for its great location and direct connections with Madrid-Barajas Airport, which is located just 500 m away. Similarly, the park has an excellent communication network with direct access to the A-2 and M-11 highways, as well as to the M-30 and M-40 ring roads.

Prologis Park Barajas offers its clients numerous features, including a 24-hour surveillance service, an internal free height of 10 metres, 6 loading bays per module and a modern fire detection and extinction system.

“With these operations, we take the occupancy rate at Prologis Park Barajas to 100%. Our clients have immediate access to the Community of Madrid’s entire road network and the site is just 500m from Madrid-Barajas Airport”, said Gustavo Cardozo, Senior Vice-President of Prologis Iberia. “We are delighted that Alfil Logistics and Transemer have decided to strategically back our park in Barajas by consolidating their operations there”.

The real estate consultant CBRE and an independent agent have been responsible for advising these operations.

Original story: Mis Naves

Translation: Carmel Drake

CaixaBank Wants to Grow Its Tourism Business by 20%

11 December 2017 – Expansión

CaixaBank is stepping down on the accelerator in the tourism sector. The bank chaired by Jordi Gual has launched CaixaBank Hotels & Tourism, a specialist business line that is seeking to increase both the number of clients and the financing granted to the tourism sector, which has a global impact of 16% on Spain’s GDP. According to the entity, two out of every three hotels are already clients of CaixaBank, which has a market share of 63%.

The objective that the team of 30 professionals in the Hotels & Tourism team has set itself is to increase turnover by 20% during the first year of activity, accelerating both the number of new clients and the loan book.

CaixaBank Hotels & Tourism started to take shape in 2008 when a specialist team was established in the Balearic Islands. Now, that division has its own brand and a portfolio of more than 14,000 clients, from which it generates a turnover of €5 billion.

In 2016, the bank led by Gonzalo Gortázar granted loans worth €1.3 billion to the tourism sector. It plans to multiply that figure over the coming years with the launch of this specialist unit.

According to the Director-General of CaixaBank’s business, Juan Antonio Alcaraz, the challenge is to promote the modernisation of the existing hotel stock and to facilitate financing to business-people in the sector to enable them to buy hotel assets and undertake new build projects.

CaixaBank is not the only entity to launch a specific division for this sector. In 2014, Banco Sabadell launched Sabadell Negocio Turístico, a unit that has allowed it to increase its net investment balance at an annual rate of more than 10%.

According to Alcaraz, the 30 specialists working for CaixaBank’s new line of business, are located in those areas of the country that have the most tourist weighting to ensure proximity to clients and the provision of a personalised service. “We want to help businessmen in the sector maintain their position of global leadership”, said the executive, who emphasised that tourism “is one of the most strategic and important areas of the Spanish economy”.

According to CaixaBank’s research service, the direct and indirect contribution from tourism to GDP amounts to €119 billion, equivalent to 11.1% of the total. Nevertheless, if we add the spending that all of the players involved in the tourism sector make in other economic sectors, then the global impact reaches 16% of GDP, well above the European average, of 9.6%. More than 2.5 million people are employed in the sector.

Specialisation

CaixaBank Hotel & Tourism forms part of the bank’s corporate banking area, which has opted to launch several specialist lines of business to cater for economic sectors. For example, the entity has units dedicated to the real estate sector – fourteen centres – and the agrarian sector, with more than 900 AgroBank branches. It also has fourteen large business centres – one in each territory – business centres dedicated to dealing with businesses, self-employed people and professionals, and 106 company branches for other firms. It has also just launched CaixaBank Day One to deal with the specific needs of startups.

Spain is just a step away from overtaking France as the most popular destination in the world for tourist visits. Provided that the Catalan political situation does not intervene, forecasts suggest that this year could close with more than 84 million tourist visits.

Original story: Expansión (by S. Saborit)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Greystar, AXA IM–Real Assets & GIP Buy Spanish Student Housing Provider Resa

7 December 2017 – PE Hub

Greystar Real Estate Partners has acquired Spain-based Resa, a student accommodation provider. The acquisition was made via a joint venture partnership that includes AXA Investment Managers – Real Assets and CBRE Global Investment Partners. No financial terms were disclosed.

