Tag: founders

Elix VRS Purchases a Building in Barcelona for €4M

3 December 2018 – Eje Prime

Elix Vintage Residencial Socimi is continuing to back Barcelona. The company, led by the businessmen Jaime Lacasa and Jorge Benjumeda, has purchased a building in Barcelona for €4 million, according to a statement filed by the company with the Alternative Investment Market (MAB).

The purchase of the asset, located on Calle Tamarit in the Catalan capital, has been financed in part (42.5%) by own funds and in part (57.5%) by a loan. The loan, granted by CaixaBank, has a duration of five years with a quarterly repayment schedule.

This operation follows the purchase of another residential property that the Socimi carried out at the end of October. On that occasion, Elix VRS acquired a building on Calle Consell de Cent for €4.1 million, according to a report filed by the company with the MAB. Moreover, in August, the firm purchased a portfolio of four assets in the centre of the Catalan capital for €34 million.

The Socimi, controlled primarily by the property developer Elix and the funds KKR and Altamar Capital Partners, has a portfolio containing more than 25 assets located in Madrid and Barcelona. The company’s plans involve purchasing around forty buildings between now and 2021 to subject them to comprehensive renovations and then put the homes up for rent. That rental income will sustain the Socimi, which plans to rotate its portfolio of assets every three years.

Elix VRS made its debut on the stock market in July. The company, which is headquartered in Barcelona, was created with a share capital of €100 million, the majority of which was contributed by KKR and a group of international and domestic investors including Altamar and Deutsche Finance Group. The rest of the shares are owned by Jaime Lacasa and Jorge Benjumeda, the founders of the Socimi.

Original story: Eje Prime (by B. Seijo)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Värde Will Integrate Aelca into Vía Célere to Strengthen the Latter’s IPO

21 July 2018 – El Economista

A new merger operation is on the horizon in the real estate sector, and it is going to star Vía Célere and Aelca. According to confirmation from several sources in the sector speaking to this newspaper, the two entities’ common shareholder, the fund Värde, is working in an active way to integrate the two companies with the aim of strengthening the structure of Vía Célere ahead of its upcoming stock market debut.

The fund and its partners in the real estate company (Marathon, Attestor, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, JPMorgan and Barclays) are currently holding conversations with the founders of Aelca to carry out an operation in which the assets of the property developer would be integrated into Vía Célere’s portfolio. According to the same sources, Värde, which owns around 80% of each real estate company, wants to close a preliminary agreement within the next two weeks, although the operation may not actually be executed until October and November.

The objective of the fund is to close the integration before the end of the year, in such a way that the company will be ready to carry out its debut on the stock market when the next sales opportunity presents itself. Following the debuts of Neinor, Aedas and Metrovacesa, the market has almost exhausted its appetite for the real estate sector, plus there has been some high volatility on the stock market due to political instability.

These circumstances have meant that the fund has not been able to liquidate its investment in Vía Célere so far this year, as it had planned, although, sources at the company say that no specific date had ever been set for the IPO. In the case of Aelca, its founders and shareholders, Javier Gómez and José Juan Martín, have been aiming (to list their firm) in 2019, a step that may now be taken under the umbrella of the Vía Célere brand.

With this move, once listed on the stock market, the firm launched and presided by Juan Antonio Gómez Pintado will be positioned as the property developer with the largest market capitalisation, amounting to €2.3 billion. Similarly, according to the same sources, the target for the delivery of homes by the new company would increase to around 5,000 units per year, thus reaching the figures planned by its competitor Metrovacesa, which also forecasts such volumes for 2021.

Before designing the integration process for the two property developers, Värde has also studied the possible merger of Vía Célere with one of the other large listed companies, although, that formula was giving rise to a giant with a volume of business that was not seen in the property development sector even in the boom years.

With the merger of the two property companies now on the cards, the new Vía Célere will have a land bank with capacity for the development of around 23,000 homes. To this figure, the plots that Sareb will inject into Aelca will have to be added, with an approximate value of €800 million, in the event that the property developer ends up reaching an agreement with the bad bank.

The American fund reached an agreement with the Avintia group in the summer of 2016 to acquire Aelca for around €50 million. Almost simultaneously, Värde launched Dospuntos from the leftovers of the former Parquesol, the real estate subsidiary of the Sanjose Group.

Six months later, it closed the purchase of the property developer led by Gómez Pintado for around €90 million to integrate it with Dospuntos and create a new giant in the sector, retaining the Vía Célere brand, which has become the fund’s new darling.

Created shortly before the real estate bubble burst, the real estate company is one of the few that managed to survive the crisis and if Värde’s plans do crystallise, it could position itself as the largest listed property developer in the country.

Original story: El Economista (by Alba Brualla)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Aelca Debuts in País Vasco with Development of 311 Homes

15 March 2018 – Expansión

Aelca, the property developer controlled by the US fund Värde and the founding team, has made its debut in the País Vasco with the launch of a development comprising 311 homes in the town of Barakaldo (Vizcaya).

The company, which also has a presence in Cataluña, Madrid, Málaga and the Community of Valencia plans to hand over the first homes in 2020.

Specifically, this residential complex is going to be built in four phases. The first phase, marketing of which has already started, comprises 90 high-rise homes and 22 family properties. The construction of this first phase will begin in September this year and the first units will be handed over in the third quarter of 2020, explains the company. The second phase will comprise 119 homes, the third phase 40 units and the final phase 40 homes.

The firm constituted in 2012 by Javier Gómez and José Juan Martín, both now CEOs of the group, closed last year with a profit before tax (PBT) of €25.5 million, up by 154% and revenues of €132.2 million, up by 27%, and is preparing to continue growing through purchases.

Original story: Expansión (by R. Arroyo)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Värde Seeks Advisors For Aelca’s IPO

28 August 2017 – Expansión

The US fund, which has already hired an underwriter for the stock market debut of its other property developer, Vía Célere, has asked for proposals from investment banks and advisors to list the company Aelca on the stock market.

A new real estate company is getting ready for its stock market debut. After the successful IPO of Neinor Homes, the first property developer to debut on the stock market in Spain in almost a decade, several companies in the sector have placed their focus on the stock market.

The latest company to join the party is Aelca. The Madrilenian property developer, or more specifically, its majority shareholder, the US fund Värde Partners, has invited the main investment banks and advisory firms to submit their respective proposals to support the debut of the company on the stock market, according to sources in the sector.

Founded in 2012 by Javier Gómez (pictured above right) and José Juan Martín (pictured above left), Aelca owns a portfolio that is currently worth €650 million. In June 2016, Värde acquired 75% of the property developer from the construction group Avintia. The remaining stake is held by the two founding partners, who serve as the senior executives of the real estate company.

The first round of contact with the possible underwriters was made at the end of July, with the aim of the debut taking place in 2018.

Ahead of that, Värde wants to list another property developer on the stock market: Vía Célere, in which it holds a 51% stake. The US fund has already chosen Credit Suisse, Jefferies-Arcano and CaixaBank to lead that placement, which could materialise this year, whereby taking advantage of the high degree of interest that exists in investing in Spanish real estate.

Investment

Like in the case of Vía Célere, the US fund will try to grow Aelca as much as possible before its debut on the stock market, with the aim of achieving the maximum return. Värde paid €50 million for 75% of the company, an investment that it will easily recover through the placement.

In total, since acquiring its stake in Aelca’s share capital, Värde has spent €200 million on land purchases, according to its founders in an interview with Expansión in April.

Original story: Expansión (by Rocío Ruiz)

Translation: Carmel Drake