Tag: institutional investors

Bankia Sells €37M NPL Portfolio to LCM Partners through Débitos

17 July 2019 – El Confidencial

Bankia has sold a portfolio of doubtful assets worth €37 million to the London-based fund LCM Partners. The portfolio, called Marshmello, contains more than 170 secured loans granted to SMEs and distributed primarily in Madrid, Cataluña and Murcia.

The deal is the first that the partially nationalised financial entity has completed through the Débitos platform. Débitos is a German fin-tech that works in association with Beka Finance in Spain to allow financial entities and companies with unpaid amounts on their balance sheets to offer portfolios for sale to institutional investors.

Original story: El Confidencial (by Óscar Giménez)

Translation/Summary: Carmel Drake

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

Socimi Árima Closes €40M Capital Increase (20% Below the Forecast)

4 April 2019 – Europa Press

The Socimi Árima has completed an accelerated capital increase by raising €40 million, which fell 20% below the target of €50 million, according to the firm.

The operation, which targeted qualifying and institutional investors, was participated in by “certain” members of the management team, led by the former CEO of Axiare, José Luis López de Herrera-Oria.

All of them subscribed shares in the company at a price of €10 per share, equivalent to the debut price on the stock market in October, and below the closing price at the end of trading on Thursday (€10.20).

Despite having raised less than expected, López de Herrera-Oria concluded that the operation has been a success.

Original story: Europa Press

Translation/Summary: Carmel Drake

BMB Launches a Socimi to Invest €100M in Industrial Warehouses

16 October 2018 – Eje Prime

BMB Investment Management is betting on the tertiary sector. The fund manager is finalising the launch of a new Socimi to invest €100 million in the purchase of industrial warehouses.

After entering the residential market with two Socimis (Optimum Re Spain and Optimum III Value-Added Residential), the company led and chaired by Josep Borrell is now looking for higher returns with its latest firm, Optimum Rentals Socimi. This new investment vehicle will focus on the acquisition of assets that offer returns of between 6.5% and 10%, according to reports from Expansión.

The intention of BMB is that 80% of the budget will be allocated to the purchase of industrial warehouses, leased to solvent tenants and located in the industrial parks of Madrid and Barcelona.

Similarly, although Borrell rules out investing in logistics, he does not shy away from the idea that the fund may also take advantage of an opportunity or two in the residential sector or even in the hotel or retail markets.

Optimum Rentals Socimi is starting life with an initial budget of €100 million, of which €50 million will proceed from own funds and the remainder, from bank financing. Sources at the manager confirm that the plan is to maintain the fund in an independent way so that it will live off of its own income. Investors in BMB’s third Socimi are expected to include both institutional and real estate players, and the percentage of international capital is expected to be high.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake

Vivenio and Aquila Capital sign asset management agreement for Spanish real estate portfolio

4 October 2018

Aquila Capital, a Hamburg-based investment manager, has signed an agreement with Vivenio, a real estate investment trust (REIT) managed by APG and Renta Corporación, for asset management services for a residential portfolio in Spain.

The agreement covers property monitoring, letting management, finance and budget controlling, business reporting, cash management and general administration for a portfolio of over EUR200M and nearly 1,100 housing units.

The units, being developed by AQ Acentor, Aquila Capital’s real estate developer in Spain, are in Madrid, Barcelona and Málaga. They include both subsidised and private housing units at various stages of construction that will be transferred progressively up to 2021.

The developments in Madrid consist of four residential complexes in the district of Villaverde and will contain more than 500 subsidised rental housing units with a 15-year lease. The Barcelona complex, located in the municipality of Sant Adrià del Besòs, will have more than 100 rental housing units. The Málaga development will consist of five complexes with a total of more than 400 rental housing units.

All the developments will have common areas and additional facilities to improve the quality of life for the residents, including co-working spaces, pools, gyms and other such amenities.

