Tag: funds

The Sale of Hotel Sol in Puerto de Naos Generates €600k for La Palma’s Municipal Coffers

27 October 2018 – El Día

The sale of Hotel Sol located in the tourist town of Puerto de Naos, in Los Llanos de Aridane (La Palma, Canary Islands) generated almost €600,000 (specifically, €597,215) for the municipal coffers by way of profit, according to reports presented in the most recent plenary session.

The sale was undertaken as part of a larger operation. Specifically, the hotel chain Meliá Hotels International sold three hotels in Sevilla, La Palma and Fuerteventura for €73.4 million to the real estate company Atom Hoteles Socimi, although it continues to operate them under a rental arrangement.

The one-off income obtained by the Town Hall was one of the arguments presented by the spokesman for Izquierda Unida, Felipe Ramon, to oppose the elimination of the tax, which each year generates around €100,000 for the municipal coffers. The case of Hotel Sol was exceptional, although it is also true that “if this tax had not been in force, the Town Hall would not have collected a single euro for the operation”, as the leader of IUC indicated.

The left-wing party rejects not only the suppression of the tax on property gains but also considers the decrease in the rate of IBI, approved in the plenary session, to be premature.

IUC considers that lowering the IBI “without first conducting a study and together with the other fiscal ordinances” proposing its modification “now when it was not scheduled for 2018”, represents “the start of the election campaign for the PP” (…).

Original story: El Día

Translation: Carmel Drake

Mazabi Launches a New Retail Park Project with €30M of Own Funds

16 October 2018 – Eje Prime

Mazabi is committed to retail parks. The Spanish property manager has launched Atalaya Superficies Comerciales onto the market, a project that has been created to develop retail parks and premises, which is going to be led by Sebastián Ojeda, according to a statement issued by the group.

Ojeda, who comes from Bankinter, is joining Mazabi with the purpose of leading the retail park sector in Spain. The new management vehicle is being created with €30 million of own funds contributed by various domestic and Latin American family offices. Atalaya has set itself the objective of achieving sales of more than €180 million over the next six years.

In addition to Ojeda, who has more than twenty years of experience in the banking sector, Mazabi is going to recruit other professionals and it will also engage specialist external advisors. The commitment of the real estate company to retail parks responds, according to the company, to the fact that it is “a sector with a high demand for professionalization and with high growth expectations over the medium term”.

“With the platform and experience offered by our multi-family office, the incorporation of Sebastián (Ojeda) into the project allows us to professionalise this area of the business, which has always been strategic for our group”, says Juan Antonio Gutiérrez, the CEO of the company.

Currently, Mazabi manages properties worth more than €1.3 billion, has investments in fourteen countries with fifty funds and has a specialist team of 25 professionals located in Madrid, Bilbao, Santander, Málaga and Luxembourg. The manager has the objective of growing its portfolio to reach €2 billion and, to that end, has engaged KPMG Real Estate to look for a long-term partner, to contribute equity of €200 million to acquire a “pipeline” of around €500 million.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake

Metrovacesa Invests €175M in Torre del Río Residential Project in Málaga

13 September 2018 – Eje Prime

Metrovacesa is backing the Malagan residential market. The property developer is going to invest €175 million in the Torre del Río residential project in the city of Málaga. The proposal involves the construction, on a surface area spanning 58,368 m2, of three residential properties, distributed over 21 storeys and with the capacity for more than 250 homes.

Each tower will house around 75 large homes, two swimming pools, a gym, a gastrobar, a coworking area and a movie theatre. The first units are expected to be handed over at the beginning of 2021.

The construction of the project is going to generate 1,500 direct and indirect jobs and is going to be led by Estudio Lamela, the company that won the architectural tender to construct Torre del Río. In the vicinity around the three skyscrapers, 39,131 m2 of space will be dedicated to free public areas and 12,648 m2 will be allocated for school, sports and social uses, as well as a building for tertiary and hotel use.

