Tag: exclusive negotiations

Blackstone Offers €90M+ for Lar España’s Logistics Portfolio

14 June 2018 – Eje Prime

Blackstone is expanding its appetite for Spanish real estate. The US fund, which is in the middle of a takeover bid for Hispania’s hotels, is now attacking the industrial real estate market and is finalising the purchase of Lar’s logistics portfolio. The firm could pay more than €90 million for the six assets owned by the listed Socimi.

Lar’s portfolio, which includes one plot of land, a precious commodity in the sector’s current climate, is worth €92 million, according to the most recent appraisal, performed at the end of 2017. The capital appreciation that the Socimi has managed to generate amounts to 40%, according to Expansión.

The operation, in which Blackstone has emerged as the only finalist and which, therefore, is holding exclusive negotiations with the Spanish group, forms part of Lar España’s new strategic plan to divest its position in the logistics market. It is the intention of both parties to sign the sale and purchase contract before the summer.

Lar’s six assets span a combined gross leasable area (GLA) of 169,800 m2 and, since they came onto the market, have attracted interest from large investment funds and international logistics operators. The list of potential suitors has included, in addition to Blackstone, CBRE Global Investors, P3 and Ares Management.

Through this purchase, the US fund is seeking to strengthen its logistics portfolio in Spain. In January, the company paid €90 million for four complexes leased to the supermarket chain Dia. In 2017, the sector set a new historical record with total investment in Spain of €1.5 billion, up by 85% compared to the previous year, according to data from the consultancy firm Savills Aguirre Newman.

Original story: Eje Prime 

Translation: Carmel Drake

EspañaDuero Finalises Sale of its Madrid HQ

19 December 2017 – El Economista

Over the next few weeks, EspañaDuero will close the sale of its headquarters in Madrid, located on Calle Titán 8, according to confirmation from various sources in the sector, who say that the entity is holding advanced, exclusive negotiations with an investor.

The entity, which is soon going to be completely integrated into Unicaja Banco, declined to comment about the operation. However, this sale is reminiscent of the divestment strategy that the entity has been carrying out in recent years.

The office block that is about to be sold is located in the Méndez Álvaro area of the Spanish capital, overlooking the M-30 ring road. It also houses the offices of Enagás and Nozar, the former owner of the property. In this way, Caja Duero acquired the building for €55.8 million in 2008, a price that is €9 million higher than its current valuation.

At the end of 2011, following the merger of the entity with Caja España, which resulted in the creation of the current EspañaDuero, the combined company moved its offices to Caja Duero’s headquarters in Madrid, on Calle Marqués de Villamagna, 6.

In 2015, the company began a period of office restructuring, which led it to sell one of its real estate jewels: the former headquarters of Caja España in Madrid, on Calle Velázquez 23, in the heart of the Salamanca neighbourhood.

A year later, in the middle of 2016, EspañaDuero decided to move its headquarters again and vacate the offices on Marqués de Villamagna, very close to Madrid’s Paseo de la Castellana. The entity put them up for sale for €90 million and moved to Titán 8. Now, history is repeating itself, as the entity continues to sell off property, in a discrete sales process being advised by the consultancy firm Irea, according to the same sources.

The 13-storey building, including one underground floor and three basement levels for parking, has a total surface area, including the outside space, of 18,152 m2, of which 10,711 m2 are offices and 6,643 m2 are garages, with 212 parking spaces.

Currently, the property has almost 3,000 m2 of office space available for rent, which is being marketed by Knight Frank and Aguirre Newman.

Original story: El Economista (by Alba Brualla)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Spain’s Banks Sell RE Assets Worth €52,000M+ In 2017

2 November 2017 – Cinco Días

According to all of the experts consulted, there is no doubt that the operation carried out by Santander in August, involving the sale of €30,000 million in property to Blackstone, marked a before and after in the formula for the financial sector to get rid of its real estate deadweight.

