BP Acquires 65 Gas Stations in Spain from Avenue Capital and JZ International

2 October 2018

The British oil company has reached an agreement to take over 100% of Kingbook Inversiones Socimi and Petrocorner Retail, the owner and manager of gas stations in 21 provinces of Spain.

The oil company BP has reached an agreement with the venture capital funds Avenue Capital and JZ International for the acquisition of the Kingbook socimi and Petrocorner Retail, a company that owns and operates 65 gas stations spread across 21 provinces in Spain.

The operation has already been finalised, pending the corresponding regulatory approvals, as confirmed by official sources at BP.

Kingbook Inversiones, 60% owned by GL Europe REIT (Avenue), with the remaining 40% held by JZ Real Estate (JZI), both vehicles domiciled in the Cayman Islands, was delisted from the Alternative Stock Market (MAB) on July 20, just one year after its debut.

Kingbook had already warned in June that it was conducting “very advanced” negotiations for the sale of 100% of the company. The firm had been building its portfolio since 2014.

Another source close to the operation said that DISA (Shell in the Peninsula), the Canary Islands oil company chaired by Demetrio Carceller (Damm), also considered acquiring the asset.

The service stations that will become the property of the company formerly known as British Petroleum are distributed between the north, the centre and the southeast of Spain. Specifically, the oil company chaired by Luis Aires in Spain will increase its presence in Asturias, Cantabria, Vizcaya, Guipúzcoa, Navarra, León, Burgos, Zamora, Valladolid, Ávila, Madrid, Valencia, Albacete, Alicante, Murcia, Jaén, Huelva, Málaga, Granada, Almería and the Balearic Islands.

BP is thus consolidating its position as the third largest fuel distributor in Spain, behind Repsol and Cepsa and ahead of Galp and Shell. With this agreement, BP will control around 700 service stations in Spain. In 2017, the company stated, within its expansion strategy, that it owned 648 total stations.

Until now, these gas stations were operated by Petrocorner, which has also acquired BP. According to Petrocorner’s website, the service stations are branded by Repsol, Cepsa, BP, Shell, Galp, Avia, while some are independent.

According to the latest accounts sent to the Mercantile Registry, Kingbook lost more than €1.5 million in 2017, compared to a loss of €1,733,446 in 2016.

Although the price of the transaction was not disclosed, the statement company submitted to MAB said that its assets were valued, according to the consultancy CBRE, at approximately 70 million euros (€40 million book value).

Avenue Capital has participated in several important operations in Spain. The US fund gave financial support to Quabit and is participating in the purchase of debt from Banco Santander’s Ciudad Financeira. In June, the fund acquired tile company Roig Cerámica (Rocersa).

Original Story: El Confidencial – Juan Cruz Peña

Photo: Reuters

Translation: Richard Turner

Holdreit Negotiates Sale of the Socimi Kingbook & its Exclusion from the MAB Before June

23 May 2018 – Eje Prime

Besides the purchase of assets and their subsequent management, Spain’s Socimis are also gradually starting to enter the business of corporate operations. Such is the case of Holdreit, which is negotiating with an investor to sell 100% of its Socimi specialising in gas stations, Kingbook, according to sources at the company speaking to Eje Prime. If the operation is closed before the end of June, the new owner will exclude the Socimi from the Alternative Investment Market (MAB), where its shares are currently traded.

The Socimi, owned by Holdreit, the company’s sole shareholder and controlled by GL Europe Reit (60%) and JZ Real Estate (40%), has been subjected to a due diligence process by an investor, whose name has not been revealed.

The purpose of this study is to purchase 100% of the shares in Kingbook Inversiones Socimi. “This offer is being analysed by both the shareholder and the Board of Directors, and the month of June 2018 has been set as the period for the acceptance and signing of the operation. During that time, all of the due diligence and legal work is expected to be completed successfully”, explain sources at the group.

In the event that the aforementioned due diligence process is concluded satisfactorily and “in the best interests of the company, the sole shareholder will request the exclusion from trading of all of the shares no later than 30 June 2018”, they explain. In this way, Kingbook would cease to trade on the MAB.

The Company’s Board of Directors has agreed to ask Renta 4 to begin the appropriate procedures to obtain a one-off exoneration from compliance with its “selling obligations under the liquidity contract signed with the company” from the Market Supervisory Committee, as a step prior to the sale of all of Kingbook’s shares.

The group’s complicated financial situation could be one of the reasons for the sale of the Socimi. At the beginning of the month, Kingbook injected additional funding of €1.4 million in order to “reduce the company’s demandable liability and increase its own funds”. Following that increase, the company’s share capital amounted to €10.9 million.

This move by Kingbook comes after the Socimi increased its share capital by €21.6 million last November to offset losses. The company explained that the Socimi has been generating losses since it started operations. As at 30 September 2017, the result for the year was negative, with losses of €1.25 million (…).

Nevertheless, Kingbook owns a solid portfolio of assets that could prove attractive to a new investor. The company owns land worth €10.3 million and buildings worth €20 million (…).

Moreover, last year, Kingbook added more than a dozen service stations to its real estate portfolio. (…). In total, Kingbook spent €7.5 million on new acquisitions during 2017.