According to the developers of the project, “the urban development of this area is going to allow the recovery for Malaga of old industrial enclaves along the Antonino Banderas seafront on Calle Pacífico.

The Torre del Río residential development follows another investment undertaken by Metrovacesa in the south. In June, the listed property developer signed an agreement with the Town Hall of Sevilla to unblock the largest real estate development in the Andalucían capital at the moment.

That project is going to be located in Palmas Altas and will comprise more than 2,800 homes, of which 2,200 will be constructed by Metrovacesa. In terms of investment, access and the urbanisation of the land, the Spanish property developer is going to invest €60 million, funds that will come from a corporate loan that it signed with seven entities at the end of 2017.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake

Barings Acquires Five Office Buildings in Avalon Business Park in Madrid

    

Barings Real Estate has acquired five office buildings within Avalon Business Park, Madrid, Spain, as part of a Pan European value add investment strategy on behalf of an institutional investor. The seller is Meridia Capital. The five office buildings comprise 24,495sqm and are best in class in this submarket. The buildings are 97% occupied with more than 20 tenants mainly from the IT/technology and engineering sectors. Additionally, there are 1,291sqm of retail space and 421 underground parking spaces.

The Avalon Business Park comprises in total nine office buildings with 46,952sqm. The business park is located in Julian Camarillo, a 950,000sqm, consolidated office sub-market within the city of Madrid, one of the largest submarkets in terms of take-up in 2018. Formerly an industrial area, Avalon Business Park has already undergone big changes in the past years. It is in very close proximity to the city centre and the airport (15 minutes by car to each). The metro station is within eight minutes walking distance, and the property is served by several bus lines.

“We are delighted to announce our seventh acquisition in Spain and our first investment in the Madrid office market, where we see significant rental and value growth over the coming years. This is a new milestone in the development of our investment strategy in the Iberian Peninsula after a significant capital deployment in both the retail and the logistic markets. As our local team grows, we continue broadening our investment horizon, not only across different asset classes but also in terms of risk profile, from core product to value-add and opportunistic transactions,” Adolfo Favieres, Country Head Real Estate, Spain at Barings, said.

Barings was advised by Dentons (Legal), Deloitte (Financial), Arcadis (Technical) and Knight Frank (Valuation). Meridia Capital was advised by Garrigues and Savills Aguirre Newman.

Sabadell to Sell Solvia As It Unloads Real Estate Assets

30 August 2018

Banc Sabadell is taking offers for Solvia after ruling out placing it together with portfolios of real estate assets.

Unlike Santander and Caixabank, which unloaded most of their real estate assets when they transferred their portfolios of properties to investment funds, Banc Sabadell kept Solvia out of its sale of assets to Cerberus, which was concluded in July. Now, however, the Catalan bank is taking offers for its subsidiary, with an eye on wrapping up the sale within a few months.

Sources in the financial industry told Economia Digital that Sabadell, which is chaired by Josep Oliu, has decided to finalise the sale of its real estate assets through a partial or total sale of its servicer, Solvia. Although it has not yet initiated a formal sales process, the bank reportedly hopes to finalise the deal during the last four months of 2018.

“We are not a property firm, it is not our line of business,” Jaume Guardiola, CEO of Sabadell, has stated on several occasions when asked about the future of the bank’s real estate assets and its property firm, Solvia. Market sources had speculated that Solvia would be sold off together with the bank’s portfoli0 of property, land and related loans. However, Solvia remained in the bank’s hands.

Sabadell decided to leave the property firm out of its sale of the bank’s three property portfolios, worth 11 billion euros. Two of the three were eventually acquired by the venture capital fund Cerberus. The bank held on for a higher price for the servicer and hopes that the asset will help in the sale of the portfolio of properties that it still possesses, which is worth about another €2 billion.

That decision was made just over a month ago, but Guardiola’s position seems to have won, and the bank has put the sale of its property firm on the table again. The idea is that the company will be sold without any included assets, and the sale will be restricted to Solvia’s network and operations, in addition to its roughly 800 employees.

