Tag: conversion

Civisa’s Owner Buys 3 Buildings in Central Valencia to Convert into a Hotel

16 April 2018 – Eje Prime

Civisa doesn’t want to miss out on a business opportunity in the real estate sector in Valencia. The Mediterranean capital is one of the markets that is booming the most in the country, and so the new and, above all, the old players, in the local real estate sector, are bidding hard to undertake new projects. Such is the case of the driving force behind Civisa, Andrés Ballester, who has purchased three adjoining buildings in the centre of Valencia to convert into a new hotel.

The residential blocks are located at numbers 28, 30 and 32 Calle del Mar, very close to Plaza de los Patos and Plaza de la Reina. In this enclave, Ballester has acquired three properties with a combined surface area of almost 370 m2, which will allow it to construct a significant number of rooms, according to reports from Valencia Plaza.

The founder of Civisa has already requested a construction licence from the Town Hall for his hotel project. The measures that the businessman will have to take into account include respecting the façade of the central building, which has a commercial space on the ground floor, and the respecting the height of the property following the renovation, given that it may not exceed the limit for the area.

This new hotel in the centre of Valencia is not the only real estate project in which Ballester has been immersed in recent times. Recently, the businessman participated in another operation through which Inditex is going to open its first Zara megastore in Valencia. It is going to be located on Boulevard Austria and is being renovated in its entirety by the multinational textile company.

Original story: Eje Prime 

Translation: Carmel Drake

Paraguayan Magnate Buys Luxury Development on c/General Oráa 9

8 April 2018 – El Confidencial

A new Latin American investor has entered Spain’s luxury residential market. The person in question is Carlos Gill Ramírez, a businessman who was born in Paraguay and who also has Venezuelan citizenship. He has just purchased the high-end development at c/General Oráa 9 in Madrid from Platinum Estates, according to sources.

This sale is the first divestment that the Asian fund has carried out in Spain and forms part of the asset rotation policy that it has launched for its first Spanish fund, to focus on raising and investing €500 million in its new vehicle.

For Gill, this acquisition represents the first step in his growth plans in the country, where he has constituted the company Sari Holdco with a view to continuing to star in operations that will allow him to create his own real estate empire. Uría has represented the Latin American businessman in the purchase of General Oráa and Garrigues has represented Platinum, whilst Engel & Volkers has acted as the advisor.

Having obtained all of the necessary authorisations from the Town Hall of Madrid, construction of this luxury development is almost 70% complete. It will allow the transformation of this building, dating back to 1926, into 10 high-end homes, measuring between 348 m2 and 409 m2 each, plus two penthouses measuring 500 m2, with 250 m2 dedicated to a solarium and private swimming pool. The sales prices range between €3.6 million and €10 million per home.

Since Platinum acquired this development from the Catalan firm Renta, four years ago, it has always been said that it would be aimed at Latin American buyers interesting in owning a home in the Salamanca neighbourhood. Nevertheless, nobody imagined that a businessman from the other side of the Atlantic would also end up taking over the entire project, with the objective of finishing the construction work and putting it on the market.

Industrial wealth

Born in Paraguay, in July 1956, aged just six, Carlos Gill moved with his family to Venezuela, where he ended up being an honorary counsel for his native country. After studying Dentistry at the Central University of Venezuela, the businessman participated in important restructurings such as those of Banco Unión, Mercedes-Benz Venezuela, Grupo Corimón, Banco Capital, Banco Canarias de Venezuela and Bancentro Banco Comercial.

He is currently the President of Grupo Corimón, a Venezuelan corporation that operates in the paint, chemical product and flexible packaging sectors. The firm claims to be the largest conglomerate of its kind on the entire sub-continent and its shares are listed on the Caracas Stock Exchange.

Moreover, four years ago, Gill purchased a controlling share of Ferroviaria Oriental, the company that operates the railways in the east of Bolivia and, months later, he did the same with the country’s western network, by acquiring Ferroviaria Andina from the Chilean firm Luksic. Recent operations include his purchase of Bridgestone Firestone Venezuela.

Original story: El Confidencial (by Ruth Ugalde)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Basque Gov’t Sells Listed Property in San Sebastián for €10.4M

27 December 2017 – El Diario Vasco

The auction of the building located on Plaza de Bilbao in Donostia will generate 48% more than the asking price for the Basque Government.

The former headquarters of the Chamber for Urban Property, which has not been used for six years, was sold by the Basque Government last week for €10.4 million in an auction process. The firm that has acquired the attractive property is a shell company headquartered in Madrid, which was constituted a month ago with the aim of acquiring and operating real estate properties and which will likely convert the building into homes.

The property is one of the three buildings whose curved façades give Plaza de Bilbao its shape. They were designed between 1901 and 1905 by Pedro Arístegui and Carlos Ibero as the finishing touch to the thoroughfare comprising Estación del Norte and the María Cristina bridge. Although the internal layouts of the three homes are different, the façades are the same and the Special Protection Plan for Constructed Urban Properties (Peppuc) protects them – they have been granted grade B status (…).

