Tag: Green Oak

Green Oak Sells a Batch of 5 Assets in Madrid for €74M

21 January 2019 – Eje Prime

Green Oak is divesting assets in Spain. The US fund manager specialising in real estate has disposed of a batch of five office buildings in Madrid, for which it has received €74.3 million in total, almost €9 million more than the appraisal value of the properties. The five assets formed part of the portfolio of Gore Spain Holdings, the Socimi owned by Green Oak, which has been listed on the Alternative Investment Market (MAB) since January 2017.

Last Thursday, Green Oak formalised the sale of 100% of the company Inversiones Pukaki, through which it controlled four office buildings in the Avalon Business Park. Barings acquired those properties for €57.8 million in total, although the valuation of the buildings amounted to €47.2 million as at December 2017.

Green Oak had owned the four buildings in Avalon, a complex located at number 65 Calle Santa Leonor, since July 2015. The buildings sold to Barings (which owns 100% of the park following the operation) have surface areas of 3,671 m2, 5,077 m2, 6,304 m2 and 6,119 m2, respectively, amounting to 21,172 m2 in total.

GreenOak purchased this batch of assets from Banco Santander for around €40 million. According to data provided by Green Oak, the valuation of the properties was revised at €47 million on 31 December 2017, on the basis of an appraisal compiled by CBRE.

The US fund manager has divested another asset, also included in the portfolio of Gore Spain Holdings. On Friday, the company signed the sale of the company Inversiones Malvinas, through which it controlled another office building, located in Alcobendas.

The company has divested the property located at number 7 Avenida Bruselas of the Madrilenian municipality for €16.5 million. The valuation of that asset amounted to €18.26 million as at 31 December 2017, based on an appraisal also performed by CBRE.

That asset has a gross leasable area of 6,361 m2 spread over six floors. The building, constructed in 2002, also has three underground floors for parking and is home to five tenants (…).

Original story: Eje Prime (by P. Riaño)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Deloitte: Spain’s Logistics Sector is Hot Property Thanks to the ‘Amazon Effect’

18 May 2018 – Expansión

Investment funds want to take advantage of the collateral effects that the boom in e-commerce is going to have in the real estate market by taking positions in a segment with great potential, namely: the storage of goods and products. The logistics segment has become the “golden girl” of the real estate sector and one of the favourites of investors boosted by strong yields and the expectations of business growth. In this context, Asian investors have placed their focus on the European logistics market.

According to the Logistics Property Handbook compiled by Deloitte, last year, investment in logistics assets in Europe recorded a milestone with €42.5 billion of assets transacted, thanks to mega-operations such as the purchase by China Investment Corporation (CIC) from Blackstone of the Pan-European platform Logicor for €12.2 billion, and the acquisition of the European platform Gazeley by Global Logistic Properties (GLP), headquartered in Singapore, for €2.4 billion.

Mega-operations

In Spain alone, investment in logistics assets amounted to €1.63 billion, which represented a 75% increase compared to the previous year, and a historical record, due to significant transactions involving logistics portfolios. CIC’s purchase of Logicor implied a transaction volume of €652 million in Spain. Meanwhile, P3 Logistic Park – owned by the Singapore sovereign fund, GIC – purchased 11 assets from Green Oak in Spain for €243 million. Those operations boosted investment to historic levels.

Moreover, last year, Mango sold its logistics centre in Palau-Solità I Plegamans (Barcelona) to the fund manager Invesco for €100 million. That transaction was the largest involving a single asset in Spain and the fourth-largest in Europe.

According to the forecasts in the report, operations in the pipeline, which may be closed this year, already amount to €980 million.

“The large institutional funds that aspire to lead the logistics sector in Europe and around the world are bidding hard to accumulate the largest logistics surface area possible during this economic cycle. The location and size of their international logistics platforms are the two key variables for exercising greater negotiation power and whereby obtain the highest rents from operators”, explains Javier García-Matro, Partner in Financial Advisory at Deloitte.

Despite the record investment figure recorded last year, the volume of assets transacted in Spain represents just 4% of the total European market. “This fact is proof of the growth potential of these types of assets in our country. In 2017 alone, 865,000 m2 of logistics space was handed over in Madrid, Cataluña and Valencia. The strong demand of the current cycle is causing logistics promoters to develop more than 2 million m2 of land in these markets, in both turnkey and speculative projects”, says García-Mateo.

