Tag: Grupo Lar

A Blow to Sevilla’s Retail Sector: Plans for Alcora Shopping Centre Cancelled

21 September 2018 – Eje Prime

Sevilla has lost one of its major post-crisis commercial projects. In the end, the Alcora shopping centre, promoted by Grupo Tremon, is not going to open its doors, even though its construction was announced in 2014 with a planned investment of €167 million, according to reports from Europa Press.

The plots on which the shopping centre was going to be constructed, which have a combined surface area of 23,000 m2, are located next to the headquarters of Canal Sur TV in San Juan de Aznalfarache. The plan envisaged by Grupo Tremon involved a 3-storey building plus two levels of underground parking with capacity for 1,300 vehicles.

In 2014, the plenary of the Sevillan town hall approved a modification to the urban regulations so that the work for the construction of the complex, located on the Aljarafe cornice, could be undertaken. The views over the Guadalquivir and Sevilla were going to take centre stage in Alcora, which envisaged a large square with a lookout over the Sevillan capital.

Tough competition

Nevertheless, the collapse of this commercial project contrasts with the good times that the commercial sector is experiencing in Sevilla. The imminent opening of Torre Sevilla (the fifth tallest building in Spain after the iconic Cuatro Torres in Madrid) by CaixaBank, will be followed in the spring by the Lagoh shopping centre, Grupo Lar’s big gamble in the Sevillan retail sector.

This latter complex (initially called Palmas Altas) is going to become the largest commercial space in the city, with a surface area of more than 100,000 m2. The investment in this project by Lar España will amount to €250 million.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake

Carrefour Property Manages 20% of Spain’s Retail Space

2 April 2018 – Eje Prime

Carrefour Property is continuing to expand its map of shopping centres in Spain. The real estate subsidiary of the French distribution group has started the second quarter of the year with a portfolio of retail space under management spanning more than 2.6 million m2. That figure represents 20% of the total surface area of shopping centres in Spain.

The long list of retail plots controlled by the subsidiary of the Carrefour giant has increased in recent months with the management of the following centres: Gran Vía de Hortaleza (Madrid), Puerta de Alicante, Augusta (Zaragoza) and La Verónica (Málaga) in recent months, according to a statement issued by the company.

In total, Carrefour Property España manages 110 centres throughout the country: 82 centrally and the remaining 28, all of which are large shopping centres, through specific teams at each site.

The company’s Director of Shopping Centres, Antonio Fidalgo, stressed that “the management of retail spaces is one of the most important areas of our business, given that we not only manage our own centres, we also manage centres owned by other companies such as Merlin Properties, Klépierre, Carmila, Grupo Lar and Pradera, amongst others”.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake

ActivumSG Launches New €500M Fund with Projects in Marbella & Salamanca

22 January 2018 – Eje Prime

The international group ActivumSG is continuing to back its business in the Spanish market. The company, which operates under the brand ASG in Spain, is launching a new €500 million fund to make real estate investments across Europe, according to explanations provided by the company to Eje Prime. Some of the first projects that have already been financed thanks to this fund, the fifth to be promoted by ActivumSG, include three projects in Berlin and three in Spain, located in Marbella, Salamanca and Estepona.

This new fund promoted by ActivumSG is one of the group’s most important in terms of investment, with funds raised mostly from investors that have already participated in the group. Of the €500 million, the fund has already committed more than €200 million in Spain and Germany.

In the Spanish market, ActivumSG has already launched Project España, located in Salamanca. Initially baptised as Project Victoria, the fund has now started construction on this luxury residential development in the centre of the city. “The project involves the demolition of an office building located at number 5 Plaza España to convert it into a high-end residential property, comprising 27 apartments”, say sources at the German company.

The second project that ActivumSG is going to promote with this new fund is Parque Central, in the centre of Estepona. The German fund is already finalising the details to start work on the construction of this residential development, which will span 12,600 m2 and which is already being marketed.

Finally, the fund is working on Project Sierra Blanca, in Marbella. That project, which is in its preliminary phase, will be located in the neighbourhood of Sierra Blanca, in Marbella, and will involve the development of 40 luxury homes, with gardens and parking.

The latter two projects are located in the province of Málaga, one of the main tourist destinations in the south of Spain. ActivumSG has been advised in the acquisition by the group’s Spanish subsidiary, ActivumSG Iberia, which is currently being led by Brian Betel, former Director of Cerberus Iberia Advisor and Citibank.

