Kronos Homes Hands Over its First Developments & Invests €2bn in Land

30 January 2019 – Press Release

Kronos Homes, the residential real estate development brand of Kronos, has been consolidating its presence and position in the Iberian market with significant growth in 2018 and strong forecasts for the year ahead.

The company invested €2 billion in total during 2018 and is aiming to reach €2.4 billion in 2019. Of that amount, €700 million corresponds to investment in land in Spain and Portugal, a figure that it intends to increase by another €300 million in 2019 to reach €1 billion in land.

The focus of Kronos Homes continues to be the major cities and provincial capitals across the whole Iberian peninsula. In this way, whilst in 2018, it finished the year with a housing portfolio of 12,000 units across 16 developments, in 2019, it intends to increase that figure by 4,000 units to reach 16,000 homes in total across 24 developments (…).

In addition, in December 2018, the company delivered its first two developments on the Costa del Sol, Nature and Horizonte, located in Alicante and Benalmádena, respectively (…).

Nature and Horizonte are the first developments that Kronos Homes has delivered since it began its activity in the residential sector in Spain in 2015. The forecasts from Kronos Homes indicate that the firm will deliver 500 more homes across five developments during 2019.

Original story: Press Release

Translation: Carmel Drake

German Fund Manager Aquila Capital Launches its own Property Developer in Spain

1 August 2018 – El Economista

The German fund manager, Aquila Capital, is demonstrating its commitment to Spanish property by launching a new property developer called AQ Acentor.

Until now, the firm has worked in Spain by delegating its development activities and in partnership with other real estate companies such as Inmoglacier, with which it has undertaken several projects. “The strategic partnership with the property developer has been positive and has resulted in the construction of three successful real estate developments, which have contributed to Aquila Capital’s expansion plans in the Spanish market under its own brand, AQ Acentor”, explains Sven Schoel, CEO of the German manager in Spain.

Aquila has been operating in Spain since 2014, focusing its business on the real estate sector, with projects worth more than €800 million. With the creation of this new brand, the firm has incorporated a management team to boost growth through in-house development.

AQ Acentor has been created with more than 3,000 new homes under construction, of which around 500 will be handed over during the course of this year. Currently, the firm is working on residential projects in metropolitan areas, primarily in Madrid, Barcelona, Málaga and Valencia.

“The company has a multidisciplinary team comprising more than 40 professionals located in offices in Madrid, Barcelona and Málaga”, explain sources at the firm.

“The creation of AQ Acentor responds to our firm commitment to the Spanish market and is backed by a pipeline amounting to €1 billion over the next five years”, specifies Schoel.

The manager is also present in the logistics market in Spain, one of the other real estate segments that is experiencing a boom, besides the residential segment. In that case, it has launched an investment plan amounting to between €350 million and €400 million for the Iberian Peninsula and Italy.

Original story: El Economista (by Alba Brualla)

Translation: Carmel Drake

ING Granted €1,000M In Loans To RE Sector In 2016

21 March 2017 – El Confidencial

ING has returned to the Spanish real estate market with a bang. The Dutch bank, which was one of the main foreign players in the years before the bubble, has become one of the most active entities in terms of financing in this market, which has taken an about-turn over the last two years.

Last year alone, ING Real Estate Finance granted financing amounting to more than €1,000 million to 13 different real estate operations, ranging from the purchase of offices, shopping centres and logistics assets to corporate refinancing agreements.

The most high-profile deal was the acquisition of Torre Espacio by Grupo Emperador, the Philippine holding company to which ING granted a syndicated loan amounting to €280 million in February last year. That loan has a 7-year term and represented a turning point in the entity’s commitment to this market.

A few months later, the bank, which is now led by César González-Bueno, also participated in the most important corporate operation ever recorded in the sector, the merger between Merlin and Metrovacesa, by granting €170 million to the Socimi and €200 million to the real estate firm.

By the time that merger happened, ING had already financed several operations for Merlin, such as, for example, the acquisition of a portfolio comprising seven logistics assets with a €67.9 million loan over five years, which was signed in January 2016.

Other giants in the sector that have also received support from ING over the last year include GMP, with corporate financing amounting to €75 million, and Axiare, to which the Dutch bank granted a €75 million loan to acquire the building located on Calle Almagro, 9 in Madrid.

The entity’s commitment to the real estate market spans the whole Iberian Peninsula, including Portugal, as the bank showed when it granted €50 million to the Vasco de Gama shopping centre, in Lisbon, which is owned by Sonae Sierra and CBRE GI.

And it was specifically in the shopping centre segment where the entity has closed its first major operation of 2017, granting a €57.5 million syndicated loan over 7 years to Trajano Iberia, funds that have been used almost in their entirety (€55 million) to finance the acquisition of Alcalá Magna.

“This operation strengthens the position of the Real Estate Finance area in the core asset segment, such as high quality offices, shopping centres and logistic assets. Our intense level of activity has allowed us to start 2017 as market leaders”, said Julián Bravo, Head of Real Estate Finance for Spain and Portugal.

Original story: El Confidencial (by Ruth Ugalde)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Eurosic Teams Up With Allianz To Launch A Socimi In Spain

13 February 2017 – El Economista

The Socimi market is still going strong and for the first time since the legislation governing these listed companies was reformed, a vehicle is now being created with mostly French capital. In December 2015, the French real estate giant Eurosic created Eurosic Investment Spain Socimi, with the aim of debuting it on the stock market with a share capital of more than €100 million, according to sources in the sector.

Eurosic, which already tried less than a year and a half ago to debut on the Spanish stock market by purchasing Testa, will launch this Socimi in partnership with the Allianz group, which will use this vehicle to take a new step in its strategy to gain weight in the Spanish real estate business.

The insurance company, through two of its companies, Allianz Invest Pierre and Euler Hermes Reinsurance – world leader in credit insurance – has entered the shareholding of Eurosic Investment Spain Socimi. Both companies, which are headquartered in Switzerland and France, respectively, have taken positions in an operation worth €67 million, according to TTR.

Allianz gains in strength

With this move, Allianz increases its exposure to Spanish real estate, a market it broke into last September, through Allianz Real Estate, which opened a branch in Madrid to track operations in the Iberian Peninsula and manage the Group’s properties on the ground.

Allianz Real Estate’s portfolio contains assets under management worth €41,700 million; €29,300 million in direct and indirect investments and loans worth €12,400 million – figures as at end of 2015, when operations amounting to €7,400 million were closed. Its aim is to reach AuM of €60,000 million “within a few years”.

The strategy that Allianz is carrying out, which includes acquiring stakes in debt and listed companies, as well as direct and indirect positions in financing, places it amongst the most active insurance companies in the real estate market. (…).

Companies such as Mapfre, Mutua Madrileña, Santalucía, Reale and Línea Directa have acquired properties recently and are now looking for opportunities, although their incursion as financiers is residual or non-existent, in contrast to the role played by multinationals such as Axa and Allianz.

Eurosic’s portfolio

In Spain, Eurosic set the wheels in motion last year to feed its portfolio of assets. In this way, in October, it closed the purchase of two buildings in Madrid, at number 40 on Calle Atocha and number 27 on Calle Magdalena. In the same month, it acquired Hotel Tropicana, located on La Carihuela seafront in Torremolinos. This year, it has continued its spending spree with the purchase of Hotel Monterrey Roses (a three-star establishment in Roses, Gerona) and a portfolio of assets in Palma de Mallorca, comprising two hotels and some tourist apartments.

Original story: El Economista (by Alba Brualla)

Translation: Carmel Drake

CBRE GI Acquires Airesur Shopping Centre For €76.5M

26 March 2015 – Expansión

The fund manager CBRE GI has finalised its purchase of the Airesur shopping centre in Sevilla for €76.5 million. Through this transaction, CBRE Global Investors strengthens its portfolio in the Iberian peninsula, where it manages 20 shopping centres for its large clients.

Original story: Expansión

Translation: Carmel Drake