Tag: Fernando Gumuzio

Azora Prepares a Fund to Invest €1.3bn in Hotels & Hostels

30 May 2019 – El Confidencial

Azora is currently holding conversations with various investors to launch a new fund through which it hopes to invest between €1.2 billion and €1.3 billion in hotels in Spain as well as in hostels in the main tourist markets across the Mediterranean.

The company founded by Concha Osácar (pictured above) and Fernando Gumuzio expects to launch the vehicle within the next few weeks as soon as agreements have been signed with the first anchor investors.

Azora, which used to manage the Socimi Hispania, until it was sold to Blackstone last year, has been very active in the Spanish hotel market in recent months after it purchased a hotel portfolio in Benidorm and the Costa del Sol in March comprising 1,670 rooms.

The company is also expected to enter the market for nursing homes for the elderly in conjunction with another fund, with the aim of investing up to €300 million over the next few years.

Original story: El Confidencial (by E.S.)

Translation/Summary: Carmel Drake

Operación Calderón: Azora Set to Buy 2 of Atlético’s Plots for Rental Homes

23 May 2019 – El Confidencial

Azora, one of the largest rental home managers in the country, has made a surprise appearance in the home stretch of the process to sell the plots of land owned by Atlético de Madrid.

The company owned by Concha Osácar and Fernando Gumuzio has submitted a binding offer to the football club to buy two of the three plots that form part of Operación Calderón and, according to sources in the know, the bid fulfils all of the requirements of the team. As such, Azora looks set to take over the bulk of the land that the reds and whites are selling by the river.

The rental home specialist has declined to comment on the reports, but all indications are that it plans to build rental homes on the two plots, to boost the growing rental market in the Spanish capital. It would thereby follow in the footsteps on the fund Ares, which has just signed an agreement with Stoneweg to build a block of rental homes on a plot on Paseo de la Dirección, in the north of Madrid.

Indeed, the Spanish-Swiss firm is one of the favourites to acquire the third plot of land in Operación Calderón, which Azora did not bid for. The cooperative manager Concovi is also in the running for that site.

Atlético de Madrid expects to raise around €180 million from the sale of the three plots and 11% of the residential space will be dedicated to social housing properties.

Original story: El Confidencial (by Ruth Ugalde)

Translation/Summary: Carmel Drake

Azora Acquires HQ of the Former Cortefiel Group for €28.3M

24 January 2019 – Eje Prime

Another operation has been closed in the office market in Madrid. The Socimi GMP, controlled by the Montoro family and the sovereign fund of Singapore, has sold the building located at number 51 Calle Llano Castellano to Azora. The price of the operation amounted to €28.3 million.

The property now controlled by Azora, the real estate manager founded by Concha Osácar and Fernando Gumuzio, is occupied in its entirety by Tendam, previously known as the Cortefiel Group and owner of the fashion chains Cortefiel, Women’secret, Springfield and Pedro del Hierro.

The rental contract for the building, which has a gross leasable area of 23,108 m2 and 145 parking spaces, is due to expire in 2023.

The building was constructed in 1990 and had been controlled 100% by GMP since 2015. Until then, the property was in the hands of the real estate division of General Electric through the company Renta Gestión Fuencarral.

Its new owner, Azora, specialises in the investment and management of real estate assets for third parties and has a portfolio comprising more than €4.5 billion in assets. The company was the promoter of Hispania, the first Socimi to be constituted, which made its debut on the stock market in Spain in 2014.

Azora was considering its own stock market debut, but in the end, it suspended that process last year. Azora and Hispania ended their agreement last year, after Blackstone’s successful takeover of the Socimi.

Since then, the company has focused on the residential rental market through the creation of a joint venture with CBRE Global Investment and Madison to reach a portfolio of 10,000 homes over the coming years.

Azora manages the real estate portfolios of funds and wealthy investors, such as George Soros, CBRE Global Investors, Goldman Sachs, Axa Investment Management and Bank of Montreal, amongst others (…).