The Socimi currently manages 57 real estate assets through which fuel distribution activities are carried out, and it owns one hotel and one industrial warehouse for rent.

Original story: Eje Prime (by C. Pareja)

Translation: Carmel Drake

ASG Purchases 19 Gas Stations in Northern Spain from Axa

6 February 2018 – Eje Prime

Activum SG is backing alternative investments. The company, which operates in Spain under the name ASG, has acquired 19 gas stations in the north of Spain, which had been owned until now by Axa Real Estate.

The assets are located in areas adjacent to large shopping centres and hypermarkets and are linked to long-term lease contracts with Eroski and Carrefour. The purchase has been carried out through Fund V, which ASG has just closed and which forms part of its diversification strategy, according to El Confidencial.

In 2011, Axa Real Estate acquired a portfolio of 28 gas stations from Eroski for €55 million. Following that operation, the supermarket group continued its gas station activity on the basis of a 20-year rental regime.

ActivumSG is expanding rapidly in Spain. At the beginning of the year, the company announced the creation of a new €500 million fund for real estate investments across Europe, as Eje Prime revealed. Of those, three are located in the Spanish market.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake

Armabex: The MAB’s 44 Socimis Have a Combined Asset Value of €12.2bn

12 December 2017 – Eje Prime

The Socimis are still a major talking point in the Spanish real estate sector. Together, the more than forty Socimis that are listed on the Alternative Investment Market (MAB) own assets with a combined market value of €12.221 billion, according to the report Armabex Analysis II. This year alone, seventeen new Socimis have been incorporated onto the MAB.

According to the findings of the report, the average market capitalisation of all of the Socimis currently listed on the MAB amounts to more than €155 million and their average own funds represent 62%. “The Socimi has become a fundamental element in the growth of the real estate market”, explains Antonio Fernández, President of Armabex.

Of the Socimis currently listed on the MAB, 31 have offices and homes amongst their properties available for rent and their market value represents 42% of the total. In 2017, nine of the seventeen new Socimis that debuted on the MAB held both types of assets in their portfolios.

Nevertheless, shopping centres, gas stations, hotels and industrial warehouses have also found the perfect vehicle to list on the MAB in the form of Socimis. In fact, in 2017, there was an increase in the number of shopping centre Socimis (five more in 2017); the first Socimis to include warehouses made their debut (also five in 2017); and the first gas station Socimi made its debut on the MAB along with three new hotel Socimis, amongst others.

By investment destination, Madrid has consolidated its position as the Spanish province in which Socimis invest the most in 2017. In this sense, thirteen of the seventeen new Socimis that started to trade in 2017 own real estate assets in Madrid. In this way, the 32 Socimis listed on the MAB that own assets located in the capital, have real estate assets worth €5.684 billion, which account for 46% of the total asset valuation.

Meanwhile, the evolution in Barcelona has been less satisfactory than expected; the portfolio of assets located in that province owned by the Socimis account for 11% of the total asset valuation, or €1.364 billion. Only five of the seventeen new Socimis that joined the MAB in 2017 own real estate assets in the Catalan capital.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake

Spain’s First Gas Station Socimi Will Debut On The MAB Tomorrow

10 July 2017 – Cinco Días

Kingbook Inversiones, a Socimi that owns 57 petrol stations operated by Petrocorner, will debut on the Alternative Investment Market (MAB) tomorrow, 11 July, at a price of €4.78 per share, which represents a company valuation of €23.9 million.

This makes it the 36th Socimi to debut on the market, and the first to be constituted from real estate assets dedicated to fuel distribution in the retail sector and other commercial activities.

Kingbook owns a portfolio of 57 service stations throughout the country. The operation of all but one of them is leased to Petrocorner; the exception is a gas station located in Almería, which is operated by BP. The firm also owns a hotel in Mirando de Ebro and an industrial warehouse in Jaén.

The company, chaired by Antonio Eraso Campuzano, said that although it has begun life focusing on gas stations, it has a “general profile” and for that reason, “it does not rule out investing in other sectors in the future”.

It is one of the Socimis that is expected to debut before 1 August, when according to the experts, between five and eight new Socimis may debut, due to a change in legislation with respect to minority shareholders. From next month, the one-year deadline that these companies have to comply with in terms of diffusion requirements disappears (2% of minority shareholders or €25 million must be in free float).

At the end of the first quarter of this year, Kingbook reported rental income from its gas stations of €1.59 million, however, it registered a loss of €175,983. In financing terms, the Socimi holds debt amounting to €42 million, equivalent to 84% of its asset value.

Finalising a €100 million loan

Nevertheless, the brochure submitted for the firm’s debut on the MAB explains that it is currently in the process of negotiating new bank financing, for which it has already agreed the general terms.

It is a €100 million loan with a five-year term granted by a group of banks that, although it has not been signed yet, already includes ING Bank and Banco Santander. The financing will be structured into three tranches, one for €30 million, a second for €45 million and a third, for €25 million.

With this loan, Kingbook is seeking to refinance its current debt with shareholders and bank financing and obtain funds to pay for its new asset purchases with the aim of growing.

Original story: Cinco Días

Translation: Carmel Drake