Tritax Purchases Mango’s Logistics Centre from VGP for €150M

26 September 2018 – Expansión

Less than two years is the time that Mango’s logistics platform has been in the hands of the Belgian group VGP. In December 2016, the Brussels-based firm paid €150 million for the logistics complex that Mango had built in Lliçà d’Amunt (Barcelona) and which has a surface area of 250,000 m2 together with some adjoining land on which an additional 100,000 m2 may be built.

According to sources speaking to Expansión, VGP has just sold the asset to the British group Tritax Big Box, a firm listed on the London Stock Exchange.

The buyer of the complex, which Mango inaugurated in the middle of 2016, is a real estate investor specialising in the logistics market. Some of its largest properties include logistics platforms leased to large companies such as Amazon, Unilever, Kuehne+Nagel, L’Oréal, Hachette, Whirlpool, Kellogg’s, Tesco and DHL.

At the end of 2017, Tritax’s portfolio was worth GBP 2.61 billion (€2.92 billion at current exchange rates), 38.1% more than the previous year. Tritax has been advised by the law firm Ashurst in what has been its first operation in the Spanish market. VGP has been advised by the real estate consultancy firm JLL.

Last summer, Tritax raised €300 million through a public offer for sale on the London Stock Exchange. The objective of its managers is to use that money, together with external financing, to acquire logistics properties in Continental Europe.

“Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain and its logistics market is one of the strongest in Europe, with high demand and a limited supply of buildings and land, especially for logistics assets of this kind”, said Nick Preston, manager of Tritax Eurobox, in a statement.

The lease contract for the logistics centre, which has a surface area of 186,138 m2, has a 30-year term, until 2046, although Mango has the option to cancel it in 2036, 2039 and 2042. According to Tritax, the annual rent that Mango pays will allow it to obtain an annual yield of 5%.

Isak Andic decided to build this logistics platform in response to the increase in sales that the fashion chain was experiencing, although that growth has slowed in recent years.

Last year, Mango recorded losses of €33 million, down by 46% compared to 2016, the year in which the company recorded negative results for the first time in its history, with losses of €61 million. In 2017, sales decreased by 2.9%, the same drop as the previous year, and amounted to €2.194 billion.

Divestment

The sale of the logistics centre was the first divestment that Andic made after investing a large proportion of his profits in the real estate sector in previous years. But it was not the last, given that a year later, in December 2017, he sold the chain’s headquarters, located in Palau-solità i Plegamans (Barcelona) to the British group Invesco for €100 million.

Original story: Expansión (by M. Anglés, S. Saiz & R. Casado)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Pavasal to Build 175,000m2 of Logistics Space in Valencia, Madrid & Barcelona

14 June 2018 – Eje Prime

Pavasal is taking advantage of the good times in the logistics sector embark on its growth strategy. The Valencian construction firm is adding almost 175,000 m2 of surface area to the logistics market in three large operations in Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia. Last week, the group signed an agreement with the engineering firm Aspor to develop 35,000 m2 of land in Ribarroja.

Besides the complex in Valencia, Pavasal is also immersed in two more projects with the fund Invesco for the development of logistics land in Madrid and Barcelona. In the Spanish capital, the group is going to build a 90,000 m2 logistics park, which will involve an investment of €80 million, whilst in Cataluña, the company is finalising the hand over of a large platform measuring 49,500 m2 in Abrera (Barcelona).

The project in Madrid will result in the construction of the logistics complex with the largest available surface area in the Spanish capital. Last year, the sector invested €1.5 billion in assets, a historical maximum, and experts expect similar numbers to be recorded in 2018.

Original story: Eje Prime 

Translation: Carmel Drake

Deloitte: Spain’s Logistics Sector is Hot Property Thanks to the ‘Amazon Effect’

18 May 2018 – Expansión

Investment funds want to take advantage of the collateral effects that the boom in e-commerce is going to have in the real estate market by taking positions in a segment with great potential, namely: the storage of goods and products. The logistics segment has become the “golden girl” of the real estate sector and one of the favourites of investors boosted by strong yields and the expectations of business growth. In this context, Asian investors have placed their focus on the European logistics market.