Greystar Real Estate Partners (“Greystar”), a global leader in the investment, development, and management of rental housing properties, closed today, through a joint venture (“JV”) partnership, on the acquisition of Resa, the largest student accommodation provider in Spain. The JV includes AXA Investment Managers – Real Assets (“AXA IM – Real Assets”) and CBRE Global Investment Partners (GIP), both acting on behalf of clients, who have acquired the substantial majority holding in the portfolio in equal sized shares, while Greystar has bought the remaining balance and will act as property, development and asset manager for the portfolio. The deal is the largest investment transaction in student housing on the Iberian Peninsula.

The previously announced JV partnership marks Greystar’s first investment in Spain and will serve as a platform to build a diversified rental housing business and portfolio with backing from global institutional capital.

“The Resa portfolio is undoubtedly Spain’s premier student accommodation provider and will provide Greystar with a significant presence in the prime markets of Madrid and Barcelona on which to build out a diversified Spanish rental housing platform,” said Wes Fuller, Executive Managing Director of Greystar’s Investment Management business. “We are excited by the tremendous opportunity in the country, and look forward to bringing Greystar’s proven business model and institutional capital to the Spanish market for the long term.”

Resa is Spain’s market leader in student accommodation managing 9,309 student beds in 19 Spanish cities, including tier one cities Madrid and Barcelona, in addition to Andalucía, Cataluña, Galicia, Navarra, Pais Vasco, Salamanca and Valencia. Resa, managed by Azora since 2011, has experienced significant growth during this period, increasing from 26 to 37 residences, of which four are currently under development. The JV portfolio will continue to trade under the Resa brand with Greystar assuming responsibility for overall management. Resa will operate as a fully Greystar-owned and managed business.

In addition to the Resa acquisition, Greystar together with its strategic long-term partners plans to invest further in the Spanish rental housing market, including additional student, young professional and senior housing for rent. Greystar is currently evaluating a pipeline of opportunities across Spain and Portugal including Madrid, Barcelona, Lisbon and other key Iberian cities.

“We are thrilled to add this high-quality well-established portfolio to Greystar’s growing European platform. As a global provider of rental housing, we are constantly looking for opportunities to expand into attractive new markets, and this acquisition does exactly that,” said Steven Zeeman, Greystar’s Managing Director of Continental Europe. “Spain is one of Europe’s fastest-growing economies with a serious shortage of purpose-built rental accommodation suitable for students and young professionals. Home ownership in the country has fallen in recent years, particularly with the country’s young and highly mobile urban population wanting a flexible alternative.

Despite this healthy appetite for new rental housing, construction has failed to keep pace with demand. The rental housing sector remains highly fragmented, with no established market for the type of purpose-built rental accommodation known as multifamily in the United States. Our investment strategy will allow us to develop a significant multifamily pipeline in Spain and grow our platform to realize the potential we see in the country.” (…).

About Greystar

Greystar is a leading, fully integrated multifamily real estate company offering expertise in investment management, development and property management of rental housing properties globally. Headquartered in Charleston, South Carolina with offices throughout the United States, Europe, Latin America and Asia-Pacific, Greystar is the largest operator of apartments in the United States, managing over 420,000 units in over 130 markets globally, with an aggregate estimated value of approximately $80 billion. Greystar also has a robust institutional investment management platform dedicated to managing capital on behalf of a global network of institutional investors with over $23 billion in gross assets under management, including more than $8 billion of developments that have been completed or are underway. Greystar was founded by Bob Faith in 1993 with the intent to become a world-class class service in the rental housing real estate business.

Original story: PE Hub (by Iris Dorbian)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Hyatt To Open Its New 5-Star Hotel In Madrid In December

6 November 2017 – Cinco Días

Nine years after it stopped managing Hotel Villa Magna, the North American hotel chain Hyatt, is finalising its return to Spain and will benefit from first-mover advantage in the battle between the luxury hotels in Madrid. It will be the first to open, but close behind it will be followed by the five-star Four Seasons hotel in Canalejas, the four-star RIU hotel in Plaza de España and the five-star Starwood hotel in the former Hotel Asturias.

The hotel will be located in the heart of Gran Vía, will have 159 rooms (of which 10% will be suites with views over the iconic street) and will be very focused on tourists with a high purchasing power. Gonzalo Maggi, Director of the hotel, highlights that it will be the first hotel to operate under the Centric brand in Europe. “The main features of the brand including being at the centre of the action. We are targeting clients who want to explore, get to know the city and discover new things and who want to use the hotel as a launch pad for their stay”, says Maggi, who admits that the building work is being accelerated to ensure that the hotel will be ready to open in December to take advantage of the Christmas rush.

