Tag: Grant Thornton

French Fund Primonial Makes First Purchase In Spain

4 September 2017 – Expansión

The Spanish real estate market has a new investor: Primonial Reim, a French real estate fund manager that, with a portfolio of more than €10,700 million under management, has just completed its first purchase in Spain.

Primonial has acquired the Sant Antoni nursing home and clinic in Barcelona. The centre, located in La Marina del Port, has 300 beds, with a total surface area of 16,000 m2. For this asset, Primonial Reim has disbursed €20 million, in an operation that has been advised by Cuatrecasas, JLL and Grant Thornton, which has performed the financial due diligence.

The Sant Antoni centre, owned until now by the firm Hucasve, will be incorporated into the portfolio of its subsidiary SCPI Primovie, whilst the management of the centre (engaged to the Catalan Health Service) will remain unchanged, under the terms of the long-term contract in place.

Alternative assets

The Spanish real estate sector has been on the radar of all overseas investors for several months now, given the expectations of a macroeconomic recovery and the affordable prices of assets compared with those in other similar locations. Due to this high demand, the assets most favoured by investors (such as offices and commercial assets) are scarce, and so properties known as alternative assets are becoming a highly attractive option. These properties include medical centres, nursing homes and halls of residence.

According to Deloitte, investment in alternative assets in Europe accounts for 14% of the total, although that figure is much lower in Spain. As such, the segment in Spain offers significant potential, with returns of 6% on average, well above those of other real estate assets.

The most high profile transactions in this market in recent times include a purchase by another French group, the investment fund Eurosic Lagune – owner of the Socimi Eurosic – which bought 16 nursing homes from the SARquavitae Group for €116 million.

Original story: Expansión (by Rocío Ruiz)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Vbare Debuts On The MAB With Almost 200 Rental Homes

27 December 2016 – Idealista

With just a few days left until the end of the year, the stock market is still receiving new Socimis. The trickle of debuts is incessant and on this occasion, the star of the show is Vbare Iberian Properties, a vehicle that owns a portfolio of residential rental assets.

The company has debuted on the stock market at a price of €12.90 per share, which represents a market capitalisation of €20.6 million, according to the consultancy firm Grant Thornton, and as such has become the twenty-eighth Socimi to trade on the MAB.

According to idealista.com, the company is backed by foreign capital (one of its main shareholders is the Israeli investment firm Value Base) and it has 183 real estate assets in its portfolio. Almost all of them are homes, but the Socimi also owns some garage spaces and some storerooms.

All of the properties are rented out and are located in the Community of Madrid. They are worth €20.84 million in total, according to Aguirre Newman. Half of the homes are located in Madrid capital, although the company also owns other homes in the municipalities of Aranjuez, Móstoles, Parla and Torrejón de Ardoz. In total, they have a useful surface area of more than 2,000 m2, comprise between one and four bedrooms and have an average occupancy rate of 72%.

One of the objectives that Vbare has set itself for the future is to raise more funds to allow it to expand its asset portfolio and to make the jump onto the main stock market, where some of the largest Socimis are already listed (Lar, Hispania and Axiare; meanwhile, Merlin Properties is listed on the Ibex).

In its market debut prospectus, the Socimi explained that it wants to centre its portfolio on residential real estate assets, aimed at middle-class tenants and located in the metropolitan areas of Spain’s major cities. In other words, areas with significant demand and with future development prospects in the short and medium term.

“Our properties are currently located in the metropolitan area of Madrid, this represents our first phase of investment. Progressively, the Socimi plans to diversify its asset portfolio by acquiring properties in the metropolitan areas of the main provincial capitals in Barcelona, Málaga, Valencia, Alicante, Bilbao, Sevilla, Zaragoza, Palma de Mallorca and La Coruña, which represent the company’s core business”.

Original story: Idealista

Translation: Carmel Drake

Socimi Vbare Will Debut On The MAB On 23 Dec

21 December 2016 – Finanzas.com

The Socimi Vbare Iberian Properties is set to join the Socimi segment of the Alternative Investment Market (MAB) and will start trading on Friday, 23 December.

The decision was taken by the MAB’s Board of Directors, which approved the incorporation of the company into the Socimi segment on Tuesday, after analysing the information submitted by the company and following the issuance of a favourable evaluation report from the Coordination and Incorporation Committee.

On the basis of a valuation report prepared by Grant Thornton, Vbare’s Board of Directors has set a reference value of €12.90 for each one of its shares, whereby valuing the company at €20.6 million.

The trading code of the company, the twenty-eighth Socimi to join the MAB, will be ‘YVBA’ and it will debut through a price fixing system. Renta 4 Corporate is the registered advisor and Renta 4 Banco is the liquidity provider.

The Socimi specialises in residential rental properties and its strategy focuses on the acquisition of real estate assets, their renovation and subsequent rental. It currently owns 183 real estate assets located in Madrid.

Original story: Finanzas.com

Translation: Carmel Drake

Q1 2016: Colonial’s Net Profit Rose By 131% To €11M

13 May 2016 – Expansión

Colonial closed the first quarter of the year with an attributable net profit of €11 million, up by 131% compared with the same period in 2015, after increasing its revenues from rental income by 20%. The real estate company generated €66 million from renting out its offices, which are primarily located in the major business districts of Madrid, Barcelona and Paris.

The company highlighted that it leased 40% more office space during the quarter, specifically, 45,000 sqm during the three months to March, which represents half of its objective for 2016 as a whole.

The greatest increase was recorded in Barcelona, where Colonial renewed the lease contract of the building that houses Gas Natural’s headquarters, measuring 22,400 sqm, and where it also leased out almost 3,000 sqm to the audit firm Grant Thornton.

Colonial’s share price increased by 0.32% yesterday to €0.633.

Original story: Expansión (by J.O.)

Translation: Carmel Drake

The Valencian ‘De Andrés’ Family Creates New RE Company

10 November 2015 – Expansión

The Valencian De Andrés family has grouped together all of its properties into a single company. It owns Louis Vuitton’s flagship stores in Madrid and Barcelona, amongst other iconic buildings.

A new real estate company is beginning its journey in the Spanish market. It is called Medcap Real Estate and it was created just a month ago, but it already owns assets worth €420 million. The origin of this prolific portfolio? The real estate investments built up by the Valencian De Andrés Puyol family over more than two decades.

“We are a family company, a newco, but with a 24-year history developing iconic retail projects”, explains Dimas de Andrés (pictured above), the CEO of Medcap Real Estate. “We have grouped together all of the assets that used to be spread across several subsidiaries into one new company, with the aim of specialising and growing more efficiently and more quickly”.

The new real estate company will continue to perform the activity that has allowed the De Andrés family to become the owners of some of the most important retail buildings in Madrid and Barcelona and to be the landlord of companies such as Apple, Desigual and Louis Vuitton. (…).

Currently, Medcap’s portfolio comprises 25 properties worth €420 million, according to the real estate consultancy Savills and the audit firm Grant Thornton. “Most of our properties are located in Madrid and Barcelona, but we also own some in Valencia and Murcia. They are all flagship stores and they are almost all rented out, with rental charges in excess of €2 million”, says Jorge Puyol, Head of the Retail Business at Medcap.

“We have always grown in an organic way and have always reinvested, which has allowed us to grow in terms of both investment volumes and number of assets”, adds De Andrés. 90% of Medcap’s portfolio has been acquired and developed between 2008 and 2015.

Investment

The family real estate company, which tends to work on two to three projects per year, is preparing to make new investments in the short term. “We have a very impressive pipeline of projects to invest in several properties in Madrid and also in Barcelona”, explains the CEO.

The new real estate company will have to compete with funds and Socimis for the best buildings, as those players are currently inundating the Spanish investment market. (…).

Profits

In terms of returns, “we expect to generate profits of around €40 million in 2016, in line with the historical average of the different subsidiaries over the last five years”, adds De Andrés.

With Medcap, the De Andrés family is also considering making investments overseas at some point in the medium term. (…).

However, Medcap has ruled out the possibility of becoming a Socimi. “That structure does not appeal to us because the requirements it imposes (of buying a building and then renting it out) are not compatible with our business model, since we do not always buy finished products”, says the CEO. “For the time being, we would rather operate as a boutique real estate company”.

Original story: Expansión (by Rocío Ruiz)

Translation: Carmel Drake