Sabadell has not yet received any formal offers, although Solvia is expected to draw some interest, considering that it is one of Spain’s biggest servicers. Several investment funds are investing in the country’s property market and could be interested in acquiring a servicer.

Solvia, in the hands of a fund?

All the large funds that have acquired real estate assets in Spain already have subsidiary property firms. Cerberus, which bought assets from BBVA and Sabadell, has Haya Real Estate. Apollo, which acquired Santander’s assets, owns Altamira. Lone Star owned Neinor, though it subsequently sold it, it will also acquire Servihabitat when it completes its purchase of 80% of Caixabank real estate assets. Lastly, Blackstone owns Anticipa.

However, other funds are making smaller purchases and could be interested in a property firm such as Solvia to help unload their property holdings in the future. Oaktree, which has acquired several buildings, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) and Bain Capital are all possible buyers.

Sabadell waves goodbye to its real estate business

This summer, Banc Sabadell sold a good part of its real estate assets. Of the three large portfolios it had on sale, two went to Cerberus and the third to Deutsche Bank. The assets sold to the investment fund were valued at 9.1 billion euros, while the portfolio that Sabadell sold to the German bank had assets worth €2.4 billion.

Sabadell applied a 57% write-off on the sales, a figure below previous large sales by BBVA and Santander, where the discount exceeded 60%. The banks that waited most, such as Caixabank and Sabadell itself, benefited from the growing interest of investors in Spanish property to sell their holdings at a higher price.

Original Story: Economia Digital – Xavier Alegret

Translation: Richard Turner

 

Spanish Hotels Change Hands As Tourism Booms

16 August 2018

Spain is a tourist country par excellence: beaches, sun, good weather and hotels. It is a country where tourists can find a comfortable place to spend their holidays, while at the same time, investors see an interesting potential for profits. In this manner are the parallel tales of the splendour of Spain’s tourism interwoven with the non-stop action in the local hotel sector real estate market.

Last year, investments reached 3.750 billion euros, according to real estate consultancy CBRE, a record figure that gives an idea of the market’s momentum. The frenetic pace of acquisitions didn’t stop for a rest this summer either, as the sector awaits the result of the Thai International’s takeover bid for NH Hoteles.

The hotel scene is undergoing a paradigm shift and the business model that has been used since the 1980s, where the property owner and hotel operator were the same, is moving towards a more Anglo-Saxon profile, where the owner is an investor, and lifelong hotel sector professionals are primarily responsible for management. The sector is still highly fragmented and dominated by individual owners and independent managers (55%), although their relative participation is decreasing. Funds, socimis and family offices have gained prominence in recent years and are responsible for most of the operations currently being executed, to the detriment of traditional groups. Consequently, 57% of the total invested in the year up to June corresponded to that group of investors, compared to 40% for the traditional hotel chains.

The reason for the change is, again, the bursting of the real estate bubble. Many hotel owners experienced difficulties and, in some cases, were unable to cope with their debts to banks, which in many cases took over the assets; then came the venture capital funds that, honouring their nickname – vultures –, took advantage of the situation to snap up those hotels at firesale prices. The funds then follow a familiar path after that, and the same story is repeated in other segments of the real estate market: the funds invest in the completion of moribund projects or to upgrade older assets, run the businesses at a good profit until they find an opportunity to unload their investment, obtaining attractive returns in the process.

“[The funds] obtain annual yields of around 6.5-7% and aim to achieve between 12% and 15% with an eventual sale of the asset,” says Bruno Hallé Boix, founding partner of the consultancy Magma Hospitality Consulting.

Divestment will be the next phase of the current cycle, but for now, market players are focusing on repositioning the businesses and their subsequent consolidation. Investment forecasts for 2018 are positive, although they are not expected to return to the highs of last year. In the first semester of this year, the total volume invested shrank by 55%, to 960 million euros. In that same period, 70 hotel assets were transacted, 8,500 rooms were built, together with another 1,800 in as yet incomplete buildings, lots and projects sold.