That operation significantly boosted the total amount transacted in these types of portfolio sale operations this year. Taking into account those operations that already have been closed, as well as those that are currently underway, the transaction volume in 2017 will comfortably exceed €52,000 million. That figure contrasts with the volume recorded in 2016 (€22,000 million), even though this year (2017) was expected to be more modest in terms of transactions.

The new international accounting standard IFRS 9, which will enter into force in January, and which will toughen provisions for real estate portfolios, as well as the pressure from the Bank of Spain and, above all, the European Central Bank (ECB) for the sector to accelerate the sale of its NPL assets, have served as a trigger for the banks to accelerate the sale of their foreclosed land and properties.

The heads of Spain’s largest banks (Santander, BBVA, CaixaBank, Bankia and Sabadell) have said, during the recent presentations of their results for the first nine months of the year, that their objective is that property will no longer weigh down on their income statements by the end of 2018 and, in some cases, by a year later, at most (…).

By way of example, Bankia has two very different financial operations underway, but international funds are the interested investors in both cases. One involves the upcoming sale of between 7% and 9% of the entity’s share capital, a placement that is expected to be carried out during the month of November and whose buyers will be institutional investors.

The other operation will involve the sale of several real estate portfolios. One of those, for €100 million, goes by the name Jets; and another, amounting to almost €2,000 million, is known as Giant, comprises property from Bankia’s own balance sheet and maybe some from BMN, the entity that it will integrate into its perimeter at the end of the year (…).

CaixaBank, with around €18,000 million in at-risk assets, of which €10,000 million are NPLs, may also star in a similar operation to the deal closed by Santander with Blackstone within the next few months, according to two experts.

For the time being, all of the consultancy firms and investment banks agree that (with the exception of the sales processes already underway) the trend is to carry out much fewer placements of small portfolios and “to undertake a few, large sales instead”.

These same sources also agree that the investment funds (Apollo, Oaktree, Bain, Cerberus, Blackstone, Lone Star, Castlelake, Värde Partners, Lindorff, TPG and Goldman Sachs, amongst the most active) “are in a hurry to buy and the banks are in a hurry to sell”.

One of the large banks that has shown reluctance to sell its real estate assets until now, despite its bulky portfolio of foreclosed assets, has been BBVA. It has carried out some operations (refer to the table above) but it has been, together with Sabadell, the only entity that has not sold its real estate platform.

Nevertheless, the bank chaired by Francisco González has been holding exclusive negotiations with Cerberus for months regarding the sale of part of Anida (in an operation known as Sena). Specifically, it is interested in 20% of Anida Grupo Inmobiliario SL, which is equivalent to around €1,200 million, an operation for which it would pay approximately €300 million.

But several sources say that the bank is rethinking its sales strategy and in 2018, will be willing to put a much larger portfolio up for sale and whereby tackle an operation similar to the one closed by Santander, but this time with Anida as the protagonist.

Sources at investment banks and managers add that the upcoming regulatory changes affecting securitisations in Europe will also help to boost the sale of packages of property portfolios amongst investors (…).

Original story: Cinco Días (by Ángeles Gonzalo Alconada)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Liberbank & Bain Negotiate Finishing Touches To Portfolio Sale

19 October 2017 – Expansión

Liberbank is hoping to complete the sale of its portfolio of foreclosed assets to the fund Bain Capital within the next few days. The two entities are continuing their exclusive negotiations to put the finishing touches to the operation, which is due to be signed before the bank begins its €500 million capital increase.

Financial sources explain that the parties are finalising the terms relating to the perimeter of the portfolio. The CEO of Liberbank, Manuel Menéndez, speaking a few days ago, said that the entity will sell a maximum of €600 million in foreclosed assets to the fund.

These operations with funds tend to require significant discounts. The same sources indicate that the entity will have to recognise losses amounting to more than €100 million as a result of the sale of this portfolio, which means that the discount will exceed 55% if the perimeter is not expanded above €600 million.

Other sources familiar with the deal are not ruling out the possibility that Liberbank will start negotiating with other funds again if the conversations with Bain do not end up proving fruitful.