One of the major players in the sector is the Socimi Merlin, which has placed logistics asset at the centre of its growth strategy. Merlin’s expansion plan involves the development of land and turnkey construction, a roadmap that has allowed it to become one of the leaders in the sector in just four years.

The main players

Merlin has 2 million m2 of logistics land, both in portfolio and under management, and its plans involve increasing that volume to 3 million m2 before the end of the economic cycle. Specifically, it plans to spend around €250 million on logistics development over the next four years.

Another important player is Logicor, the Pan-European platform, which has been controlled by the Chinese group GIC since last year and which owns 1.2 million m2. Meanwhile, the alliance formed by the real estate manager CBRE GI and its local partner Montepino is going to develop a portfolio of prime assets in the main geographic areas of Spain with a planned investment of around €300 million.

They are joined by the European giants Prologic and the platform P3 Logistic Parks, which own 900,000 m2 and 400,000 m2, respectively, as well as the European investment group VGP, which owns almost 400,000 m2 of logistics space in Spain.

In terms of the types of assets, the Amazon effect has revolutionised the industrial sector and forced logistics operators to reinvent themselves to adapt to the new needs of clients (…).

Original story: Expansión (by Rebeca Arroyo)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Baupost Finalises Purchase Of Luxury Property Developer Levitt

19 October 2017 – Expansión

The luxury real estate construction sector is retaining its shine. One of the property developers that survived the previous cycle, Levitt-Bosch Aymerich, is on the verge of changing hands. A consortium of American investors, led by the fund Baupost Group, is holding exclusive negotiations to purchase the property developer that specialises in luxury homes, which has a market capitalisation around €200 million.

Sources in the sector explained to Expansión that the operation is in the due diligence phase (the assets are being audited) and that, although no agreement has been reached yet, the operation may be closed soon if the negotiations continue.

Baupost will team up with a local operating partner, Alpine Grove, for the operation. The advisors on buyer include PwC and the law firm Garrigues, on the legal side. Meanwhile, Deloitte Legal is the legal advisor on the sell-side.

According to the latest available information from the Mercantile Register, Levitt-Bosch Aymerich’s net equity amounted to €162 million at the end of 2016. The company recorded a turnover of €61 million and an attributable net result of almost €6 million. Besides Baupost, several other US investment funds that are very active in Spain also submitted bids for Levitt. In this way, market sources indicate that Lone Star, Värde and Castlelake all expressed their interest in the company over the last 12 months.

Levitt, founded in 1929, with the construction of a luxury residential development in New York, arrived in Spain in 1971 with the help of José María Bosch Aymerich, who died in 2015.

In 1973, the company undertook its first development on the Monteclaro urbanisation on the outskirts of Madrid. Since then, it has constructed several high-end developments in Madrid and Barcelona, as well as some office complexes.

In this regard, in October 2014, the company sold five office buildings in Madrid to Merlin for €130 million in order to focus on its residential business.

The firm is currently working on some developments in Valdemarín (Aravaca), in one of the most exclusive areas of Madrid as well as on the El Juncal urbanisation in Alcobendas, amongst others.

Shopping fever

If this deal is closed in the end, it will join the fever of property developer sales that has been happening in Spain in recent years. Examples include Lone Star, which purchased Kutxabank’s real estate subsidiary Neinor in 2014 for €930 million. Also, in February, Värde acquired Vía Célere for €90 million and merged it with DosPuntos – the former real estate subsidiary of the SanJosé group -. In addition, that same fund purchased Aelca from Grupo Avintia for €50 million in June 2016.

Meanwhile, Castlelake, which started to back the Spanish housing market back in 2013 with the purchase of land, launched Aedas Homes just a year ago. Other investors are also backing the market through agreements with local groups to build homes, such as the case of Morgan Stanley and Gestilar, and Green Oak and Ibosa, amongst others.

Original story: Expansión (by Rebeca Arroyo)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Ibosa & GreenOak Invest €86M In Luxury Housing Tower

28 September 2017 – Expansión

The real estate group Ibosa and the fund Green Oak are promoting a 23-storey tower containing luxury homes in the north of Madrid. Construction work will start at the site at the beginning of 2018 and will involve an investment of €86 million.

The 77m tall ‘Torre Australis’ will be constructed in the north of the capital, in the so-called Isla de Chamartín area. It will be completed by two lower annexe buildings and in total, will house 208 homes, with between one and four bedrooms, with prices ranging between €227,000 and €805,000.

Ibosa and Green Oak have already started to market the homes, whose owners will enjoy some exclusive services.