“It is becoming harder every day to find good assets, that’s why it’s a good time for skilled opportunity seekers,” Mr Hallé Boix stated.

Mergers and acquisitions

One of the most important transactions this year starred Blackstone, which has established itself as Spain’s hotel giant after finalising its takeover bid for Hispania. The US fund already owned more than a dozen assets stemming from a previous real estate transaction with Banco Santander and HI Partners. With its acquisition of Hispania, Blackstone added another 46 hotels and more than 13,100 rooms to its portfolio.

With that operation over, all eyes are now on NH Hoteles. The chain has been on the block for months after an unsuccessful attempted merger with Barceló, and so far, Minor International seems likely to take the prize. The Thai company, also planning on creating a hotel sector behemoth, is offering 6.4 euros per share the Spanish chain, which had a relatively cool reception.

While awaiting the outcome of this latest page-turner, almost no one is ruling out additional transactions in the coming months. 83% of Spanish and international chains surveyed for Magma Hospitality’s Hospitality Hotel Management 2018 study demonstrated an interest in moving ahead with possible mergers or acquisitions with other hotel groups in Spain during 2018 and beyond. At the same time, the growth of specialised socimis will continue to add dynamism to the sector.

For investors, including both socimis and the traditional operators, holiday resorts are seen as the next big bet, accounting for 78% of investments in the first half of the year, compared to the 22% that went to urban hotels. Baleares (27%), Canarias (26%) and Andalucía (9%) were the main targets of regional investment, with others such as Madrid (5%) and Barcelona (4%) following far behind, according to CBRE.

In 43% of the cases, the average sale price for the assets valued the hotels at between 60,000 and 120,000 euros per room, according to the report. At the same time, there was an increase in acquisitions where buyers paid more than €120,000/room, another example of the boom in the sector.

Original Story: El Mundo – María Hernández

Translation: Richard Turner

 

Analysis of the Logistics Sector in Spain

21 August 2018

Companies and developers have discovered the logistics sector and are beginning to invest in warehouses and facilities in Spain. This is the conclusion of the CBRE consultancy’s study of the logistics market.

As it does during every edition of SIL, the real estate company CBRE Real Estate presented the results of its Logistics Market report, which focuses on issues surrounding demand, supply and capital regarding the main logistics centres in the country. CBRE’s director of its Industrial and National Logistics Area, Alberto Larrazabal, summarised the trends that define the market today.

Madrid

The central zone is currently home to 10,000,000 square meters of logistics warehouses. Vacancy in the mid-range of Madrid and surrounding areas is around 4.5%, and last year, a record 920,000 square meters were contracted. 42% of all the facilities rented were for e-commerce, of which almost 60% are located in the Henares Corridor and 20% in the A-4 highway. During the first quarter of 2018, 240,000 square meters were contracted. According to Larrazabal, the data is very positive: the phenomenon of e-commerce is causing an increase in logistics contracting in general and, therefore, the increased allocation of warehousing facilities. It is important to note that, in Madrid, during this year and next, more than one million meters of facilities that are to be built this year and next will be placed on the market. 400,000 square meters of those will already be built in 2018. Almost all of the facilities under construction (in Madrid and throughout Spain) are being successfully allocated. Although there are a large number of facilities that are being placed on the market, many were placed immediately.

Barcelona

Last year, 450,000 square meters of facilities were contracted in the Barcelona area. This year, 120,000 square meters were placed in the first quarter. The data points to a strong year for the sector. The contracted area still fell short of the record-breaking year of 2016, when more than 700,000 meters were contracted, but the main reason for that was a lack of space coming onto the market. Of the contracted area, 25% was related to e-commerce. The market is highly dynamic, vacancy rates in the first and second metropolitan belts stand at 1% (there is almost nothing available in these areas). Consequently, developers are erected a large number of facilities, especially in Barcelona’s second belt.