Original story: Eje Prime (by P. Riaño and I. P. Gestal)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Hispania Signs €340M Financing Agreement with BNP Paribas

26 September 2018 – Hosteltur

Hispania Activos Inmobiliarios has signed an agreement with BNP Paribas to open a financing line amounting to €340 million to finance and/or refinance its debt, according to a statement filed by the Socimi today with Spain’s National Securities and Markets Commission (CNMV).

In the relevant fact, the company reports that on 25 September 2018, it signed the aforementioned agreement with the entity “under market terms, amounting to €340,000,000, to finance and/or refinance debt held by the group’s entities upon their maturity, plus commissions, costs and expenses”.

This new financing arrangement will expire on 16 February 2020, although it may be extended twice by the company for one year each time.

Hispania recorded a net profit of €71.9 million during the first half of this year, 55% less than during the same period in 2017 when it earned €161.4 million. That decrease was basically due to the recognition of a provision for the fees to be paid to Azora, the former manager of the group. As Hosteltur reported, the relationship between the two entities was terminated on Monday, with Concha Osácar and Fernando Gumuzio, the owners of Azora, leaving the Board of Directors of the Socimi.

Blackstone, the new owner of Hispania, has paid €224 million to the manager by way of compensation for the early termination of Hispania’s asset management contract, which covered its hotels, offices and residential buildings. The indemnity amount was calculated on the basis of the manager’s base fees (€33.6 million) and success fees (€190.8 million), according to the terms specified in the “Termination Letter”, following the success of the takeover bid launched by the US fund for 100% of the Socimi.

Nevertheless, in terms of the results during the first half of the year, Hispania’s operating profit grew by almost 16%, to €57.1 million, whilst its revenues amounted to €85.3 million, which represents an increase of 9.8%.

Revenues from rental income amounted to €80.9 million, up by 14%. Of that amount, €67.9 million corresponded to hotels, €11.3 million to office buildings and €1.7 million to homes.

At the end of the first half of the year, the gross value of Hispania’s assets amounted to €2.818 billion, which represents an increase of 60.8% with respect to their acquisition price and of 43.3% compared to the total investment.

Original story: Hosteltur

Translation: Carmel Drake

Hispania Seeks “White Knight” to Improve Blackstone’s Takeover Bid

17 April 2018 – Expansión

Hispania is moving ahead and accelerating the search for a white knight to increase the bid for the Socimi. The real estate firm, which specialises in hotels, has engaged Goldman Sachs, UBS and JPMorgan, as financial advisors, and the law firms Freshfields and Uría Menéndez, as legal advisors, to look for alternatives to the takeover bid presented by Blackstone, which values 100% of Hispania at €1,905 million.

The US fund, which already controls 16.56% of Hispania, after it acquired the stake of the Hungarian-born magnate George Soros, announced its intention on 5 April to launch a takeover bid for the entire company at a price of €17.45 per share, which it would pay entirely in cash. The operation is conditioned on achieving the acceptance of at least 54,584,772 shares, which would allow Blackstone to take control of more than 50% of the total share capital. The US fund must submit its takeover prospectus to the CNMV before 4 May 2018.

Unsolicited offer

“Neither the Board of Directors of Hispania nor its management company, Azora Gestión, were aware of the aforementioned acquisition of shares by Bidco (a Luxembourg-based company controlled by Blackstone through which the operation would be carried out) or of its intention to formulate a takeover bid. As a result, it is an unsolicited offer”, confirmed the company yesterday in a statement sent to the CNMV.

Hispania also said that the Board of Directors will promote alternatives that “maximise” the value of the company. Blackstone has not been the only international fund to express interest in Hispania’s hotels. In this way, before Blackstone launched its bid for Hispania, five other investors expressed their interest in the Socimi without formalising firm offers, according to market sources speaking to Expansión.

Hispania is currently the largest hotel owner in Spain by number of rooms, with more than 13,100 rooms in 46 hotels and a gross value of €1,639 million (66% of its portfolio), and its purchase would represent a significant move that would place the buyer in a position of leadership at a time of strength in the tourism sector.

The manager’s roadmap

Until Blackstone’s takeover bid was announced, Azora’s roadmap involved: selling Hispania’s offices in a single transaction, an operation that had already been channelled towards the fund Tristan; selling the homes in a block deal; and expanding the hotel portfolio to also sell it as a block. Thus, Azora was planning to sell the whole company – without the offices or homes – with a transfer of control that would allow the continuity of the Socimi, before March 2020, when the entity marks its sixth birthday.

Hispania’s shares closed trading on the stock exchange yesterday up by 1.56% to €17.62 per share, in other words, 1% higher than the price offered by Blackstone.

Besides Blackstone, Hispania’s other main shareholders include Tamerlane, with a 5.99% stake, Fidelity (4.88%), BlackRock (4.02%), BW Gestao de Investimentos (3.64%), Axa (3.03%) and Bank of Montreal (3.01%). The US fund has already approached the company’s other shareholders to convey the benefits of the takeover.

The US fund’s offer for Hispania comes two months after Colonial successfully closed its takeover of Axiare. The Board of Directors of Axiare was also reluctant to accept the offer from its rival initially, however, in the end, it expressed a “favourable” opinion regarding the takeover.

Sources at Hispania affirm that the Board of Directors, with the assistance of the financial and legal advisors contracted, will pronounce on the takeover “in due course”. Hispania’s most senior executive body is chaired by Rafael Miranda, who was the CEO of Endesa until the energy company was taken over by the Italian group Enel. Meanwhile, Concha Osácar and Fernando Gumuzio, founding partners and directors of Azora Capital, are external directors.

Original story: Expansión (by Rebeca Arroyo)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Azora Will Make its Stock Market Debut in May With a €700M Capital Increase

5 April 2018 – Eje Prime

Azora has come back from the Easter holidays with lots of issues to resolve. The company founded by Concha Osácar and Fernando Gumuzio is accumulating work: following the takeover bid launched by Blackstone for Hispania, one of the Socimis that the firm manages, and which yesterday approved the sale of its office portfolio for €600 million, the company owned by Osácar and Gumuzio is now planning a €700 million capital increase to list the company on the stock market in May.

The conversion of the firm into a listed company will be carried out by the manager through a public offering of its securities (OPS). The announcement was made on Wednesday by the President of Hispania, Rafael Miranda, who underlined the confidence that his Socimi has in Azora. “The Management team’s commitment to leadership and dedication remains intact”, said Miranda, whose General Shareholders’ Meeting met yesterday to approve that Osácar and Gumuzio’s company should continue as its manager.

Azora has two lines of business: its own portfolio of rental homes and the management of portfolios for other companies, like in the case of Hispania and Témpore (Sareb’s Socimi). The company is working with the banks Goldman Sachs and UBS to assess the feasibility of the company ringing the bell (making its stock market debut) before the summer.

Azora’s stock market debut would follow those carried out recently by other real estate players such as Neinor Homes, Aedas Homes, and the return of Metrovacesa, as well as the debut on the stock market this week of Témpore on the Alternative Investment Market (MAB). Similarly, other companies in the Spanish real estate sector are expected to make their debuts this year including Testa Residencial, Vía Célere and the Cerberus’s servicer, Haya Real Estate.

Original story: Eje Prime 

Translation: Carmel Drake

Azora Group Explores its Own Stock Market Debut

15 February 2018 – La Información

The Azora Group, the manager of the moment in the Spanish real estate sector, following the successful launch of its Socimi Hispania, which managed to attract well-known international investors such as George Soros, is now considering its own debut on the stock market, according to financial sources familiar with the situation, speaking to La Información. In parallel, it is continuing to work on the assignment to debut Sareb’s Socimi, Témpore Properties, on the stock market.