According to the Logistics Property Handbook compiled by Deloitte, last year, investment in logistics assets in Europe recorded a milestone with €42.5 billion of assets transacted, thanks to mega-operations such as the purchase by China Investment Corporation (CIC) from Blackstone of the Pan-European platform Logicor for €12.2 billion, and the acquisition of the European platform Gazeley by Global Logistic Properties (GLP), headquartered in Singapore, for €2.4 billion.

Mega-operations

In Spain alone, investment in logistics assets amounted to €1.63 billion, which represented a 75% increase compared to the previous year, and a historical record, due to significant transactions involving logistics portfolios. CIC’s purchase of Logicor implied a transaction volume of €652 million in Spain. Meanwhile, P3 Logistic Park – owned by the Singapore sovereign fund, GIC – purchased 11 assets from Green Oak in Spain for €243 million. Those operations boosted investment to historic levels.

Moreover, last year, Mango sold its logistics centre in Palau-Solità I Plegamans (Barcelona) to the fund manager Invesco for €100 million. That transaction was the largest involving a single asset in Spain and the fourth-largest in Europe.

According to the forecasts in the report, operations in the pipeline, which may be closed this year, already amount to €980 million.

“The large institutional funds that aspire to lead the logistics sector in Europe and around the world are bidding hard to accumulate the largest logistics surface area possible during this economic cycle. The location and size of their international logistics platforms are the two key variables for exercising greater negotiation power and whereby obtain the highest rents from operators”, explains Javier García-Matro, Partner in Financial Advisory at Deloitte.

Despite the record investment figure recorded last year, the volume of assets transacted in Spain represents just 4% of the total European market. “This fact is proof of the growth potential of these types of assets in our country. In 2017 alone, 865,000 m2 of logistics space was handed over in Madrid, Cataluña and Valencia. The strong demand of the current cycle is causing logistics promoters to develop more than 2 million m2 of land in these markets, in both turnkey and speculative projects”, says García-Mateo.

One of the major players in the sector is the Socimi Merlin, which has placed logistics asset at the centre of its growth strategy. Merlin’s expansion plan involves the development of land and turnkey construction, a roadmap that has allowed it to become one of the leaders in the sector in just four years.

The main players

Merlin has 2 million m2 of logistics land, both in portfolio and under management, and its plans involve increasing that volume to 3 million m2 before the end of the economic cycle. Specifically, it plans to spend around €250 million on logistics development over the next four years.

Another important player is Logicor, the Pan-European platform, which has been controlled by the Chinese group GIC since last year and which owns 1.2 million m2. Meanwhile, the alliance formed by the real estate manager CBRE GI and its local partner Montepino is going to develop a portfolio of prime assets in the main geographic areas of Spain with a planned investment of around €300 million.

They are joined by the European giants Prologic and the platform P3 Logistic Parks, which own 900,000 m2 and 400,000 m2, respectively, as well as the European investment group VGP, which owns almost 400,000 m2 of logistics space in Spain.

In terms of the types of assets, the Amazon effect has revolutionised the industrial sector and forced logistics operators to reinvent themselves to adapt to the new needs of clients (…).

Original story: Expansión (by Rebeca Arroyo)

Translation: Carmel Drake

US Fund King Street Capital Acquires 3.92% of Neinor Homes

5 April 2018 – Eje Prime

King Street Capital is knocking at the door of Neinor Homes. The US fund has purchased a 3.92% stake in the Spanish property developer, a percentage that, at current market prices, is worth €45.6 million, according to the records held by Spain’s National Securities and Exchange Commission (CNMV).

The US investment fund is acquiring a stake in the listed real estate company at a time when the company led by Juan Velayos is undergoing significant changes. In a shareholding dominated by overseas institutional investors, Adar Capital stands out with 27.8% of the share capital. The Israeli fund increased its stake in Neinor from 5.2% to almost 30% in a matter of weeks, the threshold that would oblige the company to launch a takeover bid for the entire firm.