This is Vivenio’s first turnkey project and it secures an important medium- and long-term portfolio for the REIT. It also broadens Vivenio’s social and private housing proposition, underlining its leading role in the sector. Furthermore, it marks the entry of Renta Corporación and APG’s REIT to the Andalusia market, having previously performed the bulk of its operations in Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia and Palma de Mallorca.

This latest transaction means that Vivenio, which benefits from Renta Corporación’s extensive experience in the Spanish residential market, has now invested more than EUR650 million since its launch and will manage more than 2,900 housing units by 2021.

José María Cervera, Corporate General Manager of Renta Corporación, says: “This transaction will greatly expand our portfolio and signifies both our first turnkey investment and entry to new geographical areas. It also marks a major step forward in Vivenio’s growth and investment strategy, which will lead to more acquisitions that will be formalised over the coming months.”

Aquila Capital operates independently as a developer in the Spanish market through its brand AQ Acentor. The residential projects include subsidised and private housing units in the cities of Madrid, Barcelona, Málaga and Valencia. AQ Acentor is one of the largest developers of residential land in Spain and one of the few aimed at institutional investors.

“The Spanish real estate market is highly attractive to institutional investors and offers above-average profitability, especially new construction. This is further supported by a growing rent culture and stable economic growth. We are aware that there is an increasing number of investors following us into this interesting market and are convinced that our extensive experience and local presence is key to be successful in this market,” says Sven Schoel, CEO of AQ Acentor.

Property Funds World

 

Invesco Real Estate Acquires Three Logistics Assets in Madrid and Barcelona

5 October 2018

Invesco Real Estate (Invesco), the global real estate investment manager, has announced the acquisition of three newly built logistics assets in Madrid and Barcelona, the two Spanish cities with the greatest demand for logistics capabilities. The sum of the three transactions reached 173 million euros, totalling 189,000 square meters. The acquisitions resulted from mandates from two German companies.

Fernando San Juan Monje, director of transactions for Invesco Spain, said that “the size, quality and location in prime logistics areas makes these three properties truly unique and give us the opportunity to increase our presence in the “last mile” segment, which is the last link in the chain of  distribution of goods in cities.” Mr San Juan added that “their locations, close to Madrid and Barcelona and with direct access to motorways, makes these high-quality assets an attractive product for both investors and logistics operators.”

The interest of institutional investors in the Spanish logistics market is growing significantly, driven by an increase in rents and relatively high returns. The absence of new logistics developments during the economic crisis in Spain has caused that the supply of logistics centres in many cities to become obsolete and of low quality, which has limited the alternatives for investors interested in acquiring assets.

Guy-Young Lamé, the director of Invesco’s European Studies, stated that “this fantastic opportunity for two of our mandates in Germany comes at a great time. We have seen how the e-commerce sector in Spain has been rapidly expanding in recent years after a previous lull, so, these days, there is a growing demand for high-quality logistics assets.”

The acquisition of Abrera’s assets (see photo) together with the other two in Madrid’s south and east were finalised in recent weeks. Thanks to the interconnection of their different modules, the properties have the advantage of a high level of flexibility, with the option of offering different sizes to suit the needs of both large and small operators.

Original Story: Inmodiário

Translation: Richard Turner

Hispania’s Shareholders Approve Block Sale of its Office Portfolio for €600M+

4 April 2018 – Eje Prime

Hispania is putting the sale of its office portfolio back on the table. Today,  at its General Shareholders’ Meeting, the Socimi will submit to approval the block sale of its rental office portfolio, a set of 25 buildings worth €603 million. It is a divestment that the Socimi, in which George Soros holds a stake, launched a year ago, suspended in October 2017, and which it has now resumed.

Hispania’s assembly is also going to approve the distribution to shareholders of an extraordinary dividend of €1.97 gross per share linked to the completion of that divestment. The payment will be charged against the issue premium and will involve distributing €215 million in total. This dividend will be added to the ordinary remuneration to shareholders, which will amount to €0.87 per share this year, the first payment of which, amounting to €0.41295 gross per share, was already made in March.