Moreover, the complex will have shared facilities such as workspaces, a gym, a sports room with spa, a swimming pool, green areas, sports facilities and a children’s playground.

Original story: Expansión

Translation: Carmel Drake

Patron Capital Acquires Los Alcores Shopping Centre

30 April 2017 – ABC

A constant and silent trickle of investments has seen a significant number of the shopping centres in Andalucía change hands. The latest operation was closed in March, when the investment fund Patron Capital – which is headquartered in London and which has a portfolio worth more than €5,000 million – acquired Los Alcores, the most well-known establishment in Alcalá de Guadaíra (with a leasable area of 124,000 m2). Its tenants include H&M, Lefties, Bershka, Stradivarius and Cinesur.

The shopping centre, located at the foot of the A-92 motorway, has belonged to Incus Capital since 2013, just like El Mirador (in Cuenca) and Alzamora (in Alcoy). Now, these three properties have been acquired by Patron Capital, which has joined forces with the firm Eurofund to invest more than €13 million modernising the properties.

According to the experts, the operation makes sense, “Los Alcores is located in an area that will be served by the metro in the near future and which has large residential projects underway nearby, such as Hacienda Rosario being constructed by Aedas Homes; it is highly visible from the motorway and its tenants include many household names”, said Rosa Madrid, Director of CBRE in Andalucía, the firm that advised the operation.

A report by this consultancy highlights that the shopping centre business has “been recovering for several years and recorded a successful year in 2016”. Behind this rise is “the increase in consumption and, therefore, the good indicators in terms of visitor numbers and sales, which improved by 3.1% and 1.6%, respectively (taking the portfolio of shopping centres managed by CBRE in Spain as a sample)”.

From there, the significant interest from the major commercial brands in growing again, “which has allowed shopping centre occupancy rates to increase at a good pace”. In the CBRE portfolio, “the average occupancy rate rose from 89.6% to 93.9% between 2014 and 2016, figures that illustrate the improvement in the sector”.

If we look at what has happened over the last twelve months, it is clear that this sector “is on a roll”. At the end of 2016, the Via Outlet group – in which the London-based giant Hammerson owns a stake – purchased The Style Outlet in the town of San José de la Rinconada (better known as “The Airport Factory”). Until now, that establishment has belonged to a fund promoted by the Spanish real estate company Neinver (controlled by the Losantos family). Its major rival, the Outlet de Dos Hermanas, had already been acquired by Green Oak, just a few months earlier.

Major sales

These operations joined a long list, which also includes Grupo Lar, which sold the Airesur de Castilleja de la Cuesta shopping centre to CBRE Global Investors. And an Andalucían company has also made money in this wave, specifically, the case of Bogaris, which sold six retail parks in Andalucía and Extremadura to Redevco Iberian Ventures in the middle of last year for €95 million (including Kinepolis Pulianas, las Marismas del Polvorín and the Motril retail park).

And the activity does not end there: Axiare Patrimonio purchased the Viaparck shopping centre in Almería for €20 million; Alpha Pyrenees Trust bought the Connecta shopping centre in Córdoba….and just a few weeks ago, New Winds Group (the owner of the Windsor building in Madrid) purchased Málaga Plaza shopping centre. Just another sign of the good health of a business that is taking off again.

Original story: ABC (by Luis Montoto)

Translation: Carmel Drake

First-Generation Socimis Rush To List Before 30 Sept 2015

7 July 2015 – Cinco Días

Socimis are the investor vehicle of the moment. Their tax advantages and the international funds that they are attracting, have turned Socimis into key players in the timid recovery of the real estate sector. And they are going to become even more important. Many of the first generation Socimis (those constituted in 2013, following the reform of the law governing these listed real estate investment companies) are obliged to list on the stock exchange before 30 September 2015; failure to do so will mean that they lose their right to not pay corporation tax.

“The law made provisions for a transition period for the fulfilment of all requirements. The deadline for one of those, to list on the stock market, ends on 30 September”, explains Antonio Sánchez Recio, Partner at PwC. According to market sources, there may be a dozen companies in this situation, although some of them are small and will only list to comply with the law, rather than to raise capital, at least initially. (…).

They will join those that currently trade on the main stock exchange, namely: Merlin Properties, Hispania, Lar España and Axiare. As well as the smaller companies, which are listed on the Alternative Investment Market (MAB), namely: Entrecampos, Fidere (owned by Blackstone), Mercal, Promorent and Uro.

Around 25 entities are now constituted as Socimis, but some of them have been created in the last few months, and so they will not be affected by the upcoming deadline.

