Tag: Iberdrola Inmobiliaria

Renta Corporación’s Profits Rose by 14% to €11.7M in September

24 October 2018 – Eje Prime

Renta Corporación closed September with good results. The Spanish real estate group recorded a profit of €11.7 million to September, up by 13.6% compared to the same period in 2017, according to a statement filed by the company with Spain’s National Securities and Exchange Commission (CNMV).

Similarly, the company recorded total revenues of €49.1 million during the first nine months of the year, exceeding its turnover between January and September 2017 by 46%. Meanwhile, Renta Corporación’s EBITDA amounted to €12 million, up by €3 million compared to the previous year.

The sale of several properties in Barcelona and Madrid means that Renta Corporación closed September with an increase in its turnover. Currently, the group’s business portfolio amounts to €179 million. Moreover, the company manages assets for sale in partnership with several real estate funds, with an estimated investment amount of €35 million.

In terms of the purchases made by the group between January and September, highlights include the acquisition of fifteen residential-use properties comprising 1,095 turnkey homes, through its Socimi Vivenio. Those assets are located in Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Palma and Málaga and involved the disbursement of €533 million for the company.

Renta Corporación is currently in a process of growth. At the beginning of October, the company announced that it is going to build homes on the site of Esteve’s former headquarters in Barcelona, an asset that it has just purchased from Iberdrola Inmobiliaria.

Orignal story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake

Iberdrola Inmobiliaria Buys Esteve’s Former HQ in Barcelona

27 June 2018 – Eje Prime

Iberdrola Inmobiliaria is acquiring space in the heart of Barcelona for new homes. The company has acquired the former headquarters of the pharmaceutical group Esteve, where it plans to promote residential properties and facilities.

The amount of the operation has not been revealed, according to Expansión. The building is located on Avenida Mare de Déu de Montserrat and has a surface area of 15,000 m2, part of which is dedicated to residential use and part to social use.

The pharmaceutical group has just moved all of its staff to a new headquarters in the Zona Franca area – that property is owned by Iberdrola Inmobiliaria and the group now occupies 12,000 m2 there.

Iberdrola Inmobiliaria is the parent company of the Iberdrola group’s real estate business. Currently, the company has a real estate portfolio in operation that has a gross leasable area of more than 200,000 m2.

Original story: Eje Prime 

Translation: Carmel Drake

CBRE: New Builds Will Account for 60% of the Office Supply in Madrid Until 2019

15 May 2018 – Eje Prime

Change of tack in the office sector in Madrid. In 2016, 100% of the supply that was put on the market corresponded to renovated properties; just three years on, 60% of the office space handed over during the last 24 months has been newly built. The segment is, therefore, going to experience a metamorphosis over the next two years (…). Moreover, with the volume of leased surface area rising year after year, a significant increase is expected over the medium term in the number of square metres in total in the office stock in the Spanish capital, according to a report from the consultancy firm CBRE.

Thus, whilst in 2016, the new surface area created saw the introduction of 170,000 m2 into the stock that year, last year, 238,000 m2 of new space was created. In 2018 and 2019, office developers will dispense 255,000 m2, of which 153,000 m2 is going to correspond to new build properties.

These figures reflect the definitive return of the Socimis and funds to the construction of new office space in the office market, according to CBRE. In the case of Madrid, after 606,000 m2 of office space was leased during 2017 – the best year in the last decade – the report forecasts similar figures for this year.

In addition, traditional players, such as the Socimi Colonial and GMP, in which the Singapore sovereign fund has held a stake for several years, have been joined by other managers and companies that want to take advantage of the strong performance of the office market in the new real estate cycle, resuming projects that were parked due to the crisis. Such is the case of Iberdrola Inmobiliaria, the French firm Bouygues and Torre Rioja, amongst other companies.

In this sense, Colonial, which has now also reinforced this line of business with Axiare’s assets, has a project underway, Alpha III, in which it is going to invest €480 million between Madrid and Barcelona, highlighting the investment that it is going to make in the Méndez Álvaro area of the Spanish capital. In that southern stretch of the central business district (CBD), the Socimi is going to build more than 110,000 m2 of office space (…).

Barcelona: record year for the hand over of new offices

Whilst Madrid is getting ready to build offices, in Barcelona, developers are on the verge of handing over the newest spaces. The Catalan capital has been immersed in a construction phase that, in addition, has been sold at the speed of light. The majority of the new developments that are being carried out already have tenants, who have signed pre-lease contracts with the developers of the different projects.

Nevertheless, the greatest supply is being built in the 22@ district, the most-sought-after area at the moment by technology companies and large operators. As a result, in 2017, the Catalan capital recorded a 4% increase in the volume of space leased, to 344,000 m2, according to CBRE.