Besides Soros, who holds a 16.6% stake in the firm, the other main shareholders are other overseas institutional investors, such as Fidelity, with a 7% stake, Conepa, with another 6% stake, and Bank of Montreal and BlackRock, with 3% each. The Socimi chaired by Rafael Miranda is framing the sale of its office portfolio within its strategy to focus on the hotel business.

Other items on the agenda at Hispania’s General Shareholders’ Meeting include the re-election of the directors to their roles as the Chairman of the firm and another five members, including Concepción Osácar, José Pedro Pérez-Llorca and Joaquín Ayuso. Hispania will also approve its accounts for 2017, which reported a net profit of €222.82 million, down by 27.7% compared to the previous year.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake

Morenés & Pepa Launch a New RE Fund with Warren Buffet

19 January 2018 – El Confidencial

Juan Pepa (pictured above left), the man who brought Lone Star to Spain, and Felipe Morenés, the son of Ana Botín and executive of the Texan fund for five years, are working together again. The two directors have just launched Stoneshield Capital, a firm that plans to invest €300 million in the Spanish real estate sector.

According to sources in the know, the two partners already have €200 million of capital, money that proceeds from: their own assets, some of Lone Star’s institutional investors and the famous financier Warren Buffet, who has decided to back them in this venture, although the parties involved did not want to confirm that information.

Unlike in the case of Lone Star, which has an opportunistic profile, Morenés and Pepa now want to focus on more conservative operations, which will limit the level of indebtedness of the new fund to around 50%, meaning that its investor capacity will reach the aforementioned €300 million.

The plans of these two partners are already very well advanced, with several operations on the table under analysis, and with the aim of investing all of that money in just a year, in other words, during the course of 2018, to take advantage of the current cycle.

Although the bulk of Stoneshield’s operations will be carried out in the residential segment, the firm is also interested in acquiring hotels, offices and commercial assets, according to the same sources.

Agreed departure

In November, in an email sent only to his circle of trust, Pepa announced that he was leaving Lone Star and that he would be taking a two-month sabbatical in his home country, Argentina, although in that email he also hinted that after Christmas he would be back in the news in Spain.

Letting that time pass was one of the commitments that Pepa agreed with Lone Star. That firm was already pursuing its exit strategy when, last summer, Santander put Popular’s €30 billion real estate asset portfolio on the market.

The Texan fund, led by Pepa and Morenés, fought to the end to acquire those assets, which would have resulted in Lone Star’s continuation in Spain. But Blackstone’s triumph meant that the fund decided to continue with its policy to close the cycle and so Pepa and Morenés opted to put their own plans into play.

Then, according to the sources, the two parties agreed to wait for Lone Star to complete its divestment from Neinor before moving actively in the Spanish market. The US fund sold its final 12.5% stake in the real estate company last week.

Morenés, meanwhile, has also left Lone Star, according to Vozpópuli, and the two partners are now working to create a team of around 10 people with whom they plan to operate with the same speed and element of surprise that characterised Lone Star when it first arrived in Spain.

Original story: El Confidencial (by Ruth Ugalde)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Solvia Sells 2 Office Blocks in Alicante for €7.5M

30 December 2017 – Diario Información

The recovery in the Alicante real estate market is now also reaching the office segment. Whilst in recent years, the province has seen a significant number of operations in the residential sector and even in the shopping centre segment, now the interest of funds and other institutional investors has also extended to offices. Demand for office space has also started to recover in the face of the increase in activity, especially in the provincial capital.

In this context, Solvia has just closed the block sale of two office buildings in the city centre for approximately €7.5 million, an amount that is not at all typical in this market, which does not typically see the large figures of Madrid and Barcelona. The buyer is a Spanish family office – in other words, one of the investment platforms that many wealthy families use to manage their real estate portfolios – which has already participated in other similar operations. In fact, these types of companies have become one of the most active players in the market in recent times, in light of the minimal returns currently being offered by the banks on financial investments.

In terms of the assets sold, the larger one is located on Calle Calderón de la Barca, 16. That property has seven storeys and comprises 5,300 m2 for office use and another 1,300 m2 for parking and facilities, which is leased in its entirety to Iberdrola. The electricity company’s rental contract runs until at least 2022, which represents a great incentive in these cases.