ActivumSG’s team in Spain is completed by Víctor Pérez Arias, former Director of CBRE; Juan Alonso Bartolomé, a director who has worked for companies such as GE Capital Real Estate and ING Real Estate; Alejandro Adan Manes, who joined the firm from Axa Real Estate; Carlos Molero Sánchez, formerly of PwC and KPMG, and Ignacio Gaytan, who previously held the position of maximum responsibility at Grupo Lar, amongst others.

ActivumSG in Spain

Currently, ActivumSG’s portfolio in Spain comprises a dozen assets, with the exception of two that have been divested in recent months, located in Manuel de Falla and Santa Leonor, both in Madrid (…).

Original story: Eje Prime (by Custodio Pareja)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Lar España Puts Assets Worth €380M up for Sale

2 December 2017 – Expansión

After more than three years of actively making purchases, Lar España, the Socimi in which Pimco holds a stake, is entering a new phase. The firm, which presented the pillars of its 3-year business plan to analysts on Friday, announced that it is going to put assets worth €380 million up for sale. It expects to use the resources to distribute dividends, gain financial muscle to continue with the retail developments already underway and take advantage of potential purchase opportunities.

As part of this process, Lar will sell off its entire office portfolio, comprising four buildings, three in Madrid and one in Barcelona, worth €170 million in total. In September, the company sold one property located at number 336 Calle Arturo Soria (pictured above) to Colonial for €32.5 million.

To this figure, Lar España will have to add the €110 million that it expects to raise from the sale of its stake in the luxury housing development Lagasca 99, which it owns jointly with Pimco. The companies, which have already sold more than 70% of the development, plan to hand over the homes during the second or third quarter of next year. Moreover, the group plans to sell non-strategic assets, as well as those that have completed their cycle of maturity in the portfolio, for another €100 million.

In parallel, the group explained its investment plans for the assets in its portfolio. The firm is going to spend €247 million on capex. Of the total, 80% will be allocated to some of the retail developments underway, such as Vidanova Parc (Sagunto), which will open its doors in 2018 and Palmas Altas (Sevilla), which will be launched in 2019. The remaining 20% will be used to renew its existing asset portfolio.

In terms of new investments, the company has identified purchase opportunities amounting to €220 million in total and is already analysing almost 115,000 m2 for a number of operations, all retail spaces. Lar plans to close the year with assets worth €1.5 billion, of which 73% correspond to shopping centres.

In terms of the relationship with its manager, the President of Lar España, José Luis del Valle, expects to renew the contractual relationship with Grupo Lar, which is due to end in 2019. “They have been willing to adapt the contract to the development of the company and the markets”, said the group’s President. Last year, Lar’s managers agreed to lower their variable salaries and assume the difference between the share price on the stock market and the NAV, in an attempt to calm criticism from several investors.

Original story: Expansión (by Rebeca Arroyo)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Aedas, Neinor & Aelca Start Building New Homes in Valencia

4 November 2017 – El Confidencial

(…) A sign that a new wave is coming to the real estate sector can be seen in the Nou Campanar neighbourhood of Valencia, one of the city’s areas of expansion, which was left frozen in time by the burst of the real estate bubble. For many years, an enormous plot of land measuring 12,000 m2 was a symbol of the indulgences of one of the leaders of the Valencian real estate sector, Juan Armiñana. He used to build his spectacular ‘fallero’ monument that won the Fallas competition year after year on that site (…)

Nevertheless, Arminñana, like many other local property developers, went bankrupt. And although he has now timidly returned to the sector, almost all of his assets ended up in the hands of the financial institutions. The large plot of land described above ended up on Sareb’s balance sheet, as collateral for a portfolio of loans. In turn, the bad bank sold those loans to the US investment fund Castlelake. Meanwhile, Aedas Homes, a listed property developer created by that fund, attended the Valencian real estate fair Urbe on Friday. There, it presented its plans for the city for the next two years, revealing that its star development is going to be located on the same iconic plot that used to be owned by Armiñana.

Aedas is one of the property developers of the day. It has arrived in Valencia as demand for new build properties is heating up, in parallel to the economic recovery. Since April, the firm has put almost 300 new homes on the market in Campanar, Quatre Carreres and Dénia, with the intention of putting the cranes to work early next year and handing over the homes in a couple of years. In turn, Aedas holds a portfolio of land and it is continuing to explore acquisitions, whenever the prices fall within acceptable ranges. (…).

Two of Aedas’s rivals, Neinor and Aelca, have also started to make a controlled landing in the Valencian market. The listed company led by Juan Velayos plans to build 500 homes per year in the Community of Valencia, which it considers its third largest market after Madrid and Barcelona. (…). The real estate company in which Lone Star holds stake has just purchased a plot of land for 200 homes in the neighbourhood of Benicalp and it already owns plots for another 450 homes in the neighbourhood of Malilla.

But, the player that has launched itself into the market without any qualms is Aelca. Although traditionally it has been very focused on Madrid, Barcelona and Málaga, the property developer founded by Javier Gómez and José Juan Martín has now launched developments to build up to 1,200 homes in Valencia. Its immediate projects, which are already being marketed, are located in the neighbourhoods of Patraix and Nou Campanar, and they will be joined by another residential building in the Cabecera Park area and another in Dénia. In Alicante, on the Playa de San Juan, Aelca is also working on its first project on the Levante Coast, Residencial Arenas, a residential complex executed in collaboration with Sabadell (…).

Aedas, Neinor and Aelca are the new kids on the block. But there are other players who have been in the market for a long time. Sareb is one of them. Until a few months ago, it was focusing on divesting its land and second-hand homes. The Community of Valencia is the second most active region in terms of sales for the bad bank behind Madrid, with 488 properties and €150 million of land sold since 2013, according to the entity’s CEO, Jaime Echegoyen. Now, Sareb has rolled up its sleeves and is trying to generate some value from the projects that are underway and unfinished from the banking portfolio that it received – more than €6.4 billion in properties and loans secured by real estate assets.

The bad bank has signed agreements with local property developers and construction companies to develop some of the assets that have not ended up in the hands of investment funds (…).

Another very active agent is CBRE Richard Ellis. It has sold more than 3,000 homes in recent years and has another 400 new build homes on the market in Valencia. These properties have been launched by funds and property developers such as Iberdrola Inmobiliaria, which has built a 58 home luxury residential building in Ruzafa and Q21 Real Estate, owned by the US fund Baupost, which has a presence in the so-called PAI of Quatre Carreres (…).

The volumes of off-plan sales are unprecedented in recent years. Developments that have been on the market for just six months are already reaching pre-sales ratios of 40% or 50% in Valencia and along the coast. These percentages mean that property developers are able to secure financing and improve the trust deposited in them by financial institutions (…).

Foreign property developers are also joining the activity being undertaken by the local players that survived the economic crisis. For example, Ficsa, the real estate brand of the Noguera family, has four developments underway in Valencia and its metropolitan area, with reservation rates of 50%. In addition, Parvasal, which has projects in Patriax and on Avenida Giorgeta (Patraix Plaça and Sosa Edificio) is in a similar position.

Metrovacesa, Grupo Lar, White Real Estate and IHomes also all have developments underway (…), which will be ready in 2019 (…).

Original story: El Confidencial (by Víctor Romero)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Who Is Leading The New Generation Of Property Developers?

7 September 2017 – Expansión

The real estate sector wants to leave behind its shady image and to that end, has committed itself to a more professional style of management going forward. In this sense, the new generation of property developers, controlled by investment funds and banks, are combining the experience of professionals with extensive local knowledge and the financial vision of the providers of capital.

One of the property developers with the most ambitious forecasts is Metrovacesa, which, following a non-monetary capital increase in July, now owns assets worth more than €2,600 million and a portfolio of land spanning more than 6 million m2, ready for the construction of more than 40,000 homes. To lead the project, the real estate company, which is controlled by Santander and BBVA, has recruited Jorge Pérez de Leza (pictured above), who worked for 12 years as the CEO at Grupo Lar.

Neinor, which is controlled by Lone Star, was the first company to try its luck on the stock market, when it debuts on the main exchange in March. The firm is led by Juan Velayos, who was responsible for founding the Real Estate team at PwC and who has led the property developer since the end of 2014.

Värde has placed its trust in the founder of its property developers to lead the project into this new phase. In this way, Juan Antonio Gómez-Pintado – a stalwart of the sector – is captaining Vía Célere, whilst the management team of Aelca comprises Javier Gómez and José Juan Martín Montes.

Meanwhile, Castlelake has chosen David Martínez to lead Aedas. He was responsible for the Cuatro Torres and Valdebebas urban planning projects, amongst others.

Others

Besides these real estate companies, there are several others that survived the crisis, such as Quabit, led and controlled by Félix Abánades, and Realia, owned by the Mexican magnate Carlos Slim, who has put one of his most trusted men, Gerardo Kuri Faufmann, at the helm of that company.

Original story: Expansión (by Rebeca Arroyo)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Europe GRI 2017: 11-12 September, Paris

12 July 2017 – Press Release

Aura REE & GRI Club have come together for Europe GRI. Senior real estate investors, developers, lenders, asset owners, major corporates and planners connect, share ideas and strengthen relationships. The collegial discussions enable you to interact and engage – much like an after-dinner conversation in your own living room. Identify like-minded peers, build relationships, and continue the conversation afterwards.

Members and non-members are welcome. If you would find it useful to join your peers at this exclusively senior-level club meeting, you can register here.

Register | Programme

Confirmed Participants include:

Brian Betel, Managing Partner, ASG Iberia Advisors
Steven Broch,  CIO, Aerium Group
Hunt Doering, Managing Director, Baupost Group International
Michael Zerda, Managing Director, Blackstone
Dale Lattanzio, Managing Partner, DRC Capital

Pedro Abella Langa, General Manager, H.I.G. Capital
Gregory Clerc, Managing Director, Bank of America Merrill Lynch
Duncan MacPherson, Managing Director & Head of Debt, Starwood Capital Europe Advisers
Cristina Pérez Liz, Managing Director, Kennedy Wilson
Norbert Müller, Managing Director, Deutsche Pfandbriefbank

Manuel Holgado, Partner, VKronos Investment Group
Tom Rowley, Managing Director, Angelo, Gordon Europe
Trish Barrigan, Senior Partner, Benson Elliot Capital Management
Michael Abel, Managing Director, TPG
Tavis Cannel,  Managing Director, Goldman Sachs International

Manuel Enrich, Investor Relations Director, Sareb
Miguel Pereda, CEO, Grupo Lar
Nic Fox, Partner & Head of Middle Europe, Europa Capital
Fraser Denton, Managing Director, UK & European Investments
David Matheson, SVP, MD Director Investments-Europe, Oxford Properties Group

Jeffrey Dishner, Senior Managing Director,  Starwood Capital Europe Advisers
Chris Evans, Founding Partner, Hamilton Hotel Partners
Ekaterina Avdonina, Managing Director, Delin Capital Asset Management
Christian Nickels-Teske, Head of Treasury Europe, Prologis Ian Worboys, CEO, P3 Logistic Parks 

Peter Cole, Chief Investment Officer, Hammerson
Carrie Hiebeler, Senior Investment Officer, Ventas, Inc.
Gordon Black, Senior Managing Director, Co-Head Europe, Heitman
Gregory Lanter,  Vice President Global Development, Club Méditerranée

Sessions Include:

Residential in Spain – Is product scarcity solved by the acquisition of developers?
NPLs – The last chance saloon?
Retail in Spain – Primary vs. Secondary cities
Co-Investment – As deals mature, will partners get their hands burnt?
European Gateway Cities – Where’s the smart money heading?
The Global Shift Towards Mediterranean Hospitality – New regions or new money?
Modern Retail – Convenience, leisure, technology or community?
Residential Alternatives – Are great operating partners essential or overrated?
What is Real Estate These days? – Financial asset or a service?

For event participation, contact:

Loredana Carollo | Club Director Spain
+44 (0) 20 7121 5089 | loredana.carollo@griclub.org | www.griclub.org

Original story: Press Release

Edited by: Carmel Drake

Lar España Raises Valuation Of Its Asset Portfolio By 20%

10 July 2017 – Expansión

After several years creating large asset portfolios, the Socimis are now immersed in the management of their portfolios. Lar España, the listed real estate investment company created by the real estate company Grupo Lar, was the first of the four largest Socimis to debut on the stock market, in March 2014, and it made its debut without any assets on its balance sheet. Three years later, the company now owns a portfolio worth €1,448.2 million, according to a statement released last week.