According to the sources, the investor group controlled by Concha Osácar (pictured above, third from left) and Fernando Gumuzio (pictured above, far left), through the parent company Azora Altus, has already taken the first steps towards processing its debut on the stock market, a move that the company declined to comment on when consulted in this regard. According to the definition that is available on the website of one of the other Socimis that it has debuted on the market and which it now manages exclusively following Hispania’s model, Colón Viviendas, the Azora Group “is made up of independent private equity managers specialising in the real estate sector”. Founded in 2003, the group employs 400 professionals and, according to its own estimates, manages an asset portfolio worth more than €4.1 billion. In addition to Hispania and Colón Viviendas, the group manages another collective investment instrument: Lazora.

Two well-known bankers are behind the Azora Group, both former members of Banco Santander’s private banking team: Concha Osácar and Fernando Gumuzio, who control the group’s parent company through two holding companies, Baztán Consultores and Hermanos Bécquer 10, respectively. They would be the major beneficiaries of this latest planned move (…).

Change of strategy

The Azora Group’s decision to direct its steps towards the stock market comes just a few months after Hispania’s General Shareholders’ Meeting took the decision to liquidate that Socimi in 2020. The possibility was included in the initial business plan set out at the time by Azora, but the subsequent remarkable performance of the company has opened up the possibility of that project becoming a reality. Not in vain, the firm had climbed to the status of being the largest owner in the domestic hotel sector, with 39 hotels and 11,200 rooms in its portfolio, and a flow of profits significantly higher than forecast: €308 million in 2016 and €185 million in H1 2017, up by 35% YoY.

Having established Hispania’s expiry date, the Azora Group unleashed a series of decisions in the following months. In May, it decided to liquidate Azora Europa 1, another real estate investment fund in which it managed to involve Sabadell Patrimonio, Abanca, Kutxabank, Caixabank, Bankia and investors such as Manuel Jové. The next step was to begin the process to debut a new Socimi on the MAB, Colón Viviendas, whose assets comprise 300 public rental apartments acquired from the Consell Comarcal del Barcelonés back in the day.

Almost in parallel, Azora placed another Socimi on the MAB, through Hispania and in partnership with Barceló. In that case, the assets were linked to the hotel sector, in the form of Bay Hotels & Leisure, with a portfolio worth €790 million, according to the prospectus. That adventure looks set to be coming to an end after Hispania first took over Barceló’s stake and then notified the CNMV, a few days ago, of its intention to exclude the entity from trading on the MAB due to the lack of appetite from minority shareholders and the reduced liquidity of its shares.

Original story: La Información (by Bruno Pérez)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Hispania’s Manager, Azora, Prepares Hotel Vehicle For Portugal

23 October 2017 – El Confidencial

The largest hotel Socimi in Spain may soon have a replica in Portugal. Azora, the manager of Hispania, is working on the creation of a new vehicle to enter the Portuguese market, on the basis that, over the next few years, it expects to see a repeat there of the recovery that the Spanish real estate market is experiencing at the moment.

The Director-General of Hispania, Cristina García-Peri, revealed Azora’s plans at the Barcelona Meeting Point conference, which was held in the Catalan capital last week. “We are looking at the Portuguese holiday market”, said the director, who also highlighted the opportunities that the country’s two major cities, Lisbon and Porto, have to offer.

Sources consulted by El Confidencial confirm that Azora’s strategy is aimed at constituting a new vehicle, given that Hispania’s mandate focuses solely on the Spanish market. As such, the firm is currently making contact with several funds to define the terms of the project.

The example of what Azora has done with Hispania is the best endorsement that the manager can show investors to attract them towards this new proposal, given that the firm founded by Concha Osácar and Fernando Gumuzio considers that the Portuguese market is very similar to the Spanish market and therefore, they already have a wealth of knowledge in terms of both the product and the environment.

Following in Hispania’s footsteps

Created three and a half years ago, Hispania has become the largest owner of hotels in the country in that short space of time, with 36 establishments and more than 10,350 beds. Most of its properties are located in the Canary and Balearic Islands.