Furthermore, other companies are not obliged to list in Spain at all, since their shares are already traded on other European markets. That is the case of Pryconsa’s companies, called Cibra 2009 and InveRetiro, which in turn are owned by Saint Croix Holding Inmobiilier, a Socimi listed in Luxembourg. And that is also the case of Orion Columba, the owner of the Plenilunio shopping centre, which is now itself owned by the French listed company Klepierre.

In addition to the companies constituted in 2013, the market expects that a large number of these vehicles will undertake IPOs in the coming months. Such is the case of Trajano, the Socimi recently created by Deutsche Bank. One of the most eagerly awaited is the future Socimi Pontegadea, the family office owned by Amancio Ortega, which has assets of almost €5,000 million. (…).

Another large company on analysts’ radars is IBA Capital’s company Zambal, which owns the ABC Serrano shopping centre, amongst other buildings. Other companies also include GMP Property, created by the Montoro family and the sovereign fund GIC, which owns large assets such as Torre BBVA in Madrid. Acciona is in the same boat, it is assessing different options for its commitment to the residential rental sector, including the creation of a Socimi, according to sources close to the company.

Other companies and funds that are setting up their own Socimis include: Green Oak, Drago Capital, Corpfin, Autonomy Capital, Jaba, Meridia, Rodez (through Anglón Alza), Quabit (with the Socimi Bulwin), Brookfields, as well as Santander Real Estate (Banif Inmobiliario), Norfin, Banco Sabadell (Solvia), Triangle, Turanta, Unibail Rodamco and Urbas.

Original story: Cinco Días (by Alfonso Simón Ruiz)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Who Are The New Property Owners?

20 April 2015 – Expansión

Plans / International funds and Socimis are the main players in the sector

Apollo, Blackstone, Cerberus, HIG, Hispania, Intu, Lone Star, Merlin and Oaktree have gone from being virtually unknown names to being the key players in the Spanish property market (in a matter of months).

Over the last year and a half, large international funds have been investing hundreds of millions of euros in the purchase of property in Spain, both directly as well as through listed real estate investment companies (Socimis).

Värde, Apollo and Lone Star all burst into the market by purchasing real estate platforms from financial institutions. The latter has said that it wants to become the largest land developer in Spain and to that end, it is considering purchasing not only portfolios of land but also small and medium-sized (land) developers. Lone Star has already purchased the real estate arm Neinor from Kutxabank for €930 million, as well as Eurohypo’s loans in Spain for a further €3,500 million.

HIG and Castlelake are looking to buy land in Spain too.

Another investor that is backing Spain with more strength than ever is Blackstone. The largest fund manager in the world has purchased 1,860 homes for rent, as well as a group of office buildings, located in Madrid and Barcelona. One of the players that is most interested in the office market is the Spanish fund Meridia Capital, led by the former Sareb (director) Juan Barba; it has purchased a portfolio of office buildings from General Electric. It is competing against IBA Capital – the French manager has created a Socimi, which has not yet been listed, with headquarters and commercial buildings.

Along with these offices, the other assets that are sparking the most interest amongst investors are shopping centres. Green Oak has already invested €160 million together with Baupost on the acquisition of 6 properties from Vastned. The British group Intu wants to become the leading player in this segment in Spain and to that end, it paid €451 million for Puerto Venecia. Oaktree spent €100 million on Gran Vía de Vigo.

Other important players in this new era for the real estate sector are Socimis. Axia RE, Hispania, Lar España and Merlin have invested almost €3,000 million in assets, which include hotels, offices, logistics centres and warehouses. This last type of asset is attracting considerable interest. The fund Colony has just formed a partnership with the Spanish company Neinver to purchase 16 logistics warehouses.

Finally, in the hotel segment, Cerberus and Orion have purchased Sotogrande, the real estate subsidiary of NH for €225 million.

Original story: Expansión (by R. Ruiz)

Translation: Carmel Drake

GMP, Infinorsa, GreenOak Make It to the Final Bidding For Saint Gobain Skyscraper

9/12/2014 – El Confidencial

Next great battle is taking place in the Azca complex. One of its real estate jewels, known as Torre Saint Gobain and situated at 77 Castellana street (pictured second from the left), will soon get to know the name of its new owner.

Few days back, an alluring plot in this area was acquired by El Corte Inglés for 136 million euros.