The property, constructed in the 1960s, ended up in Sabadell’s hands in June 2015, in the same way as many other assets during the years of the crisis. The entity decided to put it on the market in September, to take advantage of the investor appetite. It shared the sales brochure with around thirty funds, Socimis and family offices known to be interested in these types of assets until it was finally able to close the operation a few days ago.

The operation also included another building in the centre of Alicante, in this case, located at number 46 Calle del Teatro, which is also used as offices. It is a new building with four storeys that houses 1,300 m2 of offices, as well as a commercial premise on the ground floor spanning almost 250 m2 and two basement floors with around twenty parking spaces, which are very sought-after in that area, next to Paseo de Soto and Maisonnave.

Few large premises

Demand for offices has increased significantly in Alicante over the last year and, although there are many empty offices, there is a shortage of spaces spanning more than 1,000 m2. Such spaces are of particular interest to consultancy firms, technological companies, ETT and Call Centre firms looking to expand into the area, according to the sector sources consulted. As such, interest in buying these types of properties has also increased from investors who have traditionally focused only on larger cities such as Madrid and Barcelona.

Original story: Diario Información (by David Navarro)

Translation: Carmel Drake

CBRE: Hotel Inv’t Reached Record Figure of €3.75bn in 2017

29 December 2017 – Europa Press

Investment in the hotel sector in Spain grew by 83% in 2017 compared to the previous year, to reach a total transaction volume of €3.75 billion, according to data from the consultancy firm CBRE Hotels.

The cumulative figure represents a historical record in the Spanish market, exceeding the previous record set in 2015. The increase is primarily due to strong demand from investors to buy and capitalise hotel assets, whereby taking advantage of the economic and real estate recovery in Spain.

According to CBRE Hotels, 190 hotel assets were sold in Spain in 2017, up by 23% compared to 2016, which represented an increase of 25% in terms of the number of rooms sold (28,000). Moreover, a further 2,200 future rooms were also sold last year in buildings and projects still under construction.

The most sought-after hotel assets were 4-star establishments, accounting for 42% of all investments.

The Canary Islands and the Balearic Islands accounted for almost 40% of all investments

In terms of the main investment destinations in the hotel sector, the Canary Islands (21%) and the Balearic Islands (18%), together with Madrid (17%) led the ranking, followed by Barcelona and Málaga. The most significant changes compared to 2016 were seen in Barcelona and the two island regions, which went from accounting for 36% to 15% in the case of the former and from 24% (combined) to 39% in the case of the latter.

In terms of the type of properties, holiday hotels accounted for 60% of the total compared with 40% urban properties. On the other hand, buyers invested in individual assets in 60% of cases, rather than in portfolios (40%).

Regarding the type of buyers or investors that acquired the most hotel assets last year, including not only hotels but also tourist apartments, aparthotels and land and buildings destined for hotel use, institutional investors participated in 55% of operations, followed by private entities and family offices, with 22% of transactions, and other hotel chains, with 21%.

Main operations

The largest operation of the year involved HI Partners, the hotel platform that Banco Sabadell recently sold to Blackstone for more than €630 million. The change of owner of Edificio España also hit the headlines – it was acquired by Riu Hotels & Resorts for €272 million. And finally, the Wave portfolio, owned by Starwood Capital and Meliá, comprising 4 hotels in Lanzarote, Ibiza, Torremolinos and Mallorca, was sold in the middle of the year to London & Regional Properties, on advice from CBRE (…).

“The excellent performance of the main tourism markets and the excess liquidity in the capital market have led to a historic year with more than 150 transactions and where institutional players have been the protagonists once again”, explained the National Director of CBRE Hotels, Jorge Ruiz.

Moreover, he added that “the outlook is very positive and we expect to see more concentration in the market in 2018 and a renewed interest in the tourism industry in our country”.

Original story: Europa Press

Translation: Carmel Drake