Azora Group Explores its Own Stock Market Debut

15 February 2018 – La Información

The Azora Group, the manager of the moment in the Spanish real estate sector, following the successful launch of its Socimi Hispania, which managed to attract well-known international investors such as George Soros, is now considering its own debut on the stock market, according to financial sources familiar with the situation, speaking to La Información. In parallel, it is continuing to work on the assignment to debut Sareb’s Socimi, Témpore Properties, on the stock market.

According to the sources, the investor group controlled by Concha Osácar (pictured above, third from left) and Fernando Gumuzio (pictured above, far left), through the parent company Azora Altus, has already taken the first steps towards processing its debut on the stock market, a move that the company declined to comment on when consulted in this regard. According to the definition that is available on the website of one of the other Socimis that it has debuted on the market and which it now manages exclusively following Hispania’s model, Colón Viviendas, the Azora Group “is made up of independent private equity managers specialising in the real estate sector”. Founded in 2003, the group employs 400 professionals and, according to its own estimates, manages an asset portfolio worth more than €4.1 billion. In addition to Hispania and Colón Viviendas, the group manages another collective investment instrument: Lazora.

Two well-known bankers are behind the Azora Group, both former members of Banco Santander’s private banking team: Concha Osácar and Fernando Gumuzio, who control the group’s parent company through two holding companies, Baztán Consultores and Hermanos Bécquer 10, respectively. They would be the major beneficiaries of this latest planned move (…).

Change of strategy

The Azora Group’s decision to direct its steps towards the stock market comes just a few months after Hispania’s General Shareholders’ Meeting took the decision to liquidate that Socimi in 2020. The possibility was included in the initial business plan set out at the time by Azora, but the subsequent remarkable performance of the company has opened up the possibility of that project becoming a reality. Not in vain, the firm had climbed to the status of being the largest owner in the domestic hotel sector, with 39 hotels and 11,200 rooms in its portfolio, and a flow of profits significantly higher than forecast: €308 million in 2016 and €185 million in H1 2017, up by 35% YoY.

Having established Hispania’s expiry date, the Azora Group unleashed a series of decisions in the following months. In May, it decided to liquidate Azora Europa 1, another real estate investment fund in which it managed to involve Sabadell Patrimonio, Abanca, Kutxabank, Caixabank, Bankia and investors such as Manuel Jové. The next step was to begin the process to debut a new Socimi on the MAB, Colón Viviendas, whose assets comprise 300 public rental apartments acquired from the Consell Comarcal del Barcelonés back in the day.

Almost in parallel, Azora placed another Socimi on the MAB, through Hispania and in partnership with Barceló. In that case, the assets were linked to the hotel sector, in the form of Bay Hotels & Leisure, with a portfolio worth €790 million, according to the prospectus. That adventure looks set to be coming to an end after Hispania first took over Barceló’s stake and then notified the CNMV, a few days ago, of its intention to exclude the entity from trading on the MAB due to the lack of appetite from minority shareholders and the reduced liquidity of its shares.

Original story: La Información (by Bruno Pérez)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Sareb Appoints Azora To Manage Its First Socimi, Témpore Properties

21 September 2017 – El Confidencial

Sareb has chosen one of the largest experts in the management of rental housing in Spain to commandeer its first Socimi. The expert in question is Azora, an independent firm with almost 15 years experience and more than €3,000 million of assets under management. Azora’s key milestones include the creation and management of Hispania, one of the largest Socimis in Spain.

After organising a competitive process between several candidates, the entity chaired by Jaime Echegoyen (pictured above), has chosen the management firm founded by Concha Osácar and Fernando Gumuzio to take the reins at Témpore Properties, the name that Sareb has given to its first Socimi. The appointment is still pending the final approvals.

Sareb’s new vehicle will own around 1,500 rental properties, worth almost €200 million. The entity wants to place the assets, which have been valuedby CBRE, on the market before the end of the year.

Having engaged Renta 4 as the registered advisor and Clifford Chance as legal counsel, the next major challenge for Sareb will be to convince the greatest possible number of investors about the virtues of the Socimi, given that, although its market debut will be made on the MAB – the Alternative Investment Market – Echegoyen’s aim is to sell the highest percentage of share capital possible.

