Saba & Ardian Bid For Spain’s 3rd Largest Car Park Group

17 May 2016 – Expansión

A dozen “Spanish and international” candidates have submitted bids for the purchase of Parkia, the third largest car park group in Spain, owned by the Nordic fund EQT. Market sources say that the candidates include major companies in the sector, such as Saba, Indigo (controlled by the investment fund Ardian), Interparking and Empark, as well as financial groups specialising in infrastructures, such as Infravía.

Some sources also include Globalvía on the list of interested parties, but a spokesperson for the concessionaire said yesterday that they are not going to submit a bid for Parkia. Sabadell is also expected to submit a bit, thanks to its partnership with the funds Altamar and Firmium, through which it plans to invest more than €150 million in car parks in Spain.

The exact amount of the bids has not been revealed, but sources state that the perceived competitiveness and facilities available to investors to leverage the transaction have helped to boost the price. Sources in the know indicate a valuation range for the whole company of between €300 million and €350 million, which would represent between 15x and 17x of the forecast EBITDA for 2016, which is expected to amount to €20 million.

EQT must decide “in the next few days”, say the sources, which bidders will make the cut and proceed to the next phase of the process, which will involve a period of due diligence (audit of the assets), in which the potential buyers will analyse the company in detail so as to prepare their binding offers.

The plan is to select between “three and five” investors from the initial interested parties, who will participate in the definitive bid. The aim is to complete the process by the end of July.

Although the operation is moving ahead, the role of Mutua Madrilña – the co-owner of Parkia with 33.2% of the capital – is still uncertain. In theory, the Spanish insurance company plans to retain its stake in the car park manager, but that will depend on the conditions that EQT ends up agreeing, say sources. Mutua declined to comment on the deal. (…).

Parkia owns 58 car parks, with a total supply of 27,000 parking spaces and an average concession life of 30 years. The company’s revenues amounted to €33 million last year. (…).

Original story: Expansión (by M. Ponce de León, D. Badía and C. Morán)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Bankia Sells Hotel Loan Portfolio To BofA & Hedge Fund

5 June 2015 – Expansión

Project Castle / Following the sale of Realia, Bankia has now made profits of €926 million from the transfer of its investments.

Yesterday, Bankia closed the first sale of a loan portfolio since the regional and local elections, which have been threatening to destabilise the market. Far from that, the entity has managed to attract a US hedge fund (to the market), which has not closed any deals in Spain until now, namely: Davidson Kempner Capital Management (DK Capital).

This fund and Bank of America (BofA) have won the auction for Project Castle against other large international investors. This portfolio, whose sale has been advised by N+1 and the law firm Ramón y Cajal, comprises hotel loans worth €383 million. In total, the portfolio contains 91 loans linked to 45 properties of this type.

Bank of America will take ownership of the performing loans and DK Capital the doubtful loans. These types of hedge fund are renowned for carrying out aggressive restructurings of loans to take ownership of the assets and, subsequently sell them at a profit.

Optimisation

Sources at Bankia highlight that the transaction: frees up resources for the granting of new credit; increases the bank’s liquidity; and contributes to an improvement in the quality of the assets. Moreover, it will have a positive impact on capital (at the height of the Basel III implementation) amounting to €21 million.

As well as Project Castle, Bankia is also advancing with Project Big Bang, containing €4,800 million foreclosed assets for sale; and Project Wind, with €1,300 million doubtful loans, primarily mortgages to individuals.

These divestments come after Bankia sold its 24.9% stake in Realia to Carlos Slim on Wednesday. Bankia has now made profits of around €926 million on the sale of all of its investments in listed companies, such as Iberdrola, Mapfre, Deoleo and NH Hoteles.

The transactions closed since 2013 have generated revenues for the entity of €4,879 million, according to the company’s own data.

Having exited as a shareholder of Realia, Bankia now only retains minor industrial holdings, such as in the infrastructure concession group Globalvía, in which it holds a 50% stake alongside FCC, although these two shareholders are expected to close the sale of that company to the Malaysian sovereign fund during the course of this year.

Original story: Expansión (by J. Z.)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Globalvia’s BeLive to Operate Its First City Hotel

5/11/2014 – Cinco Días 

A hotel chain belonging to the Globalvia group places a bet on the urban segment. From 2015 on, BeLive will operate the Hotel Santo Domingo, until now managed by Mercure, owned by French group Accor. The establishment will be renamed the BeLive City Center Madrid Santo Domingo.

BeLive already operates in two other establishments in Madrid, one nearby the airport and the other in Talavera de la Reina, a town in the south-west of the capital. The chain’s CEO Javier Blanco assured the new hotel is an important step for the chain as it will be a unit fully defined as a city one.

The operation is a part of the brand’s extension plan, including both transit and resort hotels.

Currently, BeLive has got 31 hotels scattered around Spain, Portugal, Morocco, Cuba and the Dominican Republic, totalling at 9.000 keys.

The previous manager of the Hotel Santo Domingo (pictured), Accor and its Mercure, announced an intention of moving to the Hotel Lope de Vega, Madrid, a four-star establishment held by the Perez Gil family which from December will be known as the Mercure Madrid Centro.

Globalvia has also named a new CEO for its Halcon Viajes and Viajes Ecuador, Jose Maria Hoyos.

 

Original article: Cinco Días (by L. Salces)

Translation: AURA REE

FCC & Bankia Bound to Close the Realia & Globalvia Holdings Sales

15/09/2014 – Cinco Dias

FCC and Bankia give finishing touches to the sales of two companies that they control together: real estate firm Realia and infrastructure concession group Globalvia, sources close to the operations reported.

The divestments form a larger strategic plan of the builder which strives at cleasing its balance sheets and come back to benefits. When it comes to Bankia, the entity is obliged to sell all industrial stakes in its possession.

While the sale of Realia is almost sealed, negotiations on Globalvias holding have also reached a pretty advancedstage.

The first received several bids submitted by investment funds and Colonial controlled by the Villar Mir Group.

A few funds and infrastructure operators have expressed their interest about Globalvia.

Realia owns a real property of 419.000 square meters in total, including office buildings, such as one of the well-known Torres Kio towers on the Plaza de Castilla square in Madrid (pictured on the right) or the Torre Realia BCN skyscraper in Barcelona, as well as several retail centers.

Moreover, the company disposes of a housing development and land portfolio composed by 1.9 million square meters in plots and 700 dwellings.

FCC and Bankia hold 36.88% and 24.95% in Realia respectively. In the first quarter of 2014, the firm lost €18.5 million and earned €40 million on rentals.

Speaking of the portfolio of Globalvia, it includes 22 turnpikes crossing Spain, Portugal, Ireland, Mexico, Costa Rica and Chile, as well as seven subway and tram lines in Madrid and Barcelona, the airport in Chiles Santiago, two hospitals, two commercial ports and two marinas. The two stakeholders possess 50% of the company each.

FCC expects to obtain €300 million for the two stakes. The builder has already sold its shares in Cemusa, FCC Logista, Proactiva and SmVak.

In case of Bankia, the entity has shed holdings in IAG, Indra, Mapfre, NH Hoteles, Iberdrola and Inversis.

 

Original article: Cinco Días (after E.P.)

Translation: AURA REE