Valencia

Similar to Barcelona, there is almost nothing available (non-contracted capacity is at approximately 2%), and that is facilities are being built without a specific end-user. Contracted area last year was about 120,000 square meters, again due to a lack of space coming onto the market. Demand is very high, and the sector is the focus of developers and investors in general.

Bilbao/Malaga

There is no official data on contracted space because there is next to no availability. There are almost no quality facilities available in either Bilbao or Malaga. The problem in both cities is a lack of land: there are no planned industrial facilities in either Bilbao or Malaga, and the latter city has the added problem of being situated on a floodplain, and the subterranean water prevents any major developments, the head of Logistics at CBRE explained.

Sevilla

Sevilla has available land, but no high-quality facilities. Prices are slightly higher as the city is not a traditional focus of the industry like Malaga, Bilbao, Valencia or Madrid. However, the market has attracted a lot of interest and land is available (about 50,000 square meters).

Zaragoza

Unlike in the other cities, there is a lot of land available in this city. Contracted area stood at roughly 40,000 square meters last year, a relatively low figure since few facilities are coming onto the market, even considering the wealth of available land. Though land is accessible, few developers have stepped forward, and consequently, there is practically no unallocated capacity.

E-commerce boosts demand

According to CBRE, 2017 was a record-breaking year for investments (almost 2 billion euros) in logistics warehouses. In 2016, the total investment reached €1 billion, and at the time it was believed that the figure would not be surpassed.

There is a lot of existing liquidity, financing, international investors, Asian capital and a very limited amount of product. This combination is leading to a number of joint ventures between local and national developers and international funds. Many facilities are being developed at risk, without having a final user. The influence of e-commerce is highly important: traditional logistics has been transformed into e-commerce logistics. No change is expected to the trend in the short term: there is a lot of investment demand and little supply, explains Alberto Larrazabal.

Original Story: Transporte Profesional

Translation: Richard Turner

 

Spain, the Fifth Biggest European Destination for Real Estate Investments

14 August 2018

With more than €6.1 billion invested in the year to June, Spain consolidated its position as one of the favourite destinations for investors, behind the United Kingdom, Germany, France and Holland.

The Spanish property market is still monopolising the flow of investment capital to Spain. With 6.161 billion euros invested in the first half of the year, Spain accounted for 5% of the total volume invested in the European market and has consolidated its position as the European country with the fifth highest volume transacted until June, behind the United Kingdom, Germany, France and Holland.

Overall, investment in the real estate market in Europe exceeded 120 billion euros, 10% less than in the same period of the previous, record-breaking, year, according to a report prepared by the consultancy CBRE.

By country. The United Kingdom is the leader in investments, with 34.4 billion euros, followed by Germany with 24.5 billion euros. In both cases, investments fell by 6%.

Behind these countries is France, with 11.9 billion euros; Holland with €10 billion; Spain with €6.1 billion; and Sweden with €5.1 billion.

By asset type. The office market was, once again, the segment that attracted the largest volume of investment in Europe, with 52 billion euros, 41% of the total; followed by alternative assets – student and senior citizen residences and healthcare facilities – with 21%; retail (20%), logistics (11%) and hotel management, 7%.

A takeover bid for Axiare

Spain. Colonial’s bid for Axiare encouraged investment in the sector during the first six months of the year, which, despite everything, came in at 15% below that registered in the same period of the previous year.

The acquisition of Axiare, which specialises in offices, by its rival Colonial, accounted for 30% of the total volume transacted in the first half of the year and leveraged the total investment in offices, to 2.036 billion euros.

The most active segment behind offices was retail. With 1.689 billion euros transacted in the first six months of the year, retail accounted for 27% of the total, thanks to the large volume invested in commercial centres with, among others, Redevco and Ares’ purchase of 70% of Parque Corredor for 140 million euros.