Boosted by this dynamic of constructing buildings in the city’s new hub, Barcelona will handover 170,000 m2 of new office space during 2018, which will represent the best surface area record since 2010 (…).

In recent months, several land transactions have been closed in the 22@ district for the development of new (office) projects. Perhaps the most noteworthy of all is Parc Central, a plot spanning 52,000 m2 for which Värde paid €50 million to Oaktree and Alza Real Estate. The fund will allocate just over 40,000 m2 of those plots, known as Can Ricard, to office buildings.

Madrid, the city in Europe where prime office rents will rise by the fastest

(…). Prime rents grew by 10% in Madrid in 2017 and by 8% in Barcelona, with average prices per square metre of €31/m2/month in the Spanish capital and €23.5/m2/month in the Mediterranean city.

In 2018, CBRE forecasts that Madrid is going to be the European city where prime rents are going to rise the most markedly with a growth forecast that could reach €34/m2/month on average, boosted by the CBD. Meanwhile, Barcelona is going to close this year as the fourth-ranked capital in Europe in terms of the increase in office rents, a rising trend that is going to continue in both cities until 2022.

Original story: Eje Prime (by J. Izquierdo)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Oaktree Joins Forces with Sabadell to Promote Iberdrola Land

17 May 2018 – El Economista

Oaktree and Sabadell, through its subsidiary Bitarte, have requested permission from the European Commission to constitute a joint venture through which they will dedicate resources to residential development in Spain. Most of this new joint venture’s portfolio, at least initially, will comprise land that the US fund is going to buy from Iberdrola Inmobiliaria, which has declined to comment in this regard.

According to experts in the sector speaking to this newspaper, Oaktree is going to close the operation to acquire at least five plots of land worth approximately €100 million during the course of this month. As soon as the US fund’s alliance with Sabadell has been approved, the land will be integrated into the new company, whose purpose is going to be to continue growing through new land acquisitions.

Sabadell has chosen its subsidiary Bitarte, an instrumental company dedicated to the world of real estate, to carry out this association with Oaktree, although its stake in this new company is going to be managed by Solvia Desarrollos Inmobiliarios, the arm of the bank that is responsible for property development. The entity constituted that firm, which owns land worth around €1.2 billion when it completed the carve out of Solvia Servicios Inmobiliarios.

According to explanations from the same sources, Sabadell’s role in its alliance with Oaktree will be that of industrial partner with experience in the property development market, and so the fund will have a financial role, contributing the majority of the capital.

Assets

At first, the possibility was raised of an alliance between all three parties, which would see Iberdrola not only contribute assets, but also hold onto a stake in the company, and for that deal, the figures that were bandied around at the time amounted to around €130 million.

In the end, the alliance will be signed between the fund and Sabadell, and so the electricity company will contribute somewhat fewer plots. Of the chosen sites, in the absence of the definition of the final plots to be transferred, one in Móstoles (Madrid) stands out, where Iberdrola has already started work on a residential development project: Villas del Sur 2. This development comprises 22 terraced homes with three and four bedrooms and a private garden.

The other plots selected are located in Salamanca, the Costa del Sol, Pamplona and Pozuelo de Alarcón. This is a small part of Iberdrola’s land portfolio, which owns assets with a buildable surface area of 3.5 million m2. Specifically, the real estate company is working on the construction of more than 330 homes located in different places around Madrid, Murcia, Santander and Valencia.

Original story: El Economista (by Alba Brualla)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Oaktree to Buy Land from Iberdrola for €100M to Develop it with Solvia

13 March 2018 – Eje Prime

Oaktree is going shopping hand in hand with Solvia. The US fund is just one step away from signing an agreement with Iberdrola Inmobiliaria to acquire a portfolio of land worth more than €100 million. In this operation, the property developer subsidiary of Banco Sabadell would perform the role of developer of the future promotions through a joint venture with the investment fund.

The plots of land that Oaktree is planning to acquire are located all over Spain. More than half of the land that Iberdrola is willing to sell is located in Granada, although the portfolio for sale also includes plots in Madrid, Valencia, Málaga, Navarra, Salamanca, Cantabria and Murcia, according to Vozpópuli, which reports that the operation just needs to be signed.

Other funds and institutional investment groups have reportedly expressed their interest in this land portfolio, including the US bank Goldman Sachs.

For the development of the acquired land, Oaktree is planning to create a joint venture with Solvia Desarrollos Inmobiliarios, the property development arm of Sabadell. Nevertheless, the operation proposes, in addition, that each new development generate new companies in which Iberdrola Inmobiliaria would also have a presence.

In November last year, Banco Sabadell announced the creation of its own property development subsidiary to be responsible for this area of the real estate business for the financial entity. Currently, Solvia Desarrollos Inmobiliarios has a land portfolio worth €1.2 billion, which would now increase as a result of this alliance with Oaktree.

Meanwhile, once the sale is certified, Iberdrola Inmobiliaria would see a reduction in its exposure to real estate, a sector in which it has been very active in recent months, as shown by the project that it is working on in Barcelona, where it is planning to build 88,120 m2 of offices. At the end of 2016, the company owned real estate assets worth €1.7 billion.

Original story: Eje Prime 

Translation: Carmel Drake

Goldmans & Oaktree to Bid for €100M Land Portfolio that Iberdrola will Auction on 28 Feb

22 February 2018 – Voz Pópuli

On Wednesday 28 February, Goldman Sachs and Oaktree are scheduled to submit binding offers for a portfolio of land owned by Iberdrola Inmobiliaria. The subsidiary of the multinational energy company has thus started one of its largest asset sales processes in recent years, coinciding with the recovery of the sector and the voracious appetite shown by international funds for land in the Spanish market.

The two US investment banks have expressed their interest in what is considered, in the Spanish real estate sector, to be a very good portfolio of land. It is ready for the construction of more than one thousand homes in locations such as Madrid, Málaga and Granada (more than half), as well as Navarra, Salamanca, Murcia, Cantabria and Valencia. The valuation of the plots amounts to around €100 million, according to sources familiar with the negotiations.

The sources consulted warn that if the offers prove to be unsatisfactory, the door will be opened to other investment funds “who are queuing up to participate in the operation”. In total, the plots, owned by the subsidiary of the group chaired by Ignacio Sánchez Galán, that have been put up for sale span a buildable surface area of 126,000 m2.

Iberdrola Inmobiliaria, with which Vozpópuli made contact yesterday, denies the existence of this operation. Nevertheless, two different sources consulted by this newspaper confirm that Banco Sabadell is also participating in the process. According to the sources, Solvia Desarrollos Inmobiliarios, the subsidiary of the financial institution, is going to create a joint venture with the buyer of the land to construct homes, whilst Iberdrola Inmobiliaria is expected to retain a minority stake in the new company.

The Spanish energy group created Iberdrola Inmobiliaria in 1991. The company managed to survive the greatest crisis in the history of the Spanish real estate sector – the one suffered following the burst of the bubble at the end of 2007 – and now owns a portfolio of assets worth more than €1.7 billion. Moreover, it is a highly respected manager in the sector.

Just before the start of the economic and financial crisis, Iberdrola Inmobiliaria undertook significant investments in projects in Spain, Mexico and Bulgaria. In 2015, Iberdrola injected €616.7 million into its real estate subsidiary through a capital increase of €154.2 million and the rest as an issue premium. In 2016, Iberdrola Inmobiliaria recorded revenues of €63.8 million and profits of €3.2 million, according to the latest accounts filed in the Mercantile Registry to which this newspaper has had access through Insight View.

According to those same accounts, the Board of Directors of Iberdrola Inmobiliaria, chaired by José Sainz Armada, led by Emilio Sánchez Castellano and in which Ignacio López del Hierro participates as director, did not receive any remuneration in 2016, but they were paid for out-of-pocket expenses amounting to €196,000 (€206,000 in 2015). The CEO and four other directors earned €1.25 million

Original story: Voz Pópuli (by Alberto Ortín)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Axa Buys Remaining 45% Of Hotel Diagonal Mar For €70M

17 November 2017 – Eje Prime

Axa Real Estate is not one to rest on its laurels and so has acquired 100% of Hotel Diagonal Mar in Barcelona. The real estate arm of the French insurance company has committed to paying Iberdrola Inmobiliaria €70 million for the remaining 45% of the establishment to become the sole owner of the property, after it paid €80 million in June of this year for the other 55%.

With just over a month to go before the end of the year, this agreement represents the most important in the hotel sector in Barcelona, and one of the most significant in Spain. According to El Economista, this second payment will have been pre-determined by the two parties in the summer, when Axa’s first investment in the asset materialised.

Hotel Diagonal Mar is a property intended for holiday and convention (business) tourism, in the area of the same name, alongside the shopping centre of the same name, which Deutsche Bank purchased last year for €495 million. The four-star establishment is just 400m from the beach, has 413 rooms and 20 suites, as well as a large banquet room with capacity for one thousand guests and fifteen meeting rooms. The hotel was constructed by Iberdrola, after that firm reached an agreement with the chain Hilton, which has operated the establishment since then.

With this purchase, Axa is strengthening its interest in the hotel real estate business in Spain. In Madrid, it acquired Cine Rex on Gran Vía through the same real estate arm with which it has purchased the hotel in Barcelona. In that operation, the insurance company disbursed around €40 million to the firm Equity Inmuebles SL, controlled by the Mazin, Calero and Briones families.

Meanwhile, Iberdrola has completely disposed of one of its real estate jewels, but still operates a real estate portfolio with a gross leasable area of more than 200,000 m2 and an asset value of more than €600 million.

Original story: Eje Prime

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

Iberdrola Sells 55% Of Hotel Hilton Barcelona For €80M

22 June 2017 – Expansión

Iberdrola Inmobiliaria has completed the sale of 55% of Hotel Hilton Diagonal Mar in Barcelona to the real estate division of the insurance company Axa (Axa Investment Managers- Real Assets). The operation has been closed by Axa on behalf of one of its clients, said the vendor in a statement issued on Tuesday.

The energy group’s real estate arm will retain ownership of 45% of the property. Iberdrola Inmobiliaria will receive €80 million for the percentage stake sold.

The Hotel Hilton Diagonal Mar, inaugurated in 2005, is operated by the chain Hilton Worldwide under a long-term lease contract. The four-star establishment contains 430 rooms, of which 20 are suites.

In the operation, the vendor has been advised by the consultancy firm Irea and the law firm Ashurst. Currently, Iberdrola Inmobiliaria owns a portfolio of rental assets spanning a gross leasable area (GLA) of more than 217,000 m2. Its most iconic property is the company’s headquarters in Bilbao.

Moreover, the company is developing around 300 homes, located mainly in the Community of Madrid, although it also has two projects on the coast. In addition, Iberdrola Inmobiliaria is working on a project comprising 42 villas located in the Islas del Mar area (Puerto Peñasco) of Mexico.

Original story: Expansión (by R. Ruiz)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Iberdrola Puts Hilton Diagonal Mar Hotel Up For Sale

21 March 2017 – Expansión

Iberdrola has hung the “for sale” sign up over the jewel in the crown of its real estate subsidiary: the building that houses the Hotel Hilton Diagonal Mar, a four-star property located at the intersection of Calles García Faria and Taulet, in the Barcelona neighbourhood of Diagonal Mar.

The company has contracted the real estate consultancy firm Irea to sell the asset, which has an asking price of more than €150 million, according to market sources.

These sources also indicate that the process will be restricted and that they will look to attract four or five candidates interested in acquiring the asset.

The building that houses the Hilton Diagonal Mar is the largest asset in the real estate subsidiary’s current portfolio, behind Torre Iberdrola in Bilbao, which is the corporate headquarters of the multinational company and is therefore strategic for the energy group and not susceptible to being sold.

Iberdrola’s real estate subsidiary has different types of assets in its portfolio, ranging from primary homes and tourist apartments, to offices, industrial warehouses and shopping centres. Currently, Iberdrola Inmobiliaria has a portfolio of real estate assets under management with a combined gross leasable area of more than 200,000 m2.

In Barcelona, the company owns the office buildings Torre Auditori and Torre Marina (in the final phases of construction).

The hotel now up for sale, work of the architect Oscar Tusquets and opened in 2005, was developed by the real estate subsidiary of Iberdrola.

Agreement with Hilton

Just before the construction work was completed, the company reached an agreement with Hilton whereby the hotel chain would take charge of the operation of the establishment for 20 years.

The Hilton Diagonal Mar has almost 420 rooms and around 20 suites, as well as multi-functional meeting rooms and a ballroom with capacity for 1,000 people. The building, which is oriented towards corporate events and conferences, is located opposite the Diagonal Mar shopping centre, a stone’s throw away from Barcelona’s International Convention Centre (CCIB) and 18 km from the airport.

Real estate investment in hotel assets returned to record figures in 2016. In this way, almost a quarter of all investment in commercial assets was linked to hotel assets.

Specifically, last year saw investment volumes of €2,200 million, the second highest amount ever recorded, thanks to a boost from some significant transactions, such as the sale of Merlin’s hotel portfolio – comprising 19 hotels and 3,645 rooms – to Foncière des Murs for €535 million. Likewise, last year, the Hotel Villa Magna was sold to the Turkish group Dogus for €180 million, in what is still the highest grossing operation to date in terms of price per room (€1.2 million), ahead of the almost €800,000 per room that was paid for the Hotel Ritz in 2015. (…).

Original story: Expansión (by R. Arroyo and M. Á. Patiño)

Translation: Carmel Drake