Ownership of the property was transferred from the (Spanish) State to the Basque Autonomous Community when it became the offices of the Chamber of Urban Property and, following the liquidation thereof in 2006, the building has been in disuse since 2011. The property comprises seven storeys (a ground floor, five normal floors and an attic) and has a surface area of 324 m2 per floor (except the attic, which is slightly smaller). A study performed by the Chamber of Urban Property at the time estimated its economic value at around €18 million.

The Treasury Department of the Basque Government decided to divest this property in light of the expenses that it was generating without any prospects for future use (…).

Seven companies submitted bids, after having deposited a guarantee of €350,347 (equivalent to 5% of the tender amount) and on Thursday last week the bid envelopes were opened and the sale was confirmed.

According to sources, the firm that has acquired the building is a shell company, headquartered in Madrid, and constituted on 21 November 2017, that goes by the name Boyton Invest S.L. (…). The price paid, €10,375,000, is 48.06% higher than the initial asking price (…).

Original story: El Diario Vasco (by Aingeru Munguía)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Student Properties Gets Green Light to Debut on the MAB

12 December 2017 – Expansión

The Socimi Student Properties, which specialises in student halls has received the green light from the MAB to make its stock market debut. Student Properties owns a building on c/Don Ramón de la Cruz (Madrid), which it wants to convert into a hall of residence with 146 rooms.

Original story: Expansión

Translation: Carmel Drake

Elix Vintage Residencial Buys 4 Buildings for €3M

5 December 2017 – Eje Prime

The Socimi owned by Altamar, the property developer Elix and KKR has purchased its first assets. The company Elix Vintage Residencial has injected €3 million for the purchase of four buildings, located in Barcelona and Madrid, according to explanations given by sources at the company to Eje Prime.

According to the Official Gazette of the Mercantile Registry, the firm has carried out a capital increase amounting to €3 million in the company Elix Vintage Residencial Socimi. In this way, the company’s subscribed capital has increased to €3.06 million. According to the company, the first purchases that have been carried out involve four residential assets, in Barcelona and Madrid, although sources at Elix declined to give more details about the properties.

KKR and Altamar Capital Partners joined forces in July to invest in the Spanish market for the renovation and leasing of homes. The two funds signed an agreement with one of the property developers with the greatest amount of experience in the sector, Elix, to launch a Socimi that will invest more than €200 million in the purchase of properties in Barcelona and Madrid. The objective of both funds is to debut the investment vehicle on the stock market once it has carried out the bulk of its investments.

This company, which is headquartered in Barcelona, was created with share capital of €100 million. That capital was mostly contributed by KKR and a group of international and domestic investors, including Altamar and Deutsche Finance Group. The rest of the shares are owned by Jaime Lacasa and Jorge Benjumeda, founders of Elix.

The idea is that this capital contribution could be doubled with indebtedness. The plan involves purchasing around four buildings over three years and subjecting them to complete renovations before putting them on the market as rental homes once they have been refurbished. That rental income will feed the Socimi, which plans to rotate its asset portfolio every three years.

Elix will be the company responsible for converting the properties, and so it is acting as an industrial partner. With this vehicle, the company will be able to scale up its business model, which until now had been very concentrated in the El Eixample district of Barcelona. The company, founded in 2003, expanded its activity to Madrid last year (…).

New recruit

In parallel to its Socimi, Elix is pushing ahead with its business, to which end it has hired a new director to strengthen its real estate area. The company has recruited Rafael Vázquez to lead the management of its property portfolio.

The company’s newest member will lead an area that handles around 1,000 properties and which is expected to include another forty new buildings (to be renovated) thanks to the more than €200 million of funding that the Socimi Elix Vintage Residencial has available to spend on assets in the Spanish and Catalan capitals.

Vázquez, who has more than fifteen years of experience in the sector, joined the firm from Encore Captial Group, a company for which he carried out asset recovery services in Spain. The executive holds a degree in Architecture and an MBA from the IE business school.

Original story: Eje Prime (by C. Pareja)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Renta Corporación Buys Residential Building In Barcelona

10 November 2017 – Expansión

The real estate company Renta Corporación has purchased a building measuring 2,500 m2 on Calle Unió, 7 in Barcelona, in the city’s Gothic Quarter. It is going to build 22 new homes on the site with an investment of €12 million.

Original story: Expansión

Translation: Carmel Drake

Valencia’s PSOE Sells Its HQ In Valencia For €5.8M

30 October 2017 – Expansión

After almost a year on the market, the PSPV-PSOE’s headquarters on Calle Blanquerías in Valencia has a new owner. The spokesman for the PSPV, Jorge Rodríguez, said on Friday that the party has agreed to accept an offer amounting to €5.8 million, which means that it will have to vacate its headquarters during the next year.

The buyer is the hotel chain Myr, belonging to the Comatel group, which specialises in recreational machines, according to El Mundo. The PSPV has certainly taken advantage of the rising real estate cycle, given that the initial offers for the property did not even amount to €5 million.

The Valencian Socialist party will use the revenues raised to cover its massive debts, which amount to more than €7 million after its electoral results in recent years have led to a reduction in its income. The Valencian PP has already had to abandon its regional headquarters for the same reason.