Maggi defines the client that his hotel is targeting as “lifestyle”, which serves, in his opinion, to differentiate its offer from those of the other operators that are going to compete with Hyatt. “We are going to target people who place a lot of importance on design, fashion, the people they share space with and the gastronomy they seek. We are going to position ourselves in the high-end segment. Of the scale of traditional five-star hotels, we are going to aim a bit lower, but in the highest range of the new establishments”, he says. Another feature of the chain is the food. “We are going to have a music studio in the hotel lobby specialising in vermouths, a restaurant with international food and a rooftop bar, which will open in the first quarter of 2018”, he says (…).

The Director of the Hyatt Centric forecasts that to start with, 40% of the hotel’s clients will come from the USA, where the brand has been established for 60 years and is very well known. The rest will come mainly from three European countries (France, Germany and the UK) as well as from certain Asian countries. Maggi does not rule out that the hotel will also spark interest in the domestic market, despite its high prices, given its good location.

The director of the hotel highlights that Spain represents a very interesting market, as shown by the opening of the Park Hyatt in Mallorca a year and a half ago, although he is sure that the main opportunities are in Madrid and Barcelona (…). Asked about the hotel moratorium, he says (…) “as soon as they let us build there, we will launch ourselves into that market. It is a fantastic city and has a great deal to offer”, he says.

Original story: Cinco Días (by Carlos Molina)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Banca March Creates A Socimi To Maximise Returns From ABC Serrano

7 November 2017 – La Información

Serrano 61 Desarrollo Socimi – that is the name of the listed real estate investment company (Socimi) that Banca March has constituted to try to optimise the profitability of one of the most high-profile investments that the entity has undertaken this year, the acquisition of the ABC Serrano shopping centre, according to data in the Mercantile Register.

Banca March purchased the building on Calle Serrano, 61, in June for an undisclosed sum. It is one of the jewels in the crown of Madrid’s golden mile, which until then formed had part of a portfolio owned by CBRE Global Investors – the investment arm of the largest real estate consultancy firm in the world (CBRE Ellis). Banca March is the fifth owner the asset has had since 2013. In that year, Reyal Urbis, which has now filed for liquidation, transferred ownership of ABC Serrano and another commercial space to the investment company IBA Capital Partners, which shortly after included it in the asset portfolio of its Socimi Zambal. CBRE Global Investors acquired the building at the beginning of 2016.

Banca March has chosen the Socimi format, just like IBA Capital Partners, which is still responsible for managing the centre, did back in the day; its aim is to try and extract the maximum return possible from this real estate investment, in which it shares the risk and reward with a group of the bank’s clients who have participated in the operation as a result of a co-investment model through which the deal was formalised.

Co-investment is one of the unconventional investment formats that Banca March offers its clients. According to information provided by the entity on its website, it uses the format in “projects analysed by the March Group in which it decides to invest, and it offers its clients the opportunity to participate in the investments” (…).

MAB debut in 2018

This implies that Serrano 61 Desarrollo Socimi will not be an exclusive Banca March project, but rather will have financial backing from a group of the entity’s clients, which will also be shareholders of the company.

According to sources familiar with the operation, the company will start to operate as a Socimi from 1 January 2018 onwards and will make its debut on the Alternative Investment Market at some point next year. Its sole asset will be the ABC Serrano shopping centre.

Financial sources consulted by lainformacion.com deny that the activation of this Socimi is the first step of a more decided commitment by Banca March to the real estate sector. “Grupo March has a very recognisable investment approach. It identifies assets of interest, analyses their profitability threshold and if it takes the decision to acquire them, it looks for the most appropriate vehicle to make them profitable. It does not invest in sectors, it invests in assets”, explained one market source.

The Socimi format will allow Banca March and the clients that accompany it with this investment to benefit from a Corporation Tax rate of 0%. Moreover, it will guarantee the distribution of 80% of the returns obtained from the management of the ABC Serrano to the shareholders, and it will provide a favourable fiscal framework that characterises this vehicle for the dividends obtained.

Original story: La Información (by Bruno Pérez)

Translation: Carmel Drake