In the last week, another foreign fund, in this case from Luxembourg, Alken Fund, has acquired 3.11% of the property developer, whose main secondary shareholders are Bank of Montreal, with a 5.20% stake; Invesco, which also controls 5.2%; Wellington Management Group, which holds 4.9%; and Norges Bank, owner of 4.5%.

Currently, Neinor Homes has 71 housing developments underway in Spain, comprising 5,470 homes, after launching five new developments with 528 homes in the third quarter of last year. The property developer’s plans involve investing more than €1.5 billion over the next five years to hand over up to 15,000 homes.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake

Popular’s €10bn Portfolio Sale Was The Largest RE Operation in the World in 2017

26 March 2018 – Cinco Días

Spain was the setting for the largest real estate operation in the world in 2017. The stars were Santander, as the vendor, and Blackstone, as the buyer. The object of desire was the property portfolio that took down Popular. The price: no less than a valuation of €10 billion.

The purchase of Popular’s property portfolio (containing real estate assets and loans with real estate collateral) led last year’s ranking of the largest operations in the sector involving a single asset or portfolio, compiled by Real Capital Analytics (RCA). Of the largest transactions, those undertaken in China stand out in particular, as well as a handful of deals completed in the United Kingdom. The classification excludes operations involving the purchase of companies.

The operation to sell Popular’s portfolio, announced in August, after Santander took control of the entity in June, was structured into a company worth €10 billion, in which Blackstone controls 51% and the rest remained in the hands of the bank chaired by Ana Botín.

Following that purchase, as well as others, such as Catalunya Caixa’s portfolio, Blackstone is now one of the largest owners of real estate assets in Spain. Another major operation of this nature was closed a few months later when Cerberus purchased 80% of BBVA’s real estate portfolio worth €5.5 billion (…).

In total, around the world, last year, deals worth USD 143.2 billion were closed, which represented an increase of 14% compared to the previous year.

China starred in the majority of the largest operations last year. China Vanke acquired an enormous land portfolio for real estate developments in Cantón for €7.1 billion, which constituted the second largest transaction of 2017. The next largest sale in the Asian country was the purchase of part of an office and retail development in Shenzhen by the company Kingboard, which is headquartered in Hong Kong (…).

In Europe and the USA, the focus was on alternative investments, such as student halls of residence, hospitals and logistics warehouses.

In fact, the third largest transaction in the world last year involved an alternative investment. Specifically, the sale of a stake in a portfolio of hospitals and 200 nursing homes in the USA and UK, which was purchased by the Chinese insurance company Taikang Insurance Group.

In Europe, in addition to Popular’s portfolio, the next largest deal saw the sale of the Bluewater shopping centre in the United Kingdom, worth €2.1 billion, in which Royal London Mutual Assurance acquired a stake.

In terms of office buildings, the sale of the Leadenhall Building in London, popularly known as the “cheese grater”, also stood out; it was acquired by the investment group CC Land, from Hong Kong, for more than €1.3 billion.

Typically, the large buyers include the largest investment managers, such as Blackstone, Brookfield, Deka, THI, Axa, Invesco and Morgan Stanley, whose clients tend to include sovereign funds from Norway and Abu Dhabi, as well as universities (for example, the Harvard investment fund) and workers’ unions or pension funds (German doctors, public sector workers from Korea and Ontario…).

In terms of 2018, for example in Europe, Borja Sierra, Executive Vice-President of Savills Aguirre Newman, believes that the clearest trend will be investment in the residential rental sector as a form of institutionalised real estate investment. “With the scenario of rising interest rates and measures from Trump that favour the renewal of infrastructure in the USA, I think that we will see a migration towards infrastructure funds, a move that will somewhat reduce investment pressure on the real estate sector. Nevertheless, the year has started with volumes that exceed those recorded in 2017, and so we expect a good year”.

Original story: Cinco Días (by Alfonso Simón Ruiz)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Invesco Invests €80M in Madrid Logistics Park to be Built by Pavasal

19 March 2018 – Expansión

The Valencian construction company Pavasal and the investment fund manager Invesco have reached an agreement to develop the largest available area of logistics space for rent in the city of Madrid, with an investment of €80 million.

