Barings Acquires Five Office Buildings in Avalon Business Park in Madrid

    

Barings Real Estate has acquired five office buildings within Avalon Business Park, Madrid, Spain, as part of a Pan European value add investment strategy on behalf of an institutional investor. The seller is Meridia Capital. The five office buildings comprise 24,495sqm and are best in class in this submarket. The buildings are 97% occupied with more than 20 tenants mainly from the IT/technology and engineering sectors. Additionally, there are 1,291sqm of retail space and 421 underground parking spaces.

The Avalon Business Park comprises in total nine office buildings with 46,952sqm. The business park is located in Julian Camarillo, a 950,000sqm, consolidated office sub-market within the city of Madrid, one of the largest submarkets in terms of take-up in 2018. Formerly an industrial area, Avalon Business Park has already undergone big changes in the past years. It is in very close proximity to the city centre and the airport (15 minutes by car to each). The metro station is within eight minutes walking distance, and the property is served by several bus lines.

“We are delighted to announce our seventh acquisition in Spain and our first investment in the Madrid office market, where we see significant rental and value growth over the coming years. This is a new milestone in the development of our investment strategy in the Iberian Peninsula after a significant capital deployment in both the retail and the logistic markets. As our local team grows, we continue broadening our investment horizon, not only across different asset classes but also in terms of risk profile, from core product to value-add and opportunistic transactions,” Adolfo Favieres, Country Head Real Estate, Spain at Barings, said.

Barings was advised by Dentons (Legal), Deloitte (Financial), Arcadis (Technical) and Knight Frank (Valuation). Meridia Capital was advised by Garrigues and Savills Aguirre Newman.

MDSR Buys A Portfolio Of Hypermarkets For €150M

21 September 2017 – Expansión

The fund MDSR Investments has completed another purchase in Spain. The firm has acquired a portfolio of hypermarkets leased to Carrefour and Eroski, which were owned until now by Tristan Capital. The operation, which has been closed for a value of approximately €150 million, represents the largest transaction in Spain involving hypermarkets and shopping arcades so far this year.

The portfolio has a gross leasable area of 86,836 m2. Located in Segovia, Jaca, Fuengirola, San Javier, Tomelloso, San Sebastián and Ribadeo, the first four operate buildings under the Carrefour brand. Moreover, the operation also includes shopping arcades in Segovia, Jaca and Tomelloso.

This is the seventh operation to be undertaken by the firm, which is managed by an Israeli group and financed by US investors, since it arrived in Spain a year and a half ago. Moreover, it is the firm’s second transaction in recent months, given that, in March, it acquired a portfolio of five Eroski hypermarkets, owned until then by Joparny, for around €30 million.

In October 2016, MDSR Investments acquired the Travesía de Vigo shopping centre for €49 million.

In this operation, MDSR has been advised by Savills on the real estate side and Dentons for legal aspects; whilst Linklaters has advised the seller on the legal side.

Original story: Expansión (by Rocío Ruiz)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Aberdeen & Catella Acquire El Manar Shopping Centre For €40M

12 July 2017 – Cinco Días

The firm Harbert Management Corporation has sold the El Manar shopping centre in Valencia for €40 million, according to sources familiar with the operation. The buyers are the companies Catella and Aberdeen, which have created a joint venture to undertake the transaction.

El Manar has a gross leasable area of 24,000 m2 and is located in the city of Massalfassar, in the metropolitan area of Valencia. According to the directory compiled by the Spanish Association of Shopping Centres, the property is managed by CBRE, was inaugurated in 2007 and comprises around twenty stores, with the Carrefour hypermarket proving to be the main draw. El Manar is also home to stores operated by Media Markt, C&A, Kiwoko, Sprinter and the toy shop Poly and it has 1,344 parking spaces. Each year, the centre receives 2.4 million visitors.

El Manar was promoted by the Pradera Group, and Harbert purchased it in 2014, in an operation whose consideration was not disclosed at the time. Three years later, the fund from Alabama has sold the asset in a deal that has been advised by CBRE and Eversheds Sutherland. Meanwhile, the buyers have been advised by the law firm Dentons.