Original story: Expansión

Translation: Carmel Drake

Grosvenor Buys 3 More Residential Properties In Madrid

26 October 2017 – Eje Prime

The youngest multi-millionaire in the world has set his sights on Spain. The young Duke of Westminster, 26, has acquired three properties in Madrid, where he is going to build luxury homes. The latest project involves the transformation of a property that used to house the Philatelic Forum for many years. The plan is to build twelve properties there for wealthy tenants, according to Cinco Días.

The Spanish subsidiary of Grosvenor has also purchased a plot of land on Calle Jorge Juan, where it plans to construct seven apartments and a property on Santa Engracia, which will contain 18 homes once the building has been renovated.

To carry out this series of investments, the British company has joined forces with the holding company Amcorp, which is headquartered in Malaysia and which has funds amounting to €70 million.

In addition to the residential market, Grosvenor is looking to purchase offices for their rental, according to the company. In Spain, the firm is a partner of the Sonae Sierra joint venture, one of the main players in the shopping centre sector.

Grosvenor, led by Mark Preston, currently owns properties with a value of around €7,300 million, most of which are located in the United Kingdom, where, it is also the main landowner in London’s most exclusive neighbourhoods. These assets generated revenues of €298 million in 2016 and profits of almost €90 million.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake

Bulevard Rosa Shopping Arcade To Be Converted Into Large Format Stores

20 October 2017 – Eje Prime

The historical Bulevard Rosa, managed by the Catalan Vives family, will close its doors during the first half of next year, according to explanations provided to Eje Prime by sources close to the process. The establishment, which will be converted into between large format stores for fashion retailers, is whereby following in the footsteps of the Madrilenian shopping arcade El Jardín de Serrano, which is also in the process of closing its doors for a refit to welcome Uniqlo’s first megastore in Madrid.

Bulevard Rosa opened its doors in December 1978, to become one of the most iconic shopping arcades in the centre of Barcelona. The complex, which occupies the ground floor of the office building located at number 55 Paseo de Gracia, currently comprises around 100 shops and has a gross leasable area of 5,200 m2.

According to sources at Bulevard Rosa, the managers of the shopping centre have already contacted the tenants to inform them that their rental contracts will not be renewed beyond June 2018. According to sources in the real estate business, the owners’ project involves transforming the arcade into between two and four megastores, depending on the needs of the operators that express interest in the location (…).

This decision comes ten years after the managers of Bulevard Rosa tried to revitalise the shopping centre by expanding it and introducing new operators. In 2008, the company converted its former movie theatres into a Nespresso megastore, whilst the Galician ladies’ fashion label Bimba y Lola also recently expanded its store in the complex.

With the disappearance of Bulevard Rosa, the owners of the complex may be able to generate a return on their commercial investment with the opening of new large format stores. Currently, the monthly rent for a store on Paseo de Gracia amounts to between €240/m2/month and €310/m2/month, with a return of 3.8%.

Moreover, fortune is playing into the hands of the owners of the shopping arcade, given that the availability of stores along this stretch of Paseo de Gracia is almost nil (…).

Original story: Eje Prime (by Custodio Pareja)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Lar Sells Office On c/Arturo Soria To Colonial For €32.5M

2 October 2017 – Eje Prime

New divestment in the real estate business. The Socimi Lar España has sold the office building located at number 336 Calle Arturo Soria to Colonial for €32.5 million, according to a statement made by the company. This asset had formed part of Lar’s portfolio since 2014.

The office building is located in the centre of Madrid. It comprises nine storeys and has an above-ground gross leasable area of 8,663 m2, plus 193 parking spaces. Both companies highlight that the strong future of this property, whose occupancy rate has increased from 80% when it was acquired by Lar España to the current level of 100%, following an initial investment in its renovation undertaken by the company.

José Luis del Valle, President of Lar España, highlighted “the importance of this first divestment, which fulfils the plan that the company initially forecast: acquire attractive properties, increase their value through good management and, having implemented the business plan designed at the time of the purchase, consider the possibility of divestment to continue investing in strategic assets that maximise the value for our shareholders”.

For Pere Viñolas, CEO of Colonial, this purchase forms part of the asset acquisition strategy in the three markets in which the company has a presence. They are all continuing to show “momentum and good performance in the context of policies to convert and reposition assets”. The operation in question has been completed off-market and has been advised by Aguirre Newman.

Lar España Real Estate currently owns thirty real estate assets whose combined value amounts to €1,419.1 million, of which €1,040.8 million corresponds to shopping centres, located in Madrid, Toledo, the Balearic Islands, La Rioja, Vigo, Valencia, Sevilla, Alicante, Cantabria, Lugo, León, Vizcaya, Navarra, Guipúzcoa, Palencia, Albacete and Barcelona; €149.8 million to three offices buildings; €83.3 million to four logistics assets; and €145.4 million to four developments under construction.

Meanwhile, the Colonial group is a listed real estate company specialising in the prime office market in Europe, with a presence in the main business districts of Barcelona, Madrid and Paris, and a portfolio of properties worth more than €8,600 million.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake