Tag: hotels

ASG Homes Acquires Former Student Residence in A Coruña

17 September 2019 – La Opinión A Coruña

The sale has been completed of a former student residence in A Coruña. The congregation of the religious order of María Inmaculada has sold the property, which spans 6,000 m2 and comprises 6 or 7 storeys (depending on where you are in the building), to the real estate firm ASG Homes Propcorp for €7.7 million.

ASG Homes Propcorp is owned by several European investors, namely: East Hampton Partners Limited (40%), headquartered in London; Fido Holding GMBH (10%), headquartered in Berlin (Germany), Caveco Investments (40%), headquartered in Madrid, and Gotrina (10%), also based in Madrid.

The group is in the process of investing the resources that it raised for its sixth fund, which amounted to €500 million in total, and the focus of its investments is now directed towards Valladolid, Zaragoza, Bilbao, Portugal… and A Coruña.

The international group specialises in the construction of residential complexes, and also promotes hotels, shopping centres and gas stations.

The property is currently divided into two halves, with the right-hand side forming the subject of the sale by the religious order; the left-hand side, which comprises commercial premises on the ground floor, offices on the second floor and private apartments on the upper floors, does not form part of the sale.

Original story: La Opinión A Coruña (by Marta Villar)

Translated by: Aura Ree

ASG Homes Negotiates the Sale of 1,000 Rental Homes to Institutional Investors

19 June 2019 – Expansión

ASG Homes, the property development arm of the European manager ASG, is following in the footsteps of many of the major property developers in Spain by putting up for sale 1,000 rental homes.

The announcement comes in response to interest from institutional investors in acquiring and managing portfolios of rental homes, given the booming demand in the rental market.

Specifically, ASG Homes is negotiating the sale of 3 of its developments in San Sebastián, Madrid and Sevilla, which will be worth €200 million once finished, with investment funds, Socimis and family offices.

ASG Homes had planned to hold onto the properties and manage them itself but the strong interest from investors has resulted in a change of tack. In this way, the company is emulating the strategies of several listed property developers, such as Metrovacesa and Aedas Homes.

In total, ASG Homes has a landbank spanning 500,000 m2 with the capacity to build 5,000 homes distributed across Madrid, Alicante, Estepona, Marbella, Salamanca, Barcelona, Sevilla and Valencia. It launched its business in Spain in 2013 and invests not only in the residential sector, but also in the hotel, shopping centre and office segments.

Original story: Expansión (by Rebeca Arroyo)

Translation/Summary: Carmel Drake

Blackstone’s Spanish Hotel Portfolio is Worth €3.5bn

3 June 2019 – La Vanguardia

In recent years, the US fund Blackstone has invested €3.5 billion in the Spanish hotel sector through its specialist manager HI Partners, making it the largest hotel owner in Spain and the third largest in Europe after the Swedish firm Pandox and the French group Covivio.

HI Partners was created four years ago and owned 17 establishments by the time Blackstone acquired it in 2017 for €640 million. A year later, the US fund launched a successful takeover bid for the Socimi Hispania, which gave it control of another 45 hotels.

According to Alejandro Hernández-Puértolas, Partner and CEO of HI Partners, the firm now owns 62 establishments in Spain, with around 18,000 rooms. By region, 53% of its rooms are located in the Canary Islands, where it has 25 establishments, 26% are in the Balearic Islands (18 hotels) and the remaining 21% are located across the Peninsula above all in the Costa del Sol, Valencia and Cataluña.

HI Partners is headquartered in Barcelona and has offices in the Canary and Balearic Islands. It employs 100 professionals and its hotels are managed by 19 different operators including Marriott, Barceló, Hilton, Melià and Ritz Carlton.

Original story: La Vanguardia (by Rosa Salvador)

Translation/Summary: Carmel Drake

Azora Prepares a Fund to Invest €1.3bn in Hotels & Hostels

30 May 2019 – El Confidencial

Azora is currently holding conversations with various investors to launch a new fund through which it hopes to invest between €1.2 billion and €1.3 billion in hotels in Spain as well as in hostels in the main tourist markets across the Mediterranean.

The company founded by Concha Osácar (pictured above) and Fernando Gumuzio expects to launch the vehicle within the next few weeks as soon as agreements have been signed with the first anchor investors.

Azora, which used to manage the Socimi Hispania, until it was sold to Blackstone last year, has been very active in the Spanish hotel market in recent months after it purchased a hotel portfolio in Benidorm and the Costa del Sol in March comprising 1,670 rooms.

The company is also expected to enter the market for nursing homes for the elderly in conjunction with another fund, with the aim of investing up to €300 million over the next few years.

Original story: El Confidencial (by E.S.)

Translation/Summary: Carmel Drake

AENA Activates its RE Plan in Palma, Málaga, Valencia & Sevilla

23 May 2019 -. ABC 

AENA is going to become the largest property developer in Spain over the next few years, having launched four real estate mega-projects at its airports in Palma de Mallorca, Málaga, Valencia and Sevilla, in addition to those already underway in Madrid and Barcelona. The airport manager is now looking to engage a consultant to help it decide the uses that will be assigned to the land that it owns in the vicinity of the four airports.

According to sources, AENA and the private partner will identify which plots are “potentially marketable” and will plan their development together. This process will take around a year, with AENA planning to dedicate the first six months to the development of the airports in Palma de Mallorca and Málaga-Costa del Sol, and the second six months to the airports in Sevilla-San Pablo and Valencia.

Madrid and Barcelona

These projects will join those already announced by the company led by Maurici Lucena for the vicinity of Barajas and El Prat airports in Madrid and Barcelona, respectively. There, AENA is planning to build offices, hotels and logistics hubs. In the Spanish Capital, the company is planning to develop up to 2.2 million m2 of land, whilst in the Catalan capital, that figure amounts to 1.1 million m2.

Original story: ABC (by Guillermo Ginés)

Translation/Summary: Carmel Drake

Blackstone’s Hotel Socimi Hispania Ceases Trading on the Stock Market

4 April 2019 – La Vanguardia

Hispania, the largest hotel owner in the country, will stop trading on the stock market from tomorrow Friday 5 April. This outcome has been on the cards since the Socimi, which owns 46 hotels located all over Spain, was taken over by the US fund Blackstone last year.

Blackstone paid €18.25 per share for the Socimi, compared with the firm’s debut price of €10.00. On Thursday, Hispania closed trading at €17.82 per share.

The Socimi, which is worth almost €2 billion, will abandon the stock market five years after making its debut in March 2014. It is the first Socimi to have trading in its shares terminated in this way.

Original story: La Vanguardia 

Translation/Summary: Carmel Drake

CBRE: Hotel Investment in the Balearics Doubled in 2018 to c. €1bn

26 March 2019 – Preferente

According to data compiled by CBRE, 47 transactions were closed in the hotel market in the Balearic Islands in 2018, corresponding to a total investment volume of more than €967 million. That figure accounted for 20% of the capital invested in Spain during the year and 32 of the transactions were concentrated in Mallorca, followed by Ibiza with 11 operations and Menorca with just 4.

Most of the operations involved hotel portfolios although two individual asset sales stand out due to their high prices per room: Hospes Maricel & Spa (as part of the Hospes Portfolio) and Belmond La Residencia. Both are 5-star establishments.

Palma (de Mallorca) maintained its position as an attractive urban tourist destination, with the addition of seven new hotel establishments comprising 275 rooms during 2018 alone.

More than 10.3 million visitors travelled to the Balearic Islands during 2018, up by 2.3% YoY, breaking the record the fourth year in a row. Nevertheless, the number of overnight stays fell slightly to 59.3 million (down by 0.4% YoY). Meanwhile, the ADR of the hotels on the islands broke the €100 barrier to reach €104.10 in 2018, up by 5.5% compared to 2017. In addition, RevPAR rose by 3.5% YoY to €80.10.

Original story: Preferente (by R.P.)

Translation/Summary: Carmel Drake

The Chinese Overtake the Germans in Hotel Investments in Mallorca

21 March 2019 – El Cierre Digital

Since 2014, when a large Chinese company, Jiangsu GPRO, acquired the historical Valparaíso Palace hotel in Mallorca, interest from Chinese investors and tourists in the Balearic Island has soared.

Until then, some Chinese people had moved to live on the island but they had done so to create small businesses, above all in the Pere Grarau district, to form a small community of almost 4,500.

Since GPRO’s purchase of Valparaíso Palace, Chinese business people have been investing more in the island; the Balearic Government has been promoting different areas as backdrops for Chinese films; and now, plans are afoot for direct flights to begin between China and Palma de Mallorca with a layover in Barcelona or Valencia. The intention is to increase the holiday offering for Chinese tourists in the Balearic Islands.

Chinese companies are also interested in investing in the Par Bit technological park just north of Palma. They are committed to improving their image in the region and creating jobs.

Turespaña forecasts that by 2025, China will be the country with most tourists travelling the world, with around 220 million per year.

Original story: El Cierre Digital (by David González)

Translation/Summary: Carmel Drake

The Student Hotel to Invest €110M in 2 New Mixed-Use Student Halls/Hotels

15 March 2019 – Eje Prime

The Student Hotel is going to invest €110 million in order to open two new mixed-use student halls/hotels over the next few years in Madrid and Barcelona.

The first, located in a former print house at number 28 Cuesta de San Vicente in Madrid is expected to open in September 2020 following a €60 million purchase and renovation project. Once completed, that property will have approximately 340 rooms, a parking lot, a coworking office space and common areas including a lounge bar overlooking the Royal Palace.

The second, located on Calle Provençals in Barcelona, in the heart of the 22@ district, is scheduled to open in January 2021, following a €50 million investment. It will comprise around 300 bedrooms, a coworking office, common areas as well as a cocktail bar on the rooftop.

TSH is launching a new operating model for these properties, which combines short term lets with accommodation for students. The mixed-use aspect of these building means that between 45% and 50% of them will be used for student residences and the rest for hotel purposes, which will offset the seasonality of the two models.

Besides the two openings described above, TSH is also considering opening other hotels in Valencia, Málaga, Sevilla and País Vasco, in Bilbao and San Sebastián.

Original story: Eje Prime (by Marta Casado Pla)

Translation/Summary: Carmel Drake

ASG Homes Sets its Sights for Growth on Andalucía

12 March 2019 – ABC Sevilla

ASG Homes, which manages and develops projects for the British fund ActivumSG, owns a stock of land on which it could build 5,000 homes in Spain, making it the seventh or eighth largest property developer in the country by land bank. It largest regional presence is in Andalucía, where it owns land on which to build 1,700 homes, with Sevilla and, specifically, Sevilla Este, accounting for the majority of those plots, where it has capacity for 1,200 homes.

According to the CEO of ASG Homes, Víctor Pérez Arias (pictured above), his firm currently has 600 homes under construction in Sevilla, Estepona and Marbella, whose prices will range between €140,000 and €300,000. Moreover, it is also looking to repeat its activity in Sevilla and so is searching for land to purchase along the coasts of Málaga, Cádiz and Huelva. It is also interested in opening a hotel in Sevilla.

According to Pérez Arias, there is a shortage of buildable land across Spain, which is causing demand to exceed supply, and as such, prices to increase. The delays involved in processing building permits to convert developable land into finalist land is not helping either. In some cases, rather than taking up to 6 months, as permitted by law, those procedures are taking up to 14 or 15 months.

In light of the high level of demand in the rental market, ASG Homes is starting to work on projects in the residential rental market. Besides homes, ASG also promotes shopping centres, student halls, hotels and serviced apartments.

Original story: ABC Sevilla (by María Jesús Pereira)

Translation/Summary: Carmel Drake