Elix Buys a Building in Barcelona for €4.1M

26 October 2018 – Eje Prime

Elix VRS is continuing to grow its portfolio as a listed company. The Socimi, led and founded by Jaime Lacasa and Jorge Benjumeda, has acquired a building in Barcelona for €4.1 million, according to a statement filed by the company with the Alternative Investment Market (MAB).

The purchase of the property, located on Calle Consell de Cent of the Catalan capital, has been financed in part by the company’s own funds (45%) and in part by a loan (55%). The loan, granted by CaixaBank, has a five-year term and a quarterly repayment schedule.

This operation follows the acquisition of four buildings in the centre of Barcelona that the company carried out in August for €34 million. The new assets of Elix VRS, controlled primarily by the property developer Elix and the funds KKR and Altamar, are located in iconic areas of the Catalan capital.

During 2018 and after just one year of life, the Socimi already has 25 projects underway in Madrid and Barcelona. With this volume of operations, the real estate company is going to put more than 300 homes on the market. Six of these projects are new build and the other 19 are renovations.

Elix’s plans involve buying around forty buildings by 2021 to subject them to comprehensive renovations and place the homes on the rental market once they have been renovated. These rents will fee the Socimi, which plans to rotate the portfolio of assets that it builds every three years.

Original story: Eje Prime 

Translation: Carmel Drake

Constitutional Court Temporarily Supends Basque Housing Law

18 April 2016 – Cinco Días

The Constitutional Court (TC) has admitted the appeal filed by the central Government against the Basque Housing Law, which provides for the temporary expropriation of homes by banks, amongst other measures, and has suspended it as a precautionary measure whilst it decides whether or not it complies with the Constitution.

The Government filed an appeal of unconstitutionality against the Basque Housing Law, which, in addition to the aforementioned measure, makes provisions for other initiatives, such as the imposition of a fee on empty homes and the recognition of the subjective right to a home, which will be enforceable in court.

The Basque Parliament approved the Housing Law in June 2015, following lobbying by PSE and with the support of EH Bildu and UPyD. It was rejected by the PP and the PNV. In its appeal, Mariano Rajoy’s Government requested that the admission procedure for the law be temporarily suspended until the substance of the matter has been resolved, as it is allowed to do under the Organic Law of the TC.

The court of guarantees issued a ruling in which it declared the appeal admissible and suspended the law, which does not determine the final outcome, but rather grants a period of five months, which may be renewed, during which time the aforementioned law will not apply and a decision can be taken regarding its future.

In its acceptance and suspension ruling, the TC announced that it will transfer the file “to the Congress of Representatives and the Senate, through their respective Presidents, as well as the Basque Government and Basque Parliament, through their respective Presidents, so that they can make an appearance and formulate the allegations that they deem appropriate, within a period of fifteen days.

Original story: Cinco Días

Translation: Carmel Drake