Tag: HQ

Ekon Moves its Offices to 22@ and Sant Cugat del Vallès

The technology company is moving its corporate headquarters to the 22@ district and the Vallsolana Garden Business Park, in Sant Cugat del Vallès.

The technology company Ekon is going to move its corporate headquarters, previously located in Barberà del Vallés, to the 22@ district of Barcelona and to Sant Cugat del Vallès (Barcelona) over the coming weeks.

Ekon, which is in the middle of a growth phase, will move its Support, Development and Services departments to a 1,200-square-metre space in the Vallsolana Garden Business Park, in Sant Cugat del Vallès (Barcelona).

ING Sells its HQ in Las Rozas (Madrid) to Barings

13 June 2019 – Eje Prime

ING has sold its office building located on Calle Severo Ochoa, 2 in Las Rozas (Madrid) to the US fund Baring Alternative Investments for an undisclosed sum.

The property spans a surface area of 12,700 m2, has 350 parking spaces and is located on the Las Rozas business park with direct access to the A6 and M50 motorways, and close to a suburban train station.

The building currently houses the Dutch bank’s headquarters in Spain.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation/Summary: Carmel Drake

Intu Moves into New HQ in Madrid on Paseo de la Castellana

19 April 2018 – El Economista

The British giant Intu, owner of several shopping centres in Spain, including Xanadú in Madrid and Puerto Venecia in Zaragoza, is continuing to grow in our country with a new headquarters in the capital. The company, which until now had its offices in the Chamberí neighbourhood, has moved to a small palace on Paseo de la Castellana.

With this operation, which has been advised by the real estate consultancy firm Savills Aguirre Newman, the firm is expanding its office space and positioning itself in a strategic enclave in the city. Specifically, Intu is going to move to number 64 Paseo de la Castellana, into the iconic Palacete Moreno Benítez, which spans 1,350 m2, spread over five floors.

The building, constructed in 1904 by the architect Joaquín Saldaña, was inhabited for many years by the aristocracy of the time and is one of the few small palaces that has managed to survive of the 70 that used to dominate this major Madrilenian thoroughfare.

Its current owner, which will become Intu’s landlord in Madrid by virtue of this contract, is the real estate company Caboel, in which the Carbó, Bonet and Elías families hold stakes, all former owners of the Caprabo distribution group.

Caboel acquired the property in 2015 by making the best offer – €13.5 million – in a public auction organised by the State Company for the Management of Real Estate Assets (Segipsa). Until then, the building had been owned by the General State Administration, which acquired it in 1982.

The company has carried out a project to refurbish the building to subsequently obtain returns by leasing it out.

Caboel owns 30,000 m2 of office space in Madrid, Barcelona, Lisbon and Porto, according to information provided on its website. The company’s portfolio comprises 150 assets, diversified across different sectors such as commercial, with retail premises and out-of-town shopping parks, as well as hotels and logistics assets.

Original story: El Economista (by Alba Brualla)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Union Investment Puts Marsans’ Former HQ up for Sale

16 January 2018 – Expansión

The fund Union Investment, which is headquartered in Frankfurt, has decided to cash in one of its most high profile real estate assets in Spain.

The firm has put the Edificio Pórtico in Madrid up for sale. Designed by the architecture studios SOM and Rafael de La-Hoz, this office building is leased in its entirety to several companies including Pullmantur, Redexis Gas, Nautalia, Beam España and Pepsico, amongst others. Nevertheless, it is well-known because it housed the headquarters of the tourist group Marsans for several years. The company created by Gerardo Díaz and Gonzalo Pascual purchased the property in 2009 from Hines and Monthisa for an amount that was never disclosed. Years later, Marsans reached an agreement with Union Investment to sell the building for €115 million through a sale & leaseback contract, whereby the tourist group remained as the tenant paying a monthly rent of more than €700,000.

A year later, Marsans received an eviction notice due to the non-payment of the rent, and it abandoned the property in 2011 once it had filed for liquidation. The departure of its main tenant did not represent a problem for Union Investment, which soon found replacements.

Currently, the building, which has a gross leaseable area (GLA) of 27,000 m2 spread over eight floors, is leased in its entirety. That, together with the quality of the property and the stamp of two recognised architecture studios, raises its appeal in the market.

For the sale, the German fund has engaged the real estate consultancy CBRE, which has already started to reach out to the usual investors in the office market in Madrid. The sales price amounts to around €130 million, say sources in the know, and the operation is expected to be closed during the first half of this year.

Investment in offices in Spain amounted to €2.21 billion in 2017, according to JLL, down by 20% compared to the previous year.

Lack of supply

That decrease was much more marked in Madrid, which although continued to lead the investment market in Spain, with investment of €1.374 billion, suffered a decrease of 38% in 2017 with respect to the previous year.

“Nevertheless, that reduction was not due to a decrease in investor interest, but rather a lack of supply, given that the two previous years saw record figures”, explains Borja Ortega, Director of Capital Markets at JLL (…).

Meanwhile, Union Investment is one of the largest investment fund managers in Germany. In Spain, its recent operations include the sale of the Área Sur shopping centre, located in the Cadiz town of Jerez, which it sold last year to a joint venture controlled by Axa IM-Real Assets and the Portuguese real estate company Sonae Sierra for €110 million. At the global level, the German firm manages assets worth more than €250 billion.

Original story: Expansión (by Rocío Ruiz)

Translation: Carmel Drake

EspañaDuero Finalises Sale of its Madrid HQ

19 December 2017 – El Economista

Over the next few weeks, EspañaDuero will close the sale of its headquarters in Madrid, located on Calle Titán 8, according to confirmation from various sources in the sector, who say that the entity is holding advanced, exclusive negotiations with an investor.

The entity, which is soon going to be completely integrated into Unicaja Banco, declined to comment about the operation. However, this sale is reminiscent of the divestment strategy that the entity has been carrying out in recent years.

The office block that is about to be sold is located in the Méndez Álvaro area of the Spanish capital, overlooking the M-30 ring road. It also houses the offices of Enagás and Nozar, the former owner of the property. In this way, Caja Duero acquired the building for €55.8 million in 2008, a price that is €9 million higher than its current valuation.

At the end of 2011, following the merger of the entity with Caja España, which resulted in the creation of the current EspañaDuero, the combined company moved its offices to Caja Duero’s headquarters in Madrid, on Calle Marqués de Villamagna, 6.

In 2015, the company began a period of office restructuring, which led it to sell one of its real estate jewels: the former headquarters of Caja España in Madrid, on Calle Velázquez 23, in the heart of the Salamanca neighbourhood.

A year later, in the middle of 2016, EspañaDuero decided to move its headquarters again and vacate the offices on Marqués de Villamagna, very close to Madrid’s Paseo de la Castellana. The entity put them up for sale for €90 million and moved to Titán 8. Now, history is repeating itself, as the entity continues to sell off property, in a discrete sales process being advised by the consultancy firm Irea, according to the same sources.

The 13-storey building, including one underground floor and three basement levels for parking, has a total surface area, including the outside space, of 18,152 m2, of which 10,711 m2 are offices and 6,643 m2 are garages, with 212 parking spaces.

Currently, the property has almost 3,000 m2 of office space available for rent, which is being marketed by Knight Frank and Aguirre Newman.

Original story: El Economista (by Alba Brualla)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Vocento Finalises Sale Of Its Madrid HQ To Axiare

15 December 2016 – Cinco Días

Axiare has put its foot down on the accelerator to complete several purchases during the final month of the year. In addition to its acquisition of the headquarters of Cuatrecasas and McKinsey in Madrid, the Socimi is now finalising the purchase of the building from where Vocento operates its business in Madrid. The operation will be closed imminently, for around €35 million, according to several sources familiar with the operation.

Vocento is following the strategy of moving from being the owner of the property to becoming the tenant, in exchange for making some money. Currently, the group has debt amounting to €128.5 million, according to data submitted to the CNMV relating to the third quarter.

The building, located on Calle Juan Ignacio Luca de Tena (the historical director of the ABC newspaper and member of its founding family) has been home to the newspaper since 1989, when it abandoned its headquarters on Paseo de la Castellana, where the ABC Serrano shopping centre is now located.

The holding company has negotiated a rental contract with the Socimi, which allows its companies to continue to occupy the headquarters in Luca de Tena for five years. In addition to ABC, Vocento has several online businesses, such as Infoempleo; several influential regional newspapers resulting from the merger of Prensa Española with Grupo Correo; a number of magazines; and the Colpisa agency, amongst others.

The building is located at exit Km 7 on the A-2 motorway. This area of the capital has been enjoying a busy few months, with Popular constructing its new corporate headquarters on the adjoining plot of land, and the University Clinic of Navarra building its first major hospital in Madrid just a few metres away, which is expected to open next year.

Through this acquisition, Axiare Patrimonio adds another new building to its growing portfolio, which comprises offices, retail and logistics assets. The Socimi, which debuted on the stock market in 2014, has now accumulated assets worth €1,230 million in just over two years. These types of listed real estate investment company have beneficial tax regimes, whereby they do not pay corporation tax, but they are obliged to distribute dividends on an annual basis. (…).

Original story: Cinco Días (by Alfonso Simón Ruiz)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Fiatc Buys Former HQ Of Naturgas From BBVA

28 June 2016 – Expansión

The insurance group Fiatc has expanded its real estate portfolio with an operation in Bilbao. The Catalan company has purchased the Nervión building, located next to the Guggenheim Museum, in the Plaza Pío Baroja, from BBVA Seguros. The property, which used to house the headquarters of Gas de Euskadi and Naturgas, has a surface area of 6,296 sqm and 66 parking spaces.

In April, BBVA relocated around 350 employees to the building. The banking group will continue to occupy the property under a lease contract.

The operation, whose price has not been revealed, has been brokered by the consultancy firm JLL. With this acquisition, Fiatc increases the market value of its real estate portfolio to €250 million. Most of the buildings in its portfolio comprise its own offices and branches, such as its headquarters on La Diagonal in Barcelona.

Original story: Expansión (by J.O.)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Meridia Capital Acquires Nestle’s Spanish HQ In Barcelona

17 March 2016 – Press release

Meridia Capital Partners, SGEIC, S.A., (“Meridia Capital”) announced today that it has successfully closed the acquisition of Nestlé’s Spanish headquarters, located in Barcelona (Esplugues de Llobregat). The facilities include 5 buildings with a total built area of c.49,000 sqm and 579 parking spaces.

The complex, strategically located at the entrance of Barcelona, comprises 2 office buildings. The largest one is Nestlé’s headquarters in Spain and the second one, which is currently vacant, will be partly occupied by the Swiss multinational as well as by third parties. The other three assets are a convention centre, a showroom and a building with different amenities such as a restaurant, cafeteria and a bank branch. The 5 buildings are currently leased to Nestlé. Meridia Capital will carry out a CapEx programme to further improve the facilities.

Original story: Press release

Edited by: Carmel Drake