Moreover, in the summer, the Socimi acquired a plot of land in Teguise (Lanzarote), where it is going to build a new five-star establishment with 225 rooms, which it will integrate with the existing Occidental Playa and Barceló Lanzarote hotels, to create a mega-resort with 1,033 rooms, the largest in Hispania’s whole portfolio.

Despite the success achieved with its tourist business, in the spring, Azora made a proposal to the Socimi’s shareholders, led by George Soros, to activate the divestment period for the vehicle and whereby renounce the option of converting it into a permanent entity.

This decision has meant that the company has activated a formal process to sell its entire office portfolio. To this end, it has been holding exclusive negotiations with the insurance company Swiss Life for several months now and it has also started to divest its 754 residential properties, one by one.

In terms of Hispania’s hotels, which account for the bulk of its portfolio, it has until December 2020. Until then, the Socimi will focus on continuing to acquire assets, as well as improving and actively managing the ones it already owns to allow it to increase its rate of return on these investments from 10% to 12%.

Original story: El Confidencial (by Ruth Ugalde)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Hispania Acquires ‘Holiday Inn Bernabéu’ Hotel

14 October 2015 – El Confidencial

Hispania now has its own flagship building in Azca. The financial heart of Madrid has been one of the main battlegrounds for the large real estate companies in recent months, and their appetite means that there are now barely any opportunities left in the area. Nevertheless, the Socimi led by Concha Osácar and Fernando Gumuzio has managed to find a way in. (…).

The company has taken advantage of the voluntary bankruptcy filed in February by Leading Hospitality, owner of the Holiday Inn Bernabéu Hotel in Madrid and the Maza Hotel in Zaragoza, to take control of the company and, as a result, take over the reins of the only four-star hotel in Azca.

In reality, this transaction confers the Socimi ownership of just 52% of the establishment, since that is the stake held by Leading Hospitality in the property that houses the hotel. However, it has taken over 100% of the management of the property, which signed a 25-year franchise contract with IHG (InterContinental Hotel Group), an agreement that is still valid.

By sheer coincidence, the former owner of Leading Hospitality and the man who purchased the Holiday Inn Bernabéu, is an old acquaintance of Azora, the management company of Hispania. He is César Losada, the hotel businessman who also created the fund Losan Hotels World, now called Carey Value Added, which had the backing of the savings banks through Ahorro Corporación.

This investment vehicle ended up owning 14 hotels and 2,000 rooms, spread across the world’s main capital cities. The operation of these establishments was granted to brands such as Marriot, Steigenberger, NH Hoteles, Hotusa and Barceló. But the plans did not evolve as expected and in 2011, Azora received a mandate from Ahorro Corporación to take over the management of Carey and restructure it. (…).

Since its creation, Hispania has been clearly focused on the hotel sector and, in fact, it was a pioneer in the market with the creation of Bay, the first 100% hotel Socimi, which it launched together with Barceló back in February.

But, the entity managed by Azora also has its own hotel portfolio that sits outside of this vehicle; in fact, the first operation that it closed following its debut was the purchase of Hotel Guadalmina, another well known name in the tourism market, which it acquired through the back door and, on this occasion, by purchasing its debt.

That was only the starting point. Hispania is now the owner of NH Pacífico and NH San Sebastián de los Reyes in Madrid, Hotel Hesperia in Las Ramblas, in Barcelona, Gran Hotel Bahía Real and the Suite Hotel Atlantis Resort in Fuerteventura, Meliá Jardines del Teide in Tenerife, and Vincci Málaga.

In total, hotels account for 31% of the gross value of the Socimi’s asset portfolio; another 45% relate to offices and the remaining 24% relates to homes. Hispania’s hotel activity generated revenues of €3.25 million during the first half of this year. In total, the Socimi has 1,439 rooms, plus more than 300 rooms in the Holiday Inn Bernabéu and 6,097 rooms in the Bay portfolio.

Original story: El Confidencial (by R. Ugalde)

Translation: Carmel Drake