Catella is a Swedish investment manager, which also acts as an advisor in real estate transactions. In Spain, the firm is led by Javier Hortelano.

Meanwhile, the British fund Aberdeen has €360,000 million under management around the world. In Spain, the firm is led by Ana Guzmán Quintana.

Original story: Cinco Días (by A. Simón)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Trajano Iberia Buys Alcalá Magna Shopping Centre For €100M

3 February 2017 – Expansión

The Socimi Trajano Iberia, which is managed by the real estate division of Deutsche Asset Management, has purchased the Alcalá Magna shopping centre from Incus Capital, for €100 million.

According to a statement released by the Socimi, the shopping centre is located in one of the main residential areas of Alcalá de Henares (Madrid). It has a commercial surface area of 34,165 m2, spread over two levels, and 1,204 parking spaces, spread over two underground floors.

Its tenants include high profile brands from the Inditex group, led by Zara, as well as several recent arrivals, such as Lefties, H&M, Mango, Mercadona, a Virgin Active gym and restaurant groups.

The space, constructed in 2007, has an occupancy rate of more than 95%, receives almost 5 million visitors a year and generates annual sales of around €64 million.

Following this operation, Trajano Iberia has now made investments amounting to €282 million since its launch in June 2015. It currently has five assets in its portfolio, with a total surface area under management of 151,000 m2.

This new investment takes the company to 100% of its investment capacity once again, following its second capital increase, which was carried out in October, amounting to €47.2 million.

For this transaction, the company was advised by Deloitte, JLL and Garrigues. The vendor was advised by CBRE and Dentons.

Original story: Expansión

Translation: Carmel Drake

Kennedy Wilson Buys ‘Moraleja Green’ From ING

2 November 2015 – Expansión

Another shopping centre is changing hands barely a year after it was last sold. Later this week, the Moraleja Green shopping centre in Madrid, will have a new owner, twelve months after being acquired by the Dutch bank ING.

The financial institution, which purchased the property through one of its real estate funds, has decided to transfer ownership of the building to the US fund Kennedy Wilson. According to sources in the sector, ING will receive between €70 million and €75 million for the Madrilenian centre, which it acquired for €68 million in November 2014. This increase reflects the on-going appreciation in real estate assets in Spain, particularly for offices and shopping centres.

Cushman & Wakefield and Dentons have advised the buyer in the operation, whilst Deloitte and DLA Piper have advised on the sell-side. The agreement between both parties is absolute and will be announced officially this week.

The shopping centre is located in the northeast of Madrid, next to the exclusive La Moraleja urbanisation. It occupies a surface area of 76,763 m2 and 29,600 m2 is used for retail space. The centre’s main tenants include the supermarket chain Sánchez Romero, Inditex – with its brands Zara, Massimo Dutti and Oysho – and H&M.

The Moraleja Green centre was inaugurated in April 1995. Its developers were the real estate companies Metrovacesa and BBV Inmobiliario. It was expanded in 2001 and receives 3.38 million visitors (per year), according to the Spanish Association of Shopping Centres.

The new owner is the US fund Kennedy Wilson. The North American firm has been one of the most active players in Spain the most in recent months. Its latest operations include the purchase of 16 retail spaces, nine supermarkets and seven shops, leased to Carrefour and Día. It paid the fund AEW Europe and a French institutional investor €85.5 million for that portfolio.

The wider market

As a result of this deal, Moraleja Green will join the list of shopping centres that have changed hands during 2015, which also includes Plenilunio, acquired by Klépierre for €375 million, and Zielo Shopping, bought by UBS for €70 million.

Another shopping centre that has changed hands twice in just over a year is Parque Ceuta. A few months ago, the Brazilian group Hemisferio bought the Ceuta-based centre from the fund HIG for €26 million. The US fund had acquired it in January 2014 for €18 million.

Original story: Expansión (by Rocío Ruiz)

Translation: Carmel Drake