Tag: Inversiones Hemisferio

Blackstone Acquires Planeta’s HQ from the Lara Family for €210M

12 July 2018 – Expansión

Inversiones Hemisferio, a company owned by different branches of the Lara family, has reached an agreement with the US fund Blackstone to sell the headquarters of the editorial and media group Planeta before Banco Sabadell can repossess the building in exchange for the debt taken out at the time by the family holding company.

According to sources close to the operation, Blackstone is going to pay €210 million for the property located on Avenida Diagonal in Barcelona, where Planeta will continue as the tenant. The rental income will generate a yield of less than 4% for the investor.

In May, the Lara family, owner of Planeta, agreed to transfer the building, worth €170 million, to Banco Sabadell, but was given until September to try to find another buyer on its own and attempt to agree a higher price.

The complex has a total surface area of 27,000 m2, of which 25,000 m2 correspond to office space, leased to Planeta and other tenants, therefore Blackstone will be paying €8,000/m2. The same sources assure that that buyer and seller have already reached an agreement on the price and conditions and that the operation is just pending the signatures.

In 2001, the Lara family purchased the building – the former headquarters of Banca Catalana – for around €100 million. In 2006, Inversiones Hemisferio, together with other real estate companies, such as the firm owned by Mango’s boss, Isak Andic, Joaquín Folch Rosiñol (Industrias Titán) and Héctor Colonques (Porcelanosa), purchased 12% of Banco Sabadell for €1.295 billion. The Lara family controlled 3% of the bank, but during the crisis, Sabadell’s share price plummeted and Hemisferio was obliged to offer up the building on Avenida Diagonal by way of guarantee.

Hemisferio’s debt with the bank matures in September. Sabadell and the Lara family agreed to transfer the asset two months ago if Hemisferio did not manage to sell the building sooner on its own for a higher price. This situation forced the real estate company owned by the family behind Planeta to organise the sale of the building in record time and to find a buyer with sufficient financial standing to fork out the more than €200 million that it was asking for with the utmost speed. The process was entrusted to the consultancy firm CBRE.

With this operation, Blackstone is further strengthening its commitment to Spain, where it has invested in the real estate sector through the purchase of Anticipa, the former real estate division of Catalunya Caixa, and of HI Partners, created from the hotel assets of Banco Sabadell.

Original story: Expansión (by Marisa Anglés)

Translation: Carmel Drake

The Lara Family Sells Roca Junyent’s HQ For €55M+

3 October 2016 – Expansión

The Lara family, owner of Planeta, has sold the historical headquarters of Roca Junyent on Calle Aribau in Barcelona for more than €55 million. The buyer, a real estate fund linked to the Swiss bank UBS, will maintain the long-term lease contract with the law firm Miquel Roca, which occupies eight of the building’s twelve floors. The four remaining floors are leased to the medical centre QMS (Quality Medical Service).

The building has a surface area of 11,000 sqm, of which 8,600 sqm are used offices, 1,360 sqm are used as a commercial space on the ground floor, which is occupied by QMS, and a basement measuring 1,270 sqm.

The Lara family’s real estate company, Inversiones Hemisferio, bought the building from Colonial in 2007, just before the burst of the real estate bubble for €55 million and it has now sold it for a slightly higher figure.

This operation confirms that investment prices of buildings in Barcelona have now returned to their pre-crisis levels, driven by a shortage of assets for sale and the priority of large funds to invest in the real estate sector.

Despite the strong international demand to invest in cities such as Barcelona, the volume of investment in the city’s real estate sector is lower so far in 2016 than it was this time last year. In 2015, the Catalan capital broke records, with total investment of €2,000 million. Of that, 85% came from international buyers.

Despite the sluggish first half of 2016, which the sector attributed to the lack of assets for sale and the political uncertainty, the second half of the year has started with more movement in the investment market and all indications are that the final quarter of the year will be very busy in terms of the closure of operations whose negotiations are already being finalised.

Original story: Expansión (by M. Anglés and J. Orihuel)

Translation: Carmel Drake