The project will involve the construction, by Pavasal, of a logistics park spanning 90,000 m2, just 8km from the centre of the Spanish capital, which Invesco will subsequently purchase. The operation has been advised by the consultancy firm BNP Paribas Real Estate.

The Madrid M-40 Logistics Park (PAL-40), which is going to be located alongside the M-40, will be built in two phases. The first phase will involve the construction of a building measuring more than 45,000 m2. This property may be leased in modules upwards of 2,500 m2 to several tenants or be occupied by a single logistics operator.

Work on the first phase is scheduled to begin during the second half of 2018 and the keys are expected to be handed over during the third quarter of next year.

Meanwhile, the second phase of the project will include another 45,000 m2 of logistics space, which may be used for turn-key projects adapted to the needs of operators.

Last mile delivery

The park is going to be constructed on the basis of a ratio of more than 2,000 delivery operations per day and will optimise delivery times thanks to its location with respect to the large population nuclei and logistics activity centres. Moreover, it will receive an energy efficiency certificate, according to those responsible for the project.

Specifically, the platform will have a 336-metre long façade overlooking the motorway and will be accessible by vehicle from Avenida de Andalucía, which the logistics sector call the last mile.

In this way, the new logistics park is going to be located less than 8km from Puerta del Sol, close to the Atocha AVE station and 19km from the airport.

The logistics sector was one of the segments that performed the best last year, as shown by the large volume of land that was bought and sold thanks to the growing demand for logistics space by companies dedicated to e-commerce.

Thus, the level of uptake in the sector in the market of Madrid and its area of influence reached historical highs in 2017, with 886,405 m2 of space leased, according to data compiled by BNP Paribas Real Estate.

Original story: Expansión (by Rebeca Arroyo)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Israeli Fund Adar Asks for Two Seats on Neinor’s Board

15 March 2018 – Expansión

The Israeli fund Adar is claiming its space at the table of Neinor’s most senior executive body. After taking ownership of 24% of the property developer and buying almost 18% of the real estate company’s shares in just one month, Adar has requested two seats on the Board of Directors.

To this end, Adar has asked that its request be included on the agenda of the next meeting, which is scheduled for 17 April at the first call, or, if the necessary quorum is not reached, for 18 April.

Adar has proposed the appointment of Jorge Pepa and Francis Btesh as proprietary directors. In this way, the group’s Board of Directors would comprise nine members, up from the current number, seven.

The last change in Neinor’s Board of Directors took place with the departure of Dominique Cressot, a Director who represented the fund Lone Star, which sold the last remaining share package that it owned in the company last January.

In his place, the shareholders appointed Alberto Prieta, Managing Partner of the Real Estate team at BDO, as an independent director.

Adar, which first acquired shares in Neinor when the firm made its stock market debut almost a year ago, is now the real estate company’s largest shareholder, ahead of the Bank of Montreal (5.2%), Norges Bank (5.06%), Invesco (5.02%), Wellington Management Group (4.96%) and Ksac Europe (4.2%). The fund controls a package worth €296 million.

Original story: Expansión (by R. Arroyo)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Norwegian Pension Fund Acquires 4.8% of Neinor Homes

17 January 2018 – Expansión

The Norwegian Pension Fund has acquired a 4.8% stake in the share capital of the property developer Neinor Homes. This package, acquired through the manager Norges Bank Investment Management has a market value of around €70 million. The sovereign fund of the Nordic country is positioning itself as one of the key investors in the company led by Juan Velayos, together with several other international funds, including Wellington Management Group, with an 8.5% stake; Fidelity (6.8%); Adar Capital Partners (5.2%); Invesco (5.01%); King Street Capital Management (3.9%); and the Bank of Montreal (3.25%).

The Norwegian Fund first acquired shares in the company when it debuted on the stock market last year and has taken advantage of the two accelerated placements made by the US fund Lone Star to strengthen its position in the share capital of the property developer. Lone Star exited the capital of the company, which it constituted three years ago with the purchase of the real estate subsidiary of Kutxabank, a week ago, after selling the 12.5% stake that it still controlled.

