Tag: Félix Abánades

Slim Acquires 3% of Quabit for €4.8M

7 January 2020 – El Confidencial

The Mexican businessman Carlos Slim has acquired 3% of the share capital of Quabit for €4.8 million through his investment company Inversora Carso to become the property developer’s sixth-largest shareholder.

Quabit’s share price rose by 5.15% to €1.14 following the announcement of the purchase. The property developer’s president Félix Abánades is the largest investor with a 20% stake, followed by the Swiss manager Julius Baer (8.7%), the investor Francisco García Paramés (5%), the fund Gescooperativo (3.5%) and the Malagan property developer Sankar Real Estate (3.3%).

Slim appears to be redoubling his commitment to the Spanish real estate market, given that he already holds stakes in FCC and Realia, which currently have 800 and 750 homes under construction, respectively, along with 4.4 million m2 and 5.8 million m2 of land ripe for development, respectively.

Original story: El Confidencial (by Ruth Ugalde)

Translation/Summary: Carmel Drake

Quabit Invests in New Sectors in Preparation for a Change in the Market Cycle

24 October 2019 – Félix Abánades, the head of Quabit Inmobiliaria, has been preparing his firm for a new cycle in the real estate market. The firm recently began investing in the residential rental market, acquired a construction company (Rayet Construcción), placed a portfolio of 1,300 homes currently under construction on sale and announced that it would invest in the cooperative management sector. In the latter, the firm is looking to develop a portfolio of approximately 1,000-1,500 homes, within two or three years, with a turnover of around 175 million euros, through its Style Cooperatives initiative.

Quabit’s entry into the cooperative management market comes at a time when the sector is suddenly back in vogue. Cooperatives are typically able to offer higher prices for developable land than comparable developers.  The firm is adding the new line of business to its existing operations in land and residential development, along with its foray into the rental housing market.

Increasing construction costs and the possibility of a change in the market cycle are leading Quabit and other developers to reduce their earnings forecasts along with estimates of the number of homes it will deliver in the coming years.

Original Story: El Confidencial – Elena Sanz

Adaptation/Translation: Richard D. K. Turner

Quabit Finalises Sale of Rayet Construcción for €14.3 Million

9 October 2019 – Quabit has finalised its acquisition of 82.9% of the share capital of Rayet Construcción, a construction company controlled by Félix Abánades, for 14.3 million euros. Quabit is thought to be taking control of the construction in response to tight demand and to guarantee the construction and delivery of its homes.

The president of Rayet, Félix Abánades, will thereby raise his stake in Quabit from 19.1% to 20.3%, as part of the payment will be made with shares in the developer. The rest of the payment will be made in cash.

Original Story: Valencia Plaza

Photo: Eva Máñez

Adaptation/Translation: Richard D. K. Turner

Quabit Buys Land in Madrid for €3.8M to Build 85 Homes

29 October 2018 – Eje Prime

Quabit is expanding its land portfolio to fulfil its growth plan. The listed real estate company has purchased a plot of buildable land measuring 8,500 m2 in Valdemoro (Madrid) for €3.8 million, according to a statement issued by the company.

The property developer is going to build 85 homes on that site, through which it expects to generate revenues of €17 million. With this new investment, over the last year and a half, Quabit has incorporated residential land on which to build 4,925 homes all over Spain into its portfolio.

Moreover, the real estate firm now owns a portfolio of buildable land to fulfil 75% of the objectives established in its Business Plan for 2017-2022. So far this year, the property developer has invested €35.7 million in the purchase of land in areas such as Madrid, the Costa del Sol and the Corredor de Henares, as well as in the Balearic Islands. In total, Quabit has added 116,700 m2 of land to its portfolio on which to build 980 homes and through which it expects to invoice €179 million.

Since it launched its new business plan in 2017, the property developer controlled by Félix Abánades has invested almost €200 million in residential land. Currently, Quabit is marketing fifty developments comprising 3,724 homes. The property developer’s land bank spans 1.1 million m2 for the construction of 8,800 homes.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake

Quabit Reassures Investors of Business as Usual Despite Falling Share Price

24 October 2018  – Eje Prime

Quabit is reassuring its investors. The property developer chaired and controlled by Félix Abánades has informed Spain’s National Securities and Market Commission (CNMV) that it does not think that the decrease in its share price in recent weeks is justified “given that it does not correspond to the current value or the fundamentals of the company”.

In this vein, the company has confirmed that it is working “intensely and with absolute normality”, in accordance with the objectives established in its strategic business plan, which will be completed in 2022.

The property developer has also explained that the legal battle over the mortgage tax is not affecting the company’s activity, either from the point of view of granting loans to the company or of signing credits with its customers. In any case, the company has announced that it has yet adopted any decision regarding the possibility of initiating claims.

Quabit finalised the first half of the year with profits, for the first time, of €1.14 million, compared with losses of €3.52 million recorded as at June 2017, according to a statement filed by the company with the CNMV in July. Similarly, in terms of turnover, the group tripled its revenues during the first half of the year to €9.15 million, three times the amount recorded during the 6 months to June 2017.

Abánades’ company currently has fourteen developments under construction in several areas of Spain, containing 909 homes in total, after recently starting work on a dozen residential projects.

Since 2017, Quabit has invested €193 million in land on which to build almost 4,850 homes, which means that it has already fulfilled 75% of the promotion target established in its plan for 2017-2022.

Original story: Eje Prime 

Translation: Carmel Drake

Quabit Acquires Land from Sankar in Exchange for 4.55% of its Own Shares

3 August 2018 – El Español

Félix Abánades, President and largest shareholder of the listed real estate company Quabit, is continuing to immerse himself in a quagmire of capital increases that he has been promoting in order to raise funds to use to purchase land, on which to build almost 8,000 homes between now and 2022. His ambitious objective is to invoice almost €2 billion, generate a cash flow of almost €500 million and distribute €90 million in dividends.

Land in exchange for shares

Basically, these increases have been of a non-monetary nature, with the purchase of land in exchange for shares in Quabit. A much cheaper route than the two lines of credit amounting to €100 million that the firm signed with the fund Avenue between December 2016 and December 2017.

Those loans carry a clear risk, given that the principal, on which interest of between 12% and 16% is charged, must be repaid within a maximum term of 4 years following the drawdown date.

Repayment commitment

In light of the probability that the principal will not be returned on time, Avenue forced Quabit to issue warrants, an abusive right over the shares in favour of the fund that, in the worst case, would see it take ownership of 8.56% of the property developer.

For the time being, with Quabit trading at €1.77, at the close of business on Thursday, that option would be ruled out, given that the subscription prices agreed with Avenue for the execution of those rights over the shares range between €3.07 and €3.75.

Six capital increases in one fell swoop

It is for that reason that, in light of this negative outlook, Abánades carried out six capital increases in one fell swoop last November, for a combined total of €41.8 million, with the issue of shares at a price of €2, with a nominal value of €0.50 and a premium of €1.50.

All of those increases were of a non-monetary nature, in which Abánades captured estates from the Basque property developer Ondabide in Mijas (Málaga) and plots in Guadalajara contributed by Rayet, Abánades’s own company. The other four capital increases were placed by the President of Quabit with the Malaga-based property developer, Sankar Real Estate.

Agreement with Sankar

Quabit’s agreement with Sankar, for the subscription of those four increases, was aimed at obtaining plots in the Malagan municipalities of Mijas, Marbella and Estepona and in the Menorcan town of Mercadal, some in the form of proindivisos for 30% of the surface area.

The total operation will allow Sankar to acquire 4.55% of Quabit’s share capital, once the four increases have been fully subscribed. A package of 6.78 million shares, valued initially at an issue price of €13.56 million.

For the time being, Sankar has subscribed to two of these increases. With the public deed of the capital increase of the latter, relating to estates on the island of Menorca, the Malaga-based property developer has been obliged to report to Spain’s National Securities and Exchange Commission (CNMV) its stake as a reference shareholder of Quabit, given that it now owns 3% of the shares. Specifically, its stake amounts to 3.31%.

Losses of 12%

A package of 4.93 million shares that have accumulated losses of 12% compared with the €2 price for which they were issued, taking as a reference Quabit’s COB trading price on Thursday, €1.77.

The consequence of these non-monetary increases is affecting the personal stake of Félix Abánades, the President of Quabit, who has seen his position in the company decrease from 24% just a few months ago to the current level of 21.4%. He is trying to maintain the rate with the acquisition of financial instruments that, in the future, may yield another 1% of share capital.

Original story: El Español (by Juan Carlos Martínez)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Quabit Invests €15M Buying Land in Madrid & Málaga to Build 320 Homes

10 July 2018 – Eje Prime

Quabit is continuing to expand in Spain. The property developer is pushing ahead with its growth plan and, to this end, has completed the purchase of new plots of land in Estepona (Málaga) as well as in the Madrilenian towns of Azuqueca de Henares and San Agustín de Guadalix, for a total investment of €15.2 million. On these plots, the property developer will be able to build 320 new homes.

The operation follows another that the firm recently signed in Menorca, where it acquired a portfolio of residential land for €24.6 million. During the first half of the year, the company led and controlled by Félix Abánades (pictured above) invested €32 million in new land in total.

On these surface areas for residential use, which span a buildable area of 108,3000 m2, Quabit is going to build almost 900 homes, with a forecast turnover of €162 million.

Since the company launched its strategic plan 2017-2020, the real estate company has invested almost €200 million in the purchase of land for the construction of 4,850 homes. If we add those units to the ones still to be developed, the company has already fulfilled 75% of its development objective for 2022, which amounts to 7,900 homes.

Currently, Quabit has 45 developments up for sale with almost 3,300 homes being marketed, after ending 2017 with 1,700 units under construction located all over Spain. The property developer’s land bank exceeds 1.1 million m2 of buildable space, with capacity for the development of up to 8,800 homes.

Original story: Eje Prime 

Translation: Carmel Drake

Quabit Buys Land in Menorca for €24.6M to Build Homes and a Hotel

3 July 2018 – Eje Prime

Quabit is preparing to bring more new homes onto the market. The company chaired by Félix Abánades (pictured below) is taking positions in the residential market in Menorca. The company has acquired a portfolio of buildable residential land on the island for €24.6 million.

The plots are located in Son Parc, on the north coast of Menorca, and form part of the municipality of Es Mercadal, according to explanations provided by the company in a statement. The plots have a buildability of 69,350 m2 for the construction of 277 new homes and 264 hotel beds.

The payment of 70% of the transaction price has been made through the company in which Quabit holds a majority stake and in which the global investment firm Avenue Capital holds almost 10%, with financial support from the funds advised by Avenue. The remaining 30% has been funded by using shares in the company with a value of €2 per share through a non-monetary capital increase.

“Quabit is going to start the pre-launch marketing campaign immediately, before the month of August”, explained the company. The deal in Menorca represents the company’s fourth major land transaction so far this year, after its acquisition of buildable residential plots during the first quarter in Madrid, Guadalajara and Corredor del Henares.

Following these operations, Quabit now has 1.1 million m2 of buildable land on which to build around 8,800 homes. In 2018, Quabit’s commercial portfolio comprises 45 developments with almost 3,300 homes in different phases of construction in Madrid, Málaga and the Costa del Sol, Guadalajara, Corredor del Henares and the Balearic Islands. The company is maintaining its objective of handing over 7,900 homes by 2022.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake

Quabit to Build 700 More Homes in Aguas Vivas (Guadalajara)

14 June 2018 – Eje Prime

Quabit Inmobiliaria is building homes in Guadalajara. This week, the property developer has handed over the keys to 116 social housing properties in Guadalajara, in the new Aguas Vivas development and at the same time, it has laid the first brick for the second phase of another 196 homes. According to the President and CEO of Quabit Inmobiliaria, Félix Abánades (pictured below, right), the company plans to build around 700 properties in this part of Guadalajara over the coming months.

This development is the first new build social housing complex to have been completed in Guadalajara in the last decade, in the new Aguas Vivas development. After completing the first phase, and starting the earth movement works of the second phase, Quabit Inmobiliaria is now also on the verge of starting to market the third phase, which includes another 193 properties, according to Guadaque.

Félix Abánades highlighted that it has taken ten years to start constructing new build homes from scratch again and he expressed his satisfaction that this work is being carried out in Guadalajara and that it is involving social housing units.

Original story: Eje Prime 

Translation: Carmel Drake

Spain’s Property Development Sector Will Continue its Expansive Cycle for the Next 3 Years

30 May 2018 – Eje Empresas

The CEO of Neinor Homes, Juan Velayos, has highlighted that the “healthy and strong bullish cycle” that the property development market is experiencing at the moment, will result in a “positive” performance over the next three years, before reaching “a situation of stability lasting many years”.

The main challenge (facing the market) is to “become more predictable”, in aspects such as the time it takes to obtain licences, a problem that may be resolved because “the market is going to continue helping”, according to Velayos.

The Director of Strategy and Investment at Aedas Homes, Sergio Gálvez, explained that the situation in the property development sector is “unique” given that it is recovering from “a very low level”.

The Executive President of Inmobiliaria del Sur, Ricardo Pumar, agrees that “the macroeconomic forecasts point to a very good situation for the next three years”.

Pumar stressed that the recovery is “widespread” but he has opted to facilitate access to housing for young people to “boost the whole sector”.

The President of Quabit Inmobiliaria, Félix Abánades, predicts that the expansion cycle “will last for six years” and he agreed that there will be “significant increases in prices” over the next three to four years.

The market for property developers is clearly expanding and growing with a very “solid” demand, he added.

Investors back the property development sector

The Partner at the consultancy firm Deloitte, Alberto Valls, highlighted that “investor appetite continues” but is still a long way off the levels seen before the economic crisis.

“There are barriers to entry, such as capital, the lack of available land to build on and the limited production capacity”, he said.

He said that half of the property development market is concentrated in Madrid, Barcelona, Alicante, Málaga and Valencia.

The Spanish sector is more fragmented than those of other European countries, given that the top five property developers account for just 6% of the market, whereas in the UK and France, they represent around 40%.

Nevertheless, Valls pointed out that “the trend is towards corporate concentration and the stock market debut of new players”.

Original story: Eje Empresas

Translation: Carmel Drake