Almagro Capital Tripled its Property Portfolio in 2019 but Doubled its Losses

The Socimi, which specialises in the purchase and subsequent rental of homes for the elderly, lost €805,238 in 2019, despite multiplying its property portfolio by 3, in the midst of its business expansion.

The Socimi, which specialises in the purchase and subsequent rental of homes for the elderly, lost €805,238 in 2019, despite multiplying its property portfolio by 3, in the midst of its business expansion.

Almagro closed 31 December 2019 with a portfolio spanning more than 8,300 square metres, corresponding to 58 properties in the city of Madrid. That figure represents an increase of 310% compared to the end of the previous year.

Patrizia Launches €650-Million Fund Targeting Residential Sector in Europe

2 December 2019 – The German fund Patrizia has launched a €650-million, pan-European investment vehicle to invest in the residential sector in Europe’s main cities. The fund also plans to invest more than €1 billion just in 2020.

Patrizia intends to focus on long-term investments, allocating 20% of the capital to the acquisition of alternative residential assets, such as co-living spaces and homes for students and the elderly (though probably not together…).

Original Story: Eje Prime

Adaptation/Translation: Richard D. K. Turner

Adriano Care Acquires Six Homes for the Elderly for €76 Million

25 November 2019 – Adriano Care has agreed to acquire six homes for the elderly, with a total of 750 beds, and a plot of land in Madrid for building 350 more. Adriano Care, Azora’s investment vehicle, paid a total of 76 million euros for the assets.

Four of the assets are located in Vizcaya: the Olimpia and Kirikiño residences (Bilbao), Barrika Barri (Barrika) and Otxartaga (Ortuella). The other two are in A Coruña (Matogrande Residence – 150 beds) and the Residence Health Bath in Palencia, with 188 beds.

After the deal, Adriano Care will now be the fifth-largest private group in Vizcaya by number of beds while Clece and DomusVi will continue to operate the residences in A Coruña and Palencia, respectively.

The market for geriatric care in Spain is highly fragmented, where the ten largest operators control just 25% of the 375,000 available beds in 5,800 residences.

Original Story: El Economista – Alba Brualla

Adaptation/Translation: Richard D. K. Turner

Archbishopric of Madrid Sells Home for Senior Citizens to the University of Nebrija

19 November 2019 – The Spanish Catholic Church has sold the Fundación Santísima Virgen y San Celedonio senior citizens’ residence to the University of Nebrija for 37 million euros. The home, located on Calle Padre Damián 22, just a five-minute walk from the Santiago Bernabéu stadium in Madrid. Residents were informed of the sale last March but have yet to learn any further details. Nineteen nuns, 163 senior citizens and 29 workers currently live at the site, and all of them have been told that they must leave the premises on November 8, 2021. The sale is the Archbishopric of Madrid’s second in less than a year.

Sources at the foundation noted that the sale of the 18,512-m2 facility was approved by 90% of the elderly residents’ families, but those same families have yet to receive any additional information about where they will go. The foundation and the archdiocese say that they are looking into developing a large residential complex, possibly in El Cañaveral (Vicálvaro).

However, the archdiocese has yet to buy any land or commission any projects for the complex. Furthermore,  there are only two years until the residents must leave.

The sale, which was concluded in November of last year, was for 37 million euros, to be paid in four instalments. The University of Nebrija plans to convert the site into a student residence and possibly a new college.

Original Story: El País – Manuel Viejo

Photo: Kike Para

Adaptation/Translation: Richard D. K. Turner

Foncière Siscare Acquires Three Senior Citizens’ Residences for €40 Million

28 October 2019 The French firm Foncière Siscare has acquired three senior citizens’ residences, two in Spain and one in Italy, for a total of 40 million euros.

The acquisition follows the firm’s strategy of consolidating its position in the Spanish healthcare market. Foncière Siscare acquires assets in conjunction with outside investors, concentrating on operations, while the real estate partner invests in the long-term repositioning of the asset.

Original Story: Eje Prime

Adaptation/Translation: Richard D. K. Turner

Almagro Capital will Debut on the MAB within the Next Few Months

15 November 2018 – Eje Prime

Almagro Capital is getting ever closer to the Alternative Investment Market (MAB). The Socimi, managed by Orfila Management and constituted in June 2017, has set itself the objective of listing between the end of this year and the beginning of 2019, according to sources at the company speaking to Eje Prime.

The company has just made the final move so that its debut on the stock market can materialise as soon as possible: it has converted itself into a limited company under the brand Almagro Capital Socimi, according to the Official Gazette of the Mercantile Registry (Borme).

Once on the MAB, the company is planning to undertake a capital increase and expand its presence in the main Spanish cities and their metropolitan areas, specifically: Valencia, Málaga, Salamanca, Granada, Bilbao and Sevilla. In all of these areas, the firm is going to adopt the same business model: to acquire housing for people aged over 65 years in which the sellers themselves become the tenants until they die.

Currently, the company has nine properties located in the city of Madrid, which range in size between 55 m2 and 585 m2 and which are worth between €300,000 and €3 million. The portfolio of homes includes assets located in the neighbourhoods of Chamberí, Goya, Chamartín, Princesa, Chopera, Lavapiés, Recoletos and Palacio.

Almagro Capital is the first Socimi oriented exclusively at the residential market for the elderly. Led by Felipe de los Ríos, the company carried out two capital increases in September: one amounting to €5.6 million and the other amounting to €13,154, as published in the Borme.

Alongside Felipe de los Ríos at the helm are José Nistal, a former director of Merrill Lynch and Ecofin; Francisco López de Posadas, founder and director of investments at Lift; and the tax expert Luis de Ulibarri – the three partners who launched Orfila Management in June 2017. To date, the manager has financed its investments with capital increases and debt.

For the time being, the company is not planning to diversify its activity or enter any new real estate segments. “We are specialising in a very powerful market niche and we want to continue backing it for a long time”, say sources at the company.

Original story: Eje Prime (by B. Seijo)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Almagro Capital, the Socimi Specialising in Homes for the Elderly, Prepares its MAB Debut

27 July 2018 – Idealista

Increasingly, more and more Socimis specialising in alternative assets are wanting to take their portfolios to the stock market. The latest is Almagro Capital, one of the largest Socimis to specialise in residential assets for the elderly. The company has proposed making its leap onto the Alternative Investment Market (MAB) in 2019 and raising €50 million to grow through purchases.

Almagro’s business model focuses on acquiring homes for the elderly whereby the vendors themselves become the tenants of their homes. These investments respond to an increasingly widespread problem in Spain that directly affects the elderly: 90% of people aged over 65 years live in a home that they own and 30% admit to struggling to make ends meet.

Almagro Capital was founded last year by former directors of Lehman Brothers and Merril Lynch. It will be the first Socimi from Orfila to focus its activity in Madrid. The company started with prime flats in the capital since they are assets with less volatility and which can achieve returns for investors of 10% per annum. Chamberí, Chamartín and Goya are the areas where the Socimi is centred.

The real estate vehicle has started the search for new assets, located in the metropolitan areas of the main Spanish cities, such as Madrid, Valencia, Málaga, Salamanca, Granada, Bilbao and Sevilla, amongst others, although it points out that its focus is placed on the Community of Madrid, and more specifically, on the region inside the M-30.

Almagro Capital is planning to make its debut on the Alternative Investment Market (MAB) in the summer of 2019. Until then, the company will continue to focus on the search for new opportunities in the market and is holding advanced negotiations to buy new assets in Madrid worth between €300,000 and €3 million.

Original story: Idealista

Translation: Carmel Drake

Valencia’s Town Hall Unveils Special Plan for El Cabanyal with 850 New Homes & 1,000 Parking Spaces

11 July 2018 – Inmodiario

The draft of the Special Plan for El Cabanyal-Canyamelar (PEC) involves 850 homes in total: 650 for social housing and private use and 200 more for public use. That is according to the Councillor for Sustainable Urban Development at the Town Hall of Valencia, Vicent Sarrià, who has held a meeting with residents of the neighbourhood to inform them about the progress of the PEC working document.

60% of the 650 homes will be allocated to social housing and the remaining 40% will be for private use. Moreover, the plan will include another 200 public homes to be allocated to the elderly (over 65 years) and young people (under 35 years), amongst other cohorts, on a rental basis.

In terms of the parking lots, the PEC is planning to build high-rise car parks for neighbours right across the area. The forecast being considered at the moment, according to the councillor, involve approximately 1,000 parking spaces in total.

Another question dealt with at the meeting was the distribution of the new buildings with respect to Doctor Lluch Park. Vicent Sarrià indicated that the building “will be located on adjacent plots, and so the entire surface area of the current gardens will be respected”.

The councillor highlighted that the document envisages “the remodelling of the entire garden area and that the walls will be replaced by slopes, which will improve accessibility”. In this way, he added, the plans reflect the requests made by people who actually live in the area.

Finally, Sarrià made reference to the forecasts for the end of Avenida de Blasco Ibáñez which, he revealed, involve turning the roundabout that is home to Cabanyal station “into a more accessible green area, connected by public transport”.

The document is still being drafted and the team responsible is expected to submit it in September so that the Town Hall can proceed with its publication.

In terms of the forecast investments, within the framework of Plan Cabanyal, the intention is to spend €13 million on the renovation of homes; another €18 million on the re-urbanisation of the streets, sewers and other installations; and €30 million on the development plan, co-financed by funds from the EU. In total, the project will see more than €60 million of public and private funds spent on the reinvigoration of this maritime neighbourhood of Valencia.

Original story: Inmodiario 

Translation: Carmel Drake