Meridia Takes €83.5-Million Loan to Build Project in Barcelona’s 22@

21 November 2019 – A socimi controlled by Meridia has arranged an up to €83.5-million syndicated loan with CaixaBank and Santander to build the future headquarters of Everis in Barcelona’s 22@ district.

The firm’s real estate vehicle, Meridia III, requested the loan, which will be guaranteed by the plot of land located at Avenida Nova Icària 213, as well any future construction on the site. The loan will last until seven years after the end of construction.

Original Story: Expansión – Marisa Anglés

Adaptation/Translation: Richard D. K. Turner

Forcadell: 370,000 m2 of Office Space was Leased in Barcelona in 2018

13 February 2019 – Eje Prime

The office market in Barcelona is breaking records. In 2018, 370,000 m2 of space was leased in the city, up by 8.8% compared to 2017. According to the consultancy firm Forcadell, that trend was due to three main factors: interest from international companies, demand from tech companies and the boom in coworking.

Up to 60% of the surface area leased in 2018 corresponded to companies from overseas. According to the report from the consultancy firm, the interest from those companies in Barcelona is attributed to the city’s “entrepreneurial and innovation eco-system”, which is complemented by a commitment to technology, which has attracted companies such as Everis, Oracle and Indra.

In just one year, coworking operators have doubled the amount of space leased in Barcelona, renting out a surface area of 46,700 m2 in 2018. According to this report, the Catalan capital is the European city that has seen its office space increase by the most in percentage terms.

Original story: Eje Prime 

Translation: Carmel Drake

Praedium to Build the First 100% Co-Working Office in Barcelona’s 22@ District

12 December 2018 – Eje Prime

The 22@ district is going to have its first 100% co-working property. The Praedium Group, led by Alfonso Cirera, is going to invest €40 million in the construction of an office building in the technological hub in Barcelona, which is going to be occupied in its entirety by companies that back shared office spaces, according to a statement issued by the company.

The ten-storey property will have a surface area of 30,000 m2, and will be constructed on the corner of Calle Selva de Mar and Calle Marroc. Specifically, on the site that used to house the old warehouses of the company Transporte Mateu&Mateu, which was acquired by Praedium in 2008 for €24.3 million.

The building work is expected to begin at the end of next year with the aim of inaugurating the property in the middle of 2021. The building will have capacity to house 2,000 workspaces and another 1,000 in corporate offices and services in the commercial premises.

In the common areas, Praedium has designed a terrace spanning 1,150 m2 with views of the beach, as well as a basketball court. The property will also have a gym, a swimming pool and a parking lot, which will be located in the basement, with a surface area of 2,500 m2.

Almost 30,000 m2 of space leased to September 

The co-working model is proving unstoppable in Spain and the 22@ district is its current epicentre. According to data from Cushman & Wakefield, 29,100 m2 of shared office space was leased in Barcelona during the first nine months of this year.

Between the Catalan capital and Madrid, the co-working segment grew by 71% during the nine months to September, with 55,000 m2 of space leased.

That growth is due to the commitment of the large corporations to co-working. As the report explains, “at the beginning of the 2000s, small spaces predominated, occupied by self-employed people and freelancers; nowadays, these spaces still exist, but the potential of the co-working phenomenon has caused companies such as Banco Santander (Openbank), Accenture and Everis, amongst others, to also use flexible spaces for some of their activity.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake

Meridia III Doubled its Revenues and Cut its Losses by 76% in H1

24 October 2018 – Eje Prime

Meridia III is reducing its losses. The Socimi owned by Meridia Capital recorded losses of €522,124 to June, which represented a reduction of 76% with respect to the first half of 2017, according to reports from the company to the Alternative Investment Market (MAB).

The company recorded revenues of €8 million during the first six months of the year, doubling its turnover in comparison with the same period last year. The firm’s EBITDA amounted to €3.3 million, reversing the negative figure of €964,673 recorded between January and June 2017.

In recent months, Meridia III has continued with its growth plans and has completed two high-profile divestments. The first was the sale to Barings of five office buildings that it owned in Avalon, as revealed by Eje Prime. That deal was followed by another at the start of October when it sold the property that houses Nestlé’s headquarters in Barcelona to Igis for €87 million.

Listed on the MAB since the end of 2017, Meridia Capital’s Socimi has also made some significant investments in the Spanish office market such as the purchase in March of a building in the financial district of Madrid for €26.5 million. The building, measuring 7,500 m2, is located at number 4 Calle Juan Hurtado de Mendoza, close to Paseo de la Castellana. Moreover, in Barcelona, the Catalan manager has leased its new building in the 22@ district to the international consultancy firm Everis.