Operations focused on high street stores also encouraged investment in retail. Last January, the German fund manager Deka finalised its acquisition of 16 stores owned by Inditex, of which 14 are located in Spain, for some 400 million euros.

The next most significant segments by volume transacted were hotels, with 869 million euros, and logistics, with 716 million euros. 589 million were also invested in the residential sector, almost the same figure as in the first half of 2017, while purchases of alternative assets saw investments of 125 million euros.

Upward forecasts

As for forecasts for the end of the year, CBRE believes that the recovery in the real estate market in Catalonia that, after the independence referendum of last year, has experienced a certain measure of paralysis, along with the finalisation of some large operations currently under negotiation, will see the conclusion of 2018 reaching investment levels similar to those of previous years. Investments in 2017 reached 12.9 billion euros.

The director of Capital Markets at CBRE Spain, Mikel Marco-Gardoqui, explains that taking into account the various “large-scale” operations in advanced negotiations and the return of activity to the investment market in Catalonia, the prospects for the end of the year are “rosy.”

Among these operations is the purchase of four shopping centres owned by Unibail Rodamco for 490 million euros by Vukile. Specifically, the sale of Los Arcos (Seville). Bahia Sur (Cadiz), Faro (Badajoz) and Vallsur (Valladolid) by the South African fund was finalised at the end of July and will be counted, therefore, amongst the transactions closed in the third quarter.

Also, the finalisation of the sale of the three shopping centres sold by CBRE GI and Sonae – Gran Casa (Zaragoza), Max Center (Bilbao) and Valle Real (Santander) – for around 500 million euros is expected in the coming months. According to Expansión, the Slovak fund J&T, in alliance with Sonae, is a favourite to acquire this portfolio of commercial assets.

Corporate operations will also continue to boost the sector in the second half of the year. Among the operations that will boost the real estate market is the purchase of Hispania by Blackstone. The American investment fund finalised its takeover of Hispania last July, after taking control of almost 91% of the Socimi.

The offer from Blackstone, which already held 16.56% of the socimi’s capital, values Hispania at 1.992 billion euros and makes the US fund the largest hotel owner in Spain.

Marco-Gardoqui explains that Spain’s benign macroeconomic prospects, the potential for revenue growth in the office sector, the strong growth of electronic commerce and the need for adequate logistics spaces will continue to undergird the real estate sector.

Likewise, the consultancy underlined the opportunities in the alternative asset segment, which have an extensive need for development and professionalisation. Together with the availability of low-cost capital at low cost, the sector is expected to attract additional capital.

Expansion – Rebecca Arroyo

Atom Socimi to Go Public With Assets of More than €500 Million

7 August 2018

The Atom socimi, founded by Bankinter, offers the bank’s private banking clients an alternative for investing in the hotel sector. 

Atom announced its IPO in January and now owns 23 hotels with more than 5,200 rooms, managed by chains such as Meliá and Marriott. 

The investment vehicle devised by Bankinter has a 7-year investment horizon, to be followed by disinvestment, though the bank is permitted to extend it

Bankinter will take its socimi public, a listed real estate investment company that has already acquired 23 4- and 5-star hotels spread over Spain. The hotels and their 5,200 rooms are managed by Meliá Hotels International and Marriott International, among others, and are valued at more than 500 million euros. At the end of 2017, the bank began offering its private banking customers the possibility of investing in the socimi, which was dubbed Atom Hotels and constituted on January 5, 2018. Atom was created to acquire a portfolio of hotels for long-term leasing, as Hosteltur tourism news reported late last year.

On February 2, the socimi finalised a capital increase through which it reached a total funding level of €247.8 million and, after that, began acquiring hotels after having analysed a significant number of possible market operations, investing almost all of its available capital. In July, it became known that Meliá had sold the Meliá Sevilla, Sol La Palma and Sol Jandía Mar hotels, in the provinces of Seville, Santa Cruz de Tenerife and Las Palmas, to Atom, while maintaining a contract to manage the properties.

Just a few weeks ago, the socimi signed a syndicated 5-year, 191-million-euro mortgage loan, through which it obtained the necessary financial resources to complete its planned investments and reach a total of 23 hotels in its portfolio.

The portfolio is “well diversified” by asset type, location and operator, with fixed rents of 78%, rental contracts with an average required compliance of 10 years and minimal needed investment as most of the hotels have already been renovated or are in the last stages of renovation, sources said.

The bank intends that the portfolio of hotels should offer the socimi’s shareholders an annual dividend of close to 5%. The socimi is expected to be listed on the MAB, Madrid’s Alternative Stock Market.

Atom’s main shareholders are Bankinter’s private banking clients, with a minimum investment of 200,000 euros and a maximum ceiling of 15% of their financial assets.

Other investors, including Bankinter, the socimi’s manager, GMA, and institutional investors, also have investments of at least €60 million.

The bank led by María Dolores Dancausa allocated roughly 18 million euros while GMA invested another €9 million, so both have sufficient minority stakes in socimi to be represented on its board of directors. Unlike other socimis, Bankinter’s investment vehicle has a disinvestment term of 7 years, although the bank reserves the possibility of extending it.

This is not the first socimi launched by the financial institution. In February 2017, Bankinter launched Ores together with Sonae Sierra, which invests in commercial assets such in Spain and Portugal. Socimis and investment funds have served to boost the sale of hotel portfolios, a report by the Hotel division of Colliers International stated. In the year to June, Spain saw the second largest amount of investments in the country’s history, 1.83 billion euros, down 13% from 2017. Socimis and investment funds played an important role in the feat.

Original Story: Hosteltur

Translation: Richard Turner

Apollo, CPPIB & ADIA Are Open to Offers for Altamira

12 July 2018 – Voz Pópuli

The ownership of the real estate company Altamira may change hands over the coming months. The company controlled by the fund Apollo has hung up the “For Sale” sign after the refinancing and restructuring of its contract with Santander, signed just a few days ago, according to financial sources consulted by Voz Pópuli.

At least 85% of the real estate firm will go on the market. The servicer currently manages assets worth €54 billion. The US fund Apollo is the entity that controls the majority stake, whilst its ownership is shared equally with two other partners: the largest Canadian fund, CPPIB (Canada Pension Plan Investment Board); and the main Abu Dhabi investment fund, the ADIA (Abu Dhabi Investment Authority) sovereign fund.

Each of them controls 28.3% of Altamira, just like Apollo, although it is the latter who leads the real estate company and chairs its Board.

Divestment

After four and a half years of investment, the main shareholders have decided that now is the right time to sell, given the strong performance of the real estate market and the appetite from large investors to enter the business.

In fact, sources consulted indicate that several international and Spanish investors have already approached Altamira. One of the candidates is Haya Real Estate, a similar platform, owned by Cerberus, which is interested in growing its business ahead of a potential stock market debut.

Another possibility being rumoured in the market is that CPPIB itself may purchase the 56% stake in Altamira currently owned by Apollo and the Abu Dhabi sovereign fund. The Canadian fund entered the market for the acquisition of toxic asset portfolios from the banks last year with a bang, by closing an operation with Sabadell; and this year, it has signed another deal with BBVA.

The possible sale of Altamira comes after the refinancing of the real estate firm agreed with the banks and the renegotiation of the contract with Santander. Thanks to this operation, the shareholders of Altamira are now going to share out a €200 million dividend, according to El Confidencial, which means that the numbers already add up for the funds.

The relationship between Apollo and Santander

Apollo and its two partners already tried to exit Altamira two years ago but failed to reach an agreement with Santander, which made a low offer that was not accepted. Since then, the real estate firm has pushed ahead with its own internationalisation by branching out into Portugal and Cyprus.

Original story: Voz Pópuli (by Jorge Zuloaga)

Translation: Carmel Drake