The property up for grabs belongs to BBVA. Of the juicy bids it had received, the bank has picked three finalists: GMP, Infinorsa and GreenOak. Their offers are said to oscillate around €90 million, an upper-level in the 70-to-100 million euro range established by the property’s underwriters, the entity and CBRE Spain.

In the meantime, such industry tycoons as Colonial or Pontegadea were left out of the tender process.

GMP is the owner of the Torre BBVA black tower (first on the left), located just in front of the building for sale. In turn, Infinorsa holds Torre Europa, next eye-catching skyscraper of the office area. However, the most prominent building belongs to aforementioned Pontegadea – Torre Picasso.

Sources from the market assure that submitted prices indicate rents of some 35 euros a square meter, in order to obtain good return rates. To compare, today’s prices in the complex vary from 20 to 25 euros per square meter.

The building is nearly 70 meters tall, has 18 stories above the ground level and a 16.000 square meter area. Apart from that, it disposes of six underground stories destined for parking lots, storage rooms, facilities and services.

In 2003, the property was bought by a real estate fund of BBVA for 87.5 million euros. However, more than ten years later, the unit is in need of a comprehensive refurbishment, a cost to be borne by the buyer.

The Ederra building, as it is called inside Azca, once housed the Saint Gobain Cristalería glassware group‘s Spanish headquarters. Last year, the firm’s rental agreement expired and the French tenant moved to its new premises at 132 Principe de Vergara street.

 

Original story: El Confidencial (by R. Ugalde & E. Sanz)

Translation: AURA REE

GreenOak to Get Down Its European Investment to Spain

5/11/2014 – Expansion

Real estate investment fund GreenOak has picked Spain as the only investment destination. Since its establishment in 2010, the company spent €2.5 billion in total, bringing it ownership or development of assets jointly valued at more than €5 billion in.

In 2014 and in Spain solely, GreenOak and its local partner Grupo Lar invested €160 million in purchase of seven shopping centers: the Parque Vistahermosa in Alicante, the Miramar in Burgos, the Montigala in Barcelona, the Las Rosas, the Madrid Sur and the Getafe II close to Madrid area and the Rosaleda in Malaga.

The group has got offices in London, Munich, New York, Los Angeles and Tokio and by now it has carried out investments in the United States, Japan, the United Kingdom and Spain. As per the infomation provided by Expansion, GreenOak decided to focus its entire European spending on the Spanish real estate as, in its executives’ opinion, the prime assets had been neglected during the recession.

Large part of the fund’s team is highly experienced in the Spanish property market. One of its founders, John Carrafiell, has participated in Barcelona Meeting Point (BMP) exhibition held last week. He specified that GreenOak ‘eyes the assets largely refused by other funds, such as small buildings priced at between 10 and 40 million euros which need some sweat equity aside from capital’.

Mr. Carrafiell also assured that the fund is not interested in loans, unlike other firms which told him: ‘there is too much equity in Spain and the country has run out of opportunities. That is why we search for troublesome assets and huge returns’. ‘They are rather toxic asset investors, not real estate’, he concluded.

In his opinion, an investor needs ‘patience and a long-term outlook’ and ‘these are in Madrid today, tomorrow in Milan, then they head to Greece and later to Ireland!’, Carrafiell exclaimed.

 

Original article: Expansión (by Marisa Anglés)

Translation: AURA REE

Picture borrowed from the web site of the fund.

Baupost, GreenOak & Grupo Lar Buy 8 Shopping Centers in Spain

13/02/2014 – Cinco Días

Dutch real estate company, Vastned, announced yesterday putting on sale eight shopping malls in Spain at price of €160 million. The amount was paid by Baupost, GreenOak Real Estate and the Spanish developer Grupo Lar. According to a person with knowledge of the operation, the hedge fund Baupost led at the sales. The U.S. company bought 1.000 properties from BBVA in September last year.

The acquired shopping centers are found in Madrid Sur, Madrid Las Rosas, La Rosaleda in Málaga or Vistahermosa in Alicante. The lot is worth €160 million, however a discount has been applied at the moment of purchase. Specifically, in 2012, Madrid Sur was valued at €55.4 million, Las Rosas one, also in Madrid, at €42.8 million and the one in Málaga, La Rosaleda, at €40.2 million. In total, the shopping malls cover 133.500 square meter space with mean occupancy rate of 84.5%. (…).

The Dutch group admitted having put the lot on sale in attempt to reduce its €130 million debt. (…) What is more, Vastned claims that shopping centers are in excess in Spain.

Original article: Cinco Días (Alberto Ortín Ramón)

Translation: AURA REE