Portugal 
Italy 
Greece 
27 December 2016 – Expansión
Bankinter has started to offer its private banking clients a new investment project. It is a Socimi, which the entity plans to launch on the MAB in around two months time. This entity will invest in commercial assets, such as supermarket, hypermarkets, retail premises and parks, as well as bank branches, in sought-after locations. The aim is to invest around €400 million in assets, of which around €200 million will come from contributions made by the entity’s clients and the remaining 50% from financing. The minimum investment per client will be €250,000, up to a maximum of 10% of their financial wealth.
For the launch of this investment vehicle, Bankinter has sought a partner with experience in the Spanish real estate market and in the management of commercial assets. The Portuguese real estate company Sonae Sierra, which owns more than 40 international projects in Europe, Africa and South America, seven of which are located in Spain, will take care of the search for and management of the assets that the Socimi buys. Like Bankinter, it will hold a minority stake in the new company, and two of its representatives will sit on the Board of Directors and on the Investment Committee.
Meanwhile, the bank led by María Dolores Dancausa will have three Board members and two representatives on the Investment Committee.
Anchor investors
The two partners will invest a maximum of €15 million in the case of Bankinter, with a minimum of €7.5 million; and €7.5 million in the case of Sonae, with a minimum of €3.75 million, if they achieve €200 million in equity for the upcoming stock market debut.
The Socimi will focus on buying commercial properties located mainly in Spain (the idea is that Spanish assets will account for 65% of the total portfolio) and the rest in Portugal. The minimum investment volume by operation will be €5 million to €20 million per asset or per portfolio of properties.
All of the assets that the Socimi acquires must be in good locations with long-term contracts that will run for at least five years. Its potential tenants include retail groups such as Mercadona, Carrefour and Día and other large operators such as Leroy Merlin and Decathlon.
Although the investment vehicle does not own any assets yet, it is already analysing ten operations, having made a series of non-binding offers. These deals include the purchase of a portfolio of hypermarkets worth €150 million and the acquisition of a retail park for around €20 million.
The Socimi hopes to achieve a gross asset value yield of between 6% and 6.5% during the first two years, which is higher than the returns offered by other listed real estate companies such as Axiare, Merlin and Realia, which this year expect to offer yields of 4.8%, 3.2% and 4.5%, respectively, according to information provided by Bankinter to its potential investors.
The aim of this Socimi is to offer an average annual dividend of between 4.5% and 5%, which is a much higher return than those offered by other banking products currently on the market. (…).
Original story: Expansión (by Rocío Ruiz)
Translation: Carmel Drake