Original story: Expansión

Translation: Carmel Drake

Vinci Park In Exclusive Negotiations To Buy Empark For €900M

23 April 2015 – Expansión

Exclusivity / The group controlled by Ardian will purchase the parking space market leader, which has debt of €500 million.

Yesterday, the French company Vinci Park (controlled by the fund Ardian, together with Credit Agricole and Vinci) announced that it had begun exclusive negotiations with the shareholders of Empark regarding the “potential purchase” of the market leading parking space company in Spain and Portugal, which is controlled by Portuguese shareholders. “We are still negotiating to arrive at a final agreement” say sources at Vinci Park. The company is committed to maintaining an investment grade rating.

A few days ago, Empark’s shareholders said that an agreement with Vinci was imminent for the sale of a controlling stake.

Financial troubles

Other investors have expressed interest in Empark, valued at around €900 million (including debt of €500 million), including the Spanish businessman Eugenio Hinojosa who, with the support of several financial institutions, including Santander, designed a purchase offer to compete against the bid made by the French group. Empark will have to explain the transaction to its bondholders in London.

Assips is Empark’s controlling shareholder, with a 50.3% stake – the vehicle is controlled by the Portuguese firm A. Silva & Silva, which is in turn controlled by the founding families of the company who participate in the management of the group.

The top executives at Empark, which manages 500,000 parking spaces in Spain, Portugal, UK and Turkey, are José Augusto Tavares (Chairman), Pedro Mendes (CEO) and Antonio Moura.

The remaining capital is divided amongst several investment funds managed by BES (22%) and Ahorro Corporación (8.2%). The Mello family holds a 2.6% stake. These shareholders will also sell (their stakes) to Vinci Park.

Other movements

The controlling shareholders commissioned JPMorgan and Caixa Banco de Investimento (CBI) to search for a buyer in 2014. One of the reasons for exiting the company (which they acquired from Ferrovial in 2008) has been the financial troubles of the Portuguese shareholders, which have been going through a complicated bankruptcy process and have had to deal with debt maturities in recent months.

Empark recorded sales of €180 million in 2013 and a gross operating profit (EBITDA) of €63.3 million. During the first three months of 2014, Empark recorded turnover of €42.8 million, down 0.6% (on the previous year) and a gross profit of €15.3 million, in line with 2013. Vinci Park, which has operated in Spain since 1994, manages 39 car parks in various cities across the country. The company also has a presence in a further thirteen countries and generates total revenues of €704 million.

The sale of Empark coincides with the decision by KKR, Torreal and ProA to sell 49% of Saba.

Original story: Expansión (by C.Morán and D.Badía)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Charles Blackburn Quits Deutsche Bank For Oaktree

13 April 2015 – CoStar Finance

Charles Blackburn, head of Deutsche Bank’s EMEA commercial real estate special situations group, has quit the investment bank after nearly 10 years and is expected to join Oaktree Capital Management later in the summer, CoStar News has learned.

Blackburn is thought to be taking up a senior role continuing a remit for distressed real estate debt and equity investments at the US private equity firm, having already left Deutsche Bank.

Earlier this morning, CoStar News revealed that Oaktree has moved to exclusive negotiations to acquire FMS Wertmanagement’s Project Gaudi CRE loan portfolio for a price thought to be just north of €500m.

At the turn of the year, Blackburn’s Deutsche Bank team won NAMA’s €287m Project Boyne, loans secured by property developer Willie Smyth, paying around €95m, and just before Christmas the team also won a €234m tranche of the Project Kaplan NPL from Sareb.

The most significant NPL win of last year by Blackburn’s team was the acquisition of around €1.5bn in tranches from IBRC’s giant €9.3bn Project Stone NPL, acquiring the two largest tranches by nominal balance and the highest quality of assets in the loan portfolio.

Deutsche Bank also won tranches of IBRC’s Project Quartz and NAMA’s Project Spring.

Blackburn joined Deutsche Bank in September 2005, prior to which he spent three years at O’Connor Capital Partners.

All parties declined to comment.

Original story: CoStar Finance (by James Wallace)

Edited by: Carmel Drake