In this way, Azora will play an important role, given that over the course of its history, it has managed more than €1,700 million from institutional investors through its five funds, as well as having a cover letter from Hispania, whose illustrious shareholders include none other than George Soros.

Nevertheless, in recent times, the management firm has been focusing on the divestment of the bulk of these vehicles, given that they are now reaching maturity.

In fact, this week, the firm closed the sale of Resa, the largest student hall of residence company in Continental Europe, which formed part of Lazora, a vehicle with which the manager started when it focused exclusively on rental homes.

Moreover, since the spring, the firm has been actively working on the liquidation of the fund Azora Europa 1 as well as of the Socimi Hispania, which is on the verge on selling its entire office portfolio to the insurance firm Swiss Life.

Azora is also behind the sale of 3,000 homes in the Community of Madrid to Goldman Sachs, which now comprise the company Encasa Cibeles, and of the purchase of four Consell Comarcal de Barcelonés developments from several Catalan town halls, assets that it has just debuted on the MAB through its Socimi Colón Viviendas.

Original story: El Confidencial (by Ruth Ugalde)

Translation: Carmel Drake

GGC Will Debut On MAB As Spain’s 2nd Largest Socimi

29 June 2017 – Expansión

A new real estate company is preparing to debut on the stock market: next Tuesday, General de Galerías Comerciales (GGC) will become the thirty-ninth Socimi to trade on the Spanish stock exchange.

Like the majority of the listed real estate investment vehicles, this company will make its stock market debut on the MAB, an index designed for small businesses looking to expand that demands fewer requirements for trading. Nevertheless, given its size, General de Galerías Comerciales could compete with any of the firms on the main stock market, given that this Socimi will make its stock market debut with a market capitalisation of €2,054 million.

This value means that it will be the largest company to debut on the Alternative Investment Market ever. Until now, that position was occupied by the telephone operator Masmóvil, which, with a market capitalisation of €1,277 million, has just approved its transfer to the main market.

General de Galerías Comerciales will not only exceed the large Socimis on the MAB, including the property developer backed by the Montoro family, GMP, whose market capitalisation amounts to around €819.5 million, it will also outrank some of the large Socimis that trade on the main stock market.

In this way, the market capitalisation of General de Galerías Comerciales (€2,054 million) will exceed that of Hispania, which was the second largest Socimi on the Spanish stock market until now, with a market capitalisation of around €1,582 million. Meanwhile, Axiare and Lar España, the other two Socimis on the main market, are worth around €1,180 million and €727 million, respectively. Only Merlin Properties, with a market capitalisation of more than €5,273 million, will be larger than GGC.

What is GGC and who is its owner?

General de Galerías Comerciales is the owner of six shopping centres: Gran Plaza, in Granada; Mataró Parc, in Barcelona; La Cañada, in Marbella; Las Dunas, in Cádiz and Mediterráneo, in Almería. La Socimi is controlled by a majority shareholder, Tomás Olivo López, who also serves as the firm’s CEO.

This Murcian property developer, who has been based on Marbella for many years, founded General de Galerías Comerciales in 1995, together with his brother Ramón and Sandra Ravich (both hold minority stakes) and, since then, he has created a large real estate group, through both the development and purchase of properties.

Besides the six shopping centres, the Socimi also owns 19 urban or buildable lots of land, 17 rural plots, a commercial building, as well as several warehouses, homes, premises, offices and garages, the majority of which are located in Andalucía.

The jewel in its real estate portfolio is the La Cañada shopping centre, which, with a gross leasable area of more than 108,000 m2, is worth €675 million. The Socimi receives rental income of €24.86 million per year from this property, according to information provided in its IPO prospectus. GGC’s other large asset is the Nevada shopping centre, which it owns in Armilla (Granada); that property is worth €520 million and generates annual rental income of €32.5 million.

GCC will make its stock market debut at a value of €79 per share, a price that was fixed after CBRE performed a real estate valuation of the company’s assets, and which values its real estate portfolio at more than €2,000 million.

The most recent Socimis to debut on the stock market have been Albirana Properties, with residential assets controlled by Blackstone; Colón Viviendas, managed by Azora and Optimum III, which debuted on the stock market on 16 May with a portfolio comprising six residential buildings and a valuation of €54.03 million.

Original story: Expansión (by Rocío Ruiz)

Translation: Carmel Drake