At the beginning of October, Meridia Capital completed a capital increase of €13 million in Meridia III. The increase in funds will give the Socimi “greater guarantees to face and develop future projects and investments”, according to explanations provided by the manager in a document published on its website.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake

Co-Working Spaces in Madrid & Barcelona Rise by 71% YoY to September

23 October 2018 – Eje Prime

Co-working spaces are on a roll in Spain. This global phenomenon in the office market is also reflected in ratios that keep on growing. In Madrid and Barcelona alone, 55,900 m2 of this type of flexible office space was leased between January and September, which represented an increase of 71% with respect to the same period last year.

According to the Flexible spaces in Spain study, compiled by the consultancy firm Cushman&Wakefield, during the first nine months of the year, 26,800 m2 of co-working office space was leased in Madrid and 29,100 m2 in Barcelona.

This growth is the result of the commitment to co-working spaces by large corporations. According to explanations provided in the report, “at the beginning of the 2000s, small spaces predominated, occupied by self-employed people and freelancers; nowadays, those spaces still exist, but the potential of the co-working phenomenon has led to companies such as Banco Santander (Openbank), Accenture and Everis, amongst others, also using flexible spaces for some of their activities”.

The boom in flexible and shared office space intensified in 2014, the first year of the recovery. Besides large corporate groups, which rely on this office model for optimising their real estate resources and the productivity of their employees, international co-working giants have arrived in Spain in recent years to create supply to meet the growing demand.

WeWork and Spaces (owned by Regus), global specialists in this segment, already have expansion plans for the domestic market. The same is happening with the main Socimis, such as Merlin and Colonial, which, in addition to promoting brands that manage co-working spaces, are also adapting several of their properties to convert them into flexible offices.

Madrid and Barcelona are the focus of this market. WeWork already has 35,000 m2 of office space leased in the two capitals. It is managing one fifth, 7,000 m2, from 22@, the technological hub of Barcelona, one of the epicentres of co-working in Spain. Spaces is planning to grow in the same district, where it already has 6,000 m2 of space across several buildings.

In terms of the large Spanish real estate companies, Merlin and Colonial are, to date, the firms that have backed this new trend most convincingly Both have entered the sector by purchasing or teaming up with specialist companies this market. Colonial acquired the brand Utopicus at the end of 2017, as revealed by Eje Prime, and now has a commitment to open ten new co-working centres from 2019, which will span a total of 15,000 m2 between Madrid and Barcelona.

Meanwhile, Merlin has launched the brand Twisttt, through Loom House, a Spanish shared office manager in which the Socimi owns more than 30%. Other domestic players such as Inmobiliaria del Sur have already made investments in this sector. In October last year, the Andalucian real estate firm launched iSspaces, a co-working centre in Sevilla measuring 1,800 m2 (…).

The identity of the next players to enter the stage is a mystery, but the fact that co-working has a long journey ahead in the office market in Spain and around the world is very much a reality.

Original story: Eje Prime (by J. Izquierdo)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Several Investment Funds Interested in Buying the Torre Sevilla Complex

4 October 2018

CaixaBank has invested 320 million euros in the skyscraper, the commercial centre, the CaixaForum and the Fernando de Magallanes park.

Several international investment funds have signalled interest in a possible acquisition of the Torre Sevilla, a commercial, office and cultural complex in which CaixaBank has invested 320 million euros through the company Puerto Triana. The funds have sounded out the bank “, but no sales process is underway,” sources at CaixaBank stated.

“CaixaBank sees the Torre Sevilla as the crown jewel of the south of Spain, and it is true that it is not a strategic asset for the bank. However, now the whole building is now in the launching phase and still has a long way to go,” the same source noted, stating that no defined sales plan exists for the complex. The company expects to increase the complex’s profitability in the coming years, after a process of consolidation and an increase in rents.

Although there are no plans for a sale, the success of the project has attracted the attention of potential buyers. “The truth is that some investment funds are interested… in such a unique project, but… the sales process has not begun.”

Antonio Cayuela, the sole administrator of Puerto Triana, the owner of Torre Sevilla, as well as president of BuildingCenter, CaixaBank’s real estate company, already told ABC last July that “right now there are no plans to sell, which does not mean that we won’t do it in the future. What we have done is make it valuable for Sevilla and complete the commitment we had with the city.”

“The truth is that our main and only mission during this time has been to start the project. We have not had much time to think about other things. It is true that we have had other shopping centres that we have sold, finished or unfinished, which came to us due to bad loans,” Mr Cayuela said.

For its part, on the same day as the inauguration of the Torre Sevilla shopping centre on September 26, Rafael Herrador, the regional director for CaixaBank in western Andalusia, recalled that “in the middle of the economic crisis, CaixaBank invested 320 million euros in this project. CaixaBank decided that it was an important challenge and that we had to deliver on our commitment to Sevilla. The only solution we saw was to finalise the project and generate value for Sevilla.”

Mr Herrador said that their expectations for the shopping centre “have not only been met but have been overcome. With the opening of the shopping centre to the public, the development of the Torre Sevilla complex has concluded.”

The Torre Sevilla shopping centre has received more than 350,000 visits since it opened a week ago. Only the first day, the shopping mall received 61,000 visits, with queues forming at the first Primark store in Sevilla, persisting to this date. It has been the best inauguration for the low-cost Irish fashion house apart from those in Madrid and Barcelona. The shopping centre expects to receive 8 million visits every year. For the time being, the inauguration has led to the creation of 1,600 jobs, 250 of them at Primark.

For its part, CaixaForum, which is a lessee at the Torre Sevilla, has received more than 300,000 visits since its opening. Moreover, the office tower has also already rented its 37 floors.

The skyscraper has 50,000 of the gross leasable area. When the bank began to market it, Spain was just beginning to emerge from the economic crisis, and many buildings on the Cartuja island were empty. CaixaBank set a very attractive rental price and managed to fill the skyscraper: 15 euros per square meter per month, without condominium fees. 1,500 people now work in the tower, although it has the capacity for 1,800.

Hotusa’s five-star hotel Eurostars Torre Sevilla occupies floors 19 to 37 of the skyscraper. The other floors of the skyscraper are leased by top-level companies, such as Ayesa, Active Business & Technology, a Microsoft partner; Aenor; the technology consultancy Chakray; the Optima software company; Orange; Everis; Deloitte and the Seville Chamber of Commerce, among others.

Original Story: abcdesevilla

Translation: Richard Turner

Zambal Socimi Acquires Everis’s Headquarters in Madrid

1 October 2018

Zambal, a socimi managed by the IBA Capital Partner fund, has acquired the Novus Building, the headquarters of Everis, located at 1 Fuente de la Mora (Madrid) for 90 million euros from funds controlled by AXA Im Real Estate.

Market sources explained to Expansión that the price of the transaction, in which the company that owns the property was sold, includes the debt associated with it.

The building, last renovated in 2017, is occupied by Everis NTT Data Company, which occupies 88% of the gross leasable area. In addition to the consultancy, other tenants include Hilti and Eurest.

Novus is located in Manoteras, one of Madrid’s business centres, near the headquarters of Iberdrola, La Caixa and BMW. Overall, the Novus Building has a gross leasable area of 42,945 square meters, divided into five floors of offices, storage areas and common gardens.

The property also has four courtyards and 561 parking spaces. The consultancy Cushman & Wakefield, which had already advised Everis in its leasing operation, and EY Abogados provided services for the seller, while the law firm Garrigues and PwC, the buyer’s financial and tax advisor, advised Zambal.

Other operations

With this transaction, Zambal has strengthened its asset portfolio. The socimi bought two office buildings at the end last year. One is located at 25 Albarracín Street, in the area of Julián Camarillo, in Madrid. The complex is currently leased to the French multinational Atos for about 38 million euros.

The company also acquired an office building located at 77 Avenida de San Luis from Naturgy (formerly Gas Natural) for about €120 million. The gas company is still a tenant. Zambal, created in 2013, debuted on the Alternative Stock Market (MAB) in 2015 and currently has a market capitalisation of 667 million euros.

Original Story: Expansión – Rebeca Arroyo

Photo: zambalspain.com

Translation: Richard Turner

CaixaBank Considers Selling Torre Sevilla Following its Opening

4 October 2018 – Eje Prime

CaixaBank is considering divesting Torre Sevilla. The financial institution is working on the sale of the mixed-used complex a week after the opening of its shopping centre. The bank, which is whereby pushing ahead with the divestment of its real estate assets, will assess offers upwards of €265 million.

Torre Sevilla has a surface area of 77,000 m2 spread over 37 floors for offices and a shopping centre. Although sources at CaixaBank confirm that the sale of the complex has not been initiated, they acknowledge that it is a “non-strategic” asset and that some funds are interested in acquiring it, according to reports from El Confidencial.

