Tag: efficiency

Colonial & Axiare Formally Approve Their €11bn Merger

24 May 2018 – Eje Prime

Colonial and Axiare are on the verge of merging. Yesterday (Thursday), the General Shareholders’ Meeting of the Catalan Socimi approved the firm’s merger with Axiare, in an operation that is expected to close during the second half of the year and which will give rise to the largest office building rental company in Spain, a real estate giant with asset worth €11 billion.

The integration is a consequence of the takeover bid that Colonial launched over Axiare at the end of last year to acquire the share capital that it did not own in the Socimi, of which it was already the largest shareholder. The real estate company led by Pere Viñolas purchased 86.8% of the Socimi’s share capital in the end. To obtain the remaining 13.2%, it offered a share exchange deal at a ratio of 1.8554 own shares for each Axiare share.

Colonial also subjected the capital increase necessary to undertake this exchange to its General Shareholders’ Meeting, held on Thursday. With this merger, the real estate company chaired by Juan José Brugera seeks “to consolidate” its position in the prime office sector and “to respond to the current challenges in the real estate sector by strengthening its competitive position and achieving greater size and more efficiency in the business in Spain”.

Nevertheless, it does not rule out that the integration may also generate “duplications and incoherencies” in the resulting workforce, in which case, it plans to undertake adjustments over the coming months.

Axiare will, in turn, give its “approval” to the integration at its General Shareholders’ Meeting today, 25 May, where it will also ratify the Transition Board of Directors, comprising independent members, which Colonial appointed following the takeover.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake

Colonial Buys the Egeo Building in Madrid from Lar España for €79.3M

17 January 2018 – Eje Prime

Colonial is continuing to add assets to its portfolio. To this end, the Socimi has just purchased the Egeo building in Madrid from Lar España for €79.3 million, according to a report filed on Wednesday with the National Securities and Markets Commission (CNMV). The Egeo building has a surface area of 18,254 m2, spread over six above-ground floors, as well as almost 400 parking spaces.

Lar is whereby pushing ahead with the asset rotation plan that it announced last year, by divesting those properties that it considers non-strategic properties and whose value-creation plan it has completed, in order to invest in strategic assets, such as shopping centres and retail parks.

Lar España has highlighted that the active management of this latest property, with the incorporation of tenants such as Giorgo Armani and the renovation of Ineco’s contract, as well as investments to improve the efficiency and undertake renovation work, which allowed it to obtain the Breeam quality certificate, have increased the value and potential of the building.

This is the second divestment that Lar España has undertaken after announcing in September the sale of its office building on Calle Arturo Soria in Madrid for €32.5 million, also to Inmobiliaria Colonial.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake

Mutua Madrileña Buys Office Building In Madrid For €30.8M

27 July 2016 – Expansión

The insurance company Mutua Madrileña has acquired the former headquarters of Fórum Filatélico from Credit Suisse’s real estate fund for €30.8 million. The operation has been performed entirely using its own funds.

The property in question is an office building in the heart of Madrid’s financial district. Located at number 51 on Calle José Abascal, next to Paseo de la Castellana, the building has a surface area of 3,600 sqm spread over seven floors, and 62 parking spaces.

According to the company, the operation forms part of its strategy to dynamically manage its assets, which also includes the possibility of making acquisitions as and when attractive opportunities arise. On the buy side, Mutua Madrileña has been advised by the law firm Pérez-Llorca and, on the sell side, Credit Suisse has worked with CBRE as real estate advisor and Eversheds Nicea as legal advisor.

The real estate market

The building will be rented out in its entirety and, in order to increase its value, the company will undertake renovation work, to equip it with the latest technology in terms of efficiency and sustainability.

Mutua Inmobiliaria , which includes the company’s property investment area, considers that the office rental market in Madrid is in full recovery.

The insurance company has not acquired any new properties for almost 10 years. The last purchases it made for its real estate portfolio were the so-called Pirámide and the Torre de Cristal, also on Paseo de la Castellana. (…).

Original story: Expansión (by Inma Benedito)

Translation: Carmel Drake