That figure is 20% higher than the price that Lar España paid for those assets, in other words, the Socimi has increased the value of its properties by €235 million through its management. “The increase reached at the end of this year is particularly significant – if we compare the figures with those seen at the end of June 2016, the values have risen by 9.3%”, said the company.

Type of assets

The €1,500 million in assets owned by Lar España include, above all, shopping centres, with 16 assets worth more than €1,000 million, up by 15.2% compared to their collective purchase price. In recent months, the Socimi in which the fund manager Pimco holds a stake has invested €255 million in the purchase of two shopping centres, Parque Abadía in Toledo and Gran Vía de Vigo, as well as in 22 other retail premises throughout Spain.

In the case of the office portfolio (the Socimi owns five office buildings), its value has increased by more than 27% to €178.6 million, whilst its logistics properties have appreciated in value by 31.6% to €83.3 million.

Nevertheless, the highest increases in value were recorded by the Socimi’s projects under construction: four in-progress developments are now worth €145.4 million, up by 40%. The most noteworthy of these is the Lagasca 99 development. In January 2015, Lar España decided to make an exception to its strategy of investing in rental assets by acquiring a residential plot in the neighbourhood of Salamanca in Madrid. To this end, it invested €100 million, together with Pimco, on the purchase of a plot of land with a buildability of 26,000 m2. More than half of the 55 homes on that site have already been sold.

Original story: Expansión (by Rocío Ruiz)

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

The Montoro Family Prepares For Monthisa RE’s IPO

28 April 2017 – El Confidencial

With the discretion that characterises family businesses, the Montoro family, which owns the real estate firm Monthisa, has been working for two years on one of the major milestones in its recent history. Known as Project Maura, the operation is aimed at creating a large portfolio of rental assets, with the firm’s debut on the stock market as the ultimate objective.

To deal with this firm, the company segregated its entire real estate business into the company Monthisa Real Estate, which was just another subsidiary until then, and sold one third of the capital to the US fund Proprium Capital, the same entity that has been a shareholder of Grupo Lar for almost a decade, which currently controls 16.5% of that company’s shares.

This asset manager is the heir of Morgan Stanley’s former special situations fund, which ended up being spun off from the parent company in the United States for regulatory reasons, although the management team continued, with Tim Morris at the helm.

Although Proprium – whose representative on the Board of Monthisa Real Estate is Philipp Westermann (…) – is a minority shareholder, the two partners signed a pact by virtue of which they established joint control over Monthisa Real Estate and committed to multiplying the assets in record time.

The result of this alliance has been the creation of a new real estate giant, whose first major purchase was the acquisition of the El Corte Inglés’ ground-floor retail premises on Paseo de la Castellana for almost €150 million, an operation that was closed in September last year; and most recently, the purchase of a building on the Madrilenian Calle Montera, which will be used for tertiary activities (offices and a hotel).

Following these operations, Monthisa Real Estate has a portfolio worth around €250 million, given that the company was constituted with commercial premises, offices and hotels that the Montoro family already controlled, worth more than €100 million.

Its assets include: the Correos Building, so called because the tenant is the public postal company; number 8 on Ribera del Loira, currently occupied by Dell; and the Hotel Radisson, on Calle Moratín 52, on the sought-after Prado Recoletos thoroughfare.

But the Montoro family and Proprium are also rotating their asset portfolio, as demonstrated by the sale of the office building that they used to own in Berlin – a 7,975 m2 property, leased in its entirety to MTV; and a unit in the Plaza Norte 2 shopping centre, occupied by Cinesa cinemas.

Survivor of the crisis

Monthisa is, together with Lar, GMP and Pryconsa, one of the few domestic real estate companies that managed to survive the crisis and, like the first two, it is committed to carving out its real estate business and teaming up with overseas funds to take advantage of the recovery in the sector.

Before reaching this point, the Montoro family’s property development arm regularised its situation with Sareb (…) and reached an agreement with the entity chaired by Jaime Echegoyen to develop properties jointly.

Following all these changes, the next major milestone involves turning Monthisa Real Estate into an iconic real estate company and, if the script is followed, providing an exit for Proprium, with the capital markets as the preferred option.

Original story: El Confidencial (by Ruth Ugalde)

Translation: Carmel Drake