If the sale goes ahead, it would be the largest operation in the south of Spain in recent years by type of asset and asking price. The financial institution would retain ownership of the Caixaforum only, which is located on the lower levels of the shopping centre and which officially opened in 2018.

CaixaBank has injected a total of €110 million into the complex over the last six years, bringing the total cost to €320 million. The skyscraper was inaugurated in 2016 and the shopping centre was opened last week. Currently, tenants of the building include the Sevilla Chamber of Commerce, Deloitte, the technological firms Chakray, Everis, Active Business&Technology and Optima, and also Hotusa, which occupies 17 floors of the property with a hotel. The Catalan bank also has several subsidiaries and services on a number of floors.

Original story: Eje Prime 

Translation: Carmel Drake

Zambal Buys Everis’s New HQ in Madrid from Axa for €94.5M

1 October 2018 – Eje Prime

Zambal has increased its commitment to offices in Madrid with the purchase from Axa of the Novus Building for €94.5 million. The Socimi managed by IBA Capital closed the transaction a few days ago, to acquire an asset with a surface area of 42,945 m2 and leased in its entirety, according to explanations provided by sources close to the deal speaking to EjePrime.

The property, located in the north of the Spanish capital, hit the headlines last May when Everis signed the largest rental operation in Madrid’s office market since 2013.

At the time, the international consultancy firm leased 37,800 m2 of the building, in which Hilti, the company that supplies technology to the construction sector, also occupies one floor, whilst the ground floor of the property houses the catering company Eurest. The operation has been advised by the consultancy firm Cushman&Wakefield.

The asset is located close to Barajas airport, at number 1 Avenida Fuente de la Mora and comprises six floors, in addition to 561 parking spaces. The property has been owned by Axa Real Assets since the summer of 2015, when that firm acquired it, together with another building in Barcelona, for €110 million. At the time, the property was the headquarters of the French group in the Spanish capital.

Now, the real estate arm of the French insurance company has divested this property (…), taking advantage of the investor appetite of the large Socimis and funds in the Spanish office market. Not in vain, in March, Axa sold another asset in Madrid to GreenOak, for which the company was asking €25 million.

Zambal is on a roll

In recent months, the Socimi has grown its portfolio with operations such as the deal it signed at the end of 2017 in the Julián Camarillo area of Madrid, where it acquired two office buildings for €38 million.

Zambal specialises in the investment and subsequent management of office and retail assets in cities such as Madrid and Barcelona, although the company is also open to assets such as nursing homes, hospitals, retail parks and logistics platforms.

Without resorting to bank financing, the Socimi approved a €80 million capital increase in July, which followed another injection completed last year amounting to €91 million.  The company’s main assets include, for example, the property at number 77, Avenida San Luis (which houses the headquarters of Gas Natural in Madrid); the Vodafone Building on Avenida de América; and the property at number 118 Avenida de Burgos, which is leased in its entirety to BMW.

Original story: Eje Prime (by Jabier Izquierdo)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Meridia Will Build Everis’s New HQ in Barcelona Spanning 25,000m2

29 September 2018 – Expansión

The multinational consultancy firm Everis will move its headquarters from Barcelona to an office complex that Meridia Capital is going to build for it in the Villa Olímpica and which will have a surface area of 25,000 m2. According to Cushman&Wakefield, which has advised on the lease, it is the largest corporate rental operation in the Catalan capital for the last 10 years.

Currently, Everis has its headquarters at 605, La Diagonal, although it also occupies other offices in different locations around the city. Its intention is to move all of its workers from Barcelona, around 2,900 people in total, to the future headquarters. The new facilities will be located at number 213 Avenida Icària and will be split between two buildings.

The plot was acquired a year ago by Meridia, the investment manager chaired by Javier Faus, and has a total surface area of 43,000 m2. The plan is to allocate two-thirds of the plot to offices and the rest to homes.

The Everis project is the first one to be announced for this mega-plot and will be constructed by Meridia turnkey for the multinational firm, with which it has signed a 10-year lease contract. According to a statement issued by the consultancy firm yesterday, the new offices will be “a series of modern, efficient and open spaces that will promote collaboration and innovation through their shared work areas and the latest technologies”.

The new space will be complementary to Living Lab, an innovation and co-creation laboratory located in Barcelona, where more than 70 Everis professionals are based working on the development of innovative projects.

Original story: Expansión (by M. Anglés)

Translation: Carmel Drake