In March 2017, the US fund placed 40% of the shares that it owned on the market as part of the stock market debut, and in September, it sold off another 27% stake through an accelerated placement that generated proceeds of €395 million and decreased its participation to around 13%.

Incentives

Finally, a week ago, Lone Star sold an additional 12.5% stake for €173 million – also through an accelerated placement. Following that sale, Lone Star retained 350,918 shares in Neinor, representing approximately 0.4% of the firm’s share capital, which it is reserving in order to agree the requirements for the incentive plan for directors.

The company’s shares closed at a price of €18.54 yesterday, having fallen by 0.64%.

Original story: Expansión (by Rebeca Arroyo)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Lone Star Exits Neinor after Selling its 12.5% Stake for €174M

11 January 2018 – Expansión

Following this operation, the stake owned by the US fund in the property developer, which was its largest shareholder before its stock market debut, will be reduced to a token 0.4%.

Lone Star is folding up the sails in Neinor Homes, whose share capital it is almost completely exiting less than a year after the property developer’s debut on the stock market, which took place in March last year. The US fund has undertaken an accelerated placement of 9.85 million shares in Neinor, representing 12.5% of that firm’s share capital, amongst institutional investors.

Yesterday, the property developer closed trading at €18.04 per share after a decrease of 1.1%, which means that the package put up for sale was worth €177.8 million.

Nevertheless, today, Neinor has informed the National Securities and Exchange Commission (CNMV) that the price at which the placement was closed was €173.99 million, equivalent to €17.65 per share.

After completing this operation, Lone Star’s presence in Neinor, the company that it controlled 100% prior to the property developer’s debut on the stock market, will be reduced to a token 0.4%, equivalent to 350,918 shares that it is retaining to ensure that it agrees the conditions of an incentive plan for “certain directors and key employees”.

With the sale of this latest package, Lone Star is culminating a divestment process that it began in March last year with Neinor’s stock market debut, when the American fund placed 60% of the property developer’s shares on the market, for which it received revenues of around €800 million.

A few months later, in the middle of September, Lone Star divested another 27% of Neinor, receiving proceeds on that occasion of €394.6 million and obtaining profits of €166 million as a result.

Following the accelerated placement completed yesterday and entrusted to BNP Paribas, Citigroup, Credit Suisse and JP Morgan, the resources raised by the US fund from the sale of Neinor now exceed €1.37 billion in total.

Neinor, whose origins date back to 2015, when Lone Star acquired Kutxabank’s real estate assets, debuted on the stock market with a valuation of €1.34 billion. Currently, its market capitalisation amounts to €1.425 billion, up by 6.3% from that figure.

Neinor’s main shareholders include the investment firms Wellington, with an 8.5% stake; Fidelity, with around 6.8%; and Invesco, with 5%, according to the CNMV’s registers.

Original story: Expansión (by J. Díaz)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Neinor Homes Sells 3.25% Of Its Share Capital To Bank Of Montreal

17 November 2017 – Eje Prime

The Bank of Montreal has become a shareholder of the property developer Neinor Homes, in which it has acquired a 3.25% stake. The percentage is worth around €47 million on the basis of the current share price for the real estate developer.

Specifically, Bank of Montreal has purchased a package of 2.43 million shares in Neinor, equivalent to 3.08% of its share capital, in a direct way, and another 140,000 (0.17%) through financial instruments, according to the records of Spain’s National Securities and Exchange Commission (CNMV).

Canada’s oldest bank has whereby joined the list of qualified international investors who hold a stake in the firm, led by Juan Velayos as CEO, since it debuted on the stock market in March.

In addition to Lone Star, the US fund that constituted the company and still controls 13% of its share capital, the shareholders of the real estate company include Wellington Management Group, with a 8.5% stake, Fidelity with another 6.8%, Invesco (4%) and King Street Capital Management (3.9%).

Neinor currently has 71 housing developments under construction in Spain, comprising 5,470 homes, after launching five new developments containing 528 homes in the third quarter of the year.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake