Tag: investment vehicle

Zambal Approves Merger with Iberia Nora & Completes €80M Capital Increase

12 September 2018 – Eje Prime

Zambal has approved its merger with Iberia Nora and has given the green light to its capital increase. Following the General Shareholders’ Meeting, the company managed by IBA Capital has notified the Alternative Investment Market (MAB) that it is going to carry out its integration with the other Socimi, which specialises in the rental of real estate assets.

In addition, Zambal has confirmed the €80 million capital increase that it announced in July. It will conduct it through the issue of 80 million shares with a nominal value of €1 and an issue premium of €0.25, which “will be fully subscribed and paid up through the compensation of loans”.

The capital increase has been fully subscribed by the Socimi’s majority shareholder, Altaya, headquartered in Singapore, which owns 95.21% of the share capital. Of the remaining 4.79%, 4.40% corresponds to Loire Investments Pte. Ltd, also domiciled in Singapore and 0.39% is treasury stock.

The Socimi, which started life in 2013, is an investment vehicle managed externally by IBA Capital Partners. The company specialises in the investment, and subsequent management, of offices and retail assets in cities such as Madrid and Barcelona, although the company also considers other assets such as nursing homes for the elderly, hospitals, retail parks and logistics platforms.

In a recent operation, Zambal purchased two office buildings on Calle Albarracín in Madrid, leased to the French multi-national firm Atos. That operation involved an investment of €38 million.

Without resorting to bank financing, Zambal has constructed a portfolio worth more than €730 million. Some of the company’s other main assets include, for example, the property at number 77 Avenida San Luis (which is home to Gas Natural’s headquarters in Madrid); the Edificio Vodafone, on Avenida de América; and the building at number 118 Avenida Burgos, which is leased in its entirety to BMW.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake

IBA’s Socimi Zambal to Complete €80M Capital Increase

30 July 2018 – Eje Prime

Just over a year after expanding its share capital by more than €91 million, Zambal is preparing to undertake a new operation. The Socimi managed by IBA Capital has convened its shareholders for a General Meeting in September to carry out a new capital increase, in this case, amounting to €80 million.

According to a statement filed by the company with the Alternative Investment Market (MAB), the capital increase will be undertaken through the issue of 80 million shares with a nominal value of €1 and an issue premium of €0.25, which “will be subscribed and fully paid up through the offsetting of loans”.

Without resorting to bank financing, Zambal has built a portfolio worth more than €730 million. The company’s main assets include, for example, the property at number 77 Avenida San Luis (which houses the headquarters of Gas Natural in Madrid); the Vodafone Building on Avenida de América, and number 18 Avenida de Burgos, which is leased in its entirety to BMW.

The Socimi, which started life in 2013, is an investment vehicle managed externally by IBA Capital Partners. The company specialises in the investment and subsequent management of assets in cities such as Madrid and Barcelona in the office and retail segments, although the company is also looking at other assets such as nursing homes, hospitals, retail parks and logistics platforms.

One of the most recent operations undertaken by Zambal was the purchase of two office buildings on Calle Albarracín in Madrid, which is leased to the French multi-national Atos. That operation involved an investment of €38 million.

Original story: Eje Prime 

Translation: Carmel Drake

Primark to Open a Megastore in Barcelona’s Plaza Cataluña

12 July 2018 – Idealista

Primark is finally entering the centre of Barcelona. The low-cost fashion company is going to open a flagship store at number 23 Plaza Cataluña, in a building owned by the fund manager IBA Capital, according to confirmation from real estate sources speaking to Idealista News. Until now, the property has been occupied by the El Corte Inglés department store group, but now the Irish chain is going to take over the 7,393 m2 property.

IBA Capital acquired the building in 2013 for €100 million and, over the last six months, since it has been on the market, the asset has attracted attention from the main fashion groups in Europe, including H&M, Primark, Inditex and the Japanese firm Uniqlo.

The building has a gross leasable area of 7,393 m2 and is located at the junction of Plaza Cataluña and Las Ramblas, one of the new commercial thoroughfares in Barcelona following the opening of establishments by the Galician giant Inditex there, as well as by operators such as Mango, Apple and Urban Outfitters.

The building was leased in its entirety to El Corte Inglés until a few months ago, which operated it through a multi-brand concept with firms such as Gap, Tommy Hilfiger, Guess, Diesel, Maje, Sandro, Stefanel and Desigual.

The property was renovated in 1998 and used to house the former headquarters of Banco Central and one of the only stores that the British firm Marks&Spencer used to have in Spain. Following the purchase by IBA Capital, El Corte Inglés and the fund signed a sale and leaseback contract, which expired in 2018.

IBA Capital in the Spanish market

Founded in 2013, IBA is led by Thierry Julienne and Jesús Valderrama, the founders of the investment vehicle. The fund manager has the capacity to manage all classes of real estate assets and its portfolio is currently worth €1 billion.

The portfolio comprises more than a dozen assets situated in first-rate locations in Madrid and Barcelona. Its properties include number 18 Gran Vía, number 9 Preciados and the ABC Serrano shopping centre, which have been acquired for subsequent renovation.

The other assets are office buildings including the property at number 96 Calle Santiago de Compostela, in Madrid and the Tripark Business Park, in las Rozas. Moreover, the fund owns the Vodafone Building, located at number 115 Avenida de América, and the Manoteras Leisure Park, also in the Spanish capital.

Original story: Idealista (by Custodio Pareja)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Hermes Acquires 3,345 m2 in Puerto Venecia & Prepares its Third Fund

10 July 2018 – Eje Prime

Hermes Properties is adding a new asset to its portfolio. The investment vehicle, which specialises in commercial projects, has purchased 3,345 m2 of the Puerto Venecia shopping centre, owned by Intu, which it will lease to the hamburger chain Carl’s Jr and to the service station chain Gasexpress.

With this purchase, Hermes has completed a €14 million investment across three operations, in the El Puente shopping centre in Rojales (Alicante); in commercial plots in Isla Azul, in Madrid; and this latest deal in Puerto Venecia, in Zaragoza.

The manager’s purchase in Madrid, of plots spanning a surface area of 4,000 m2, which used to be owned by Sareb, involved the disbursement of €4 million. The operations have been undertaken through Hermes’ second investment vehicle, Hermes II. The manager, owned by Delta Asesores and the consultancy firm InmoKing Real Estate, is now preparing a new program of investments to generate the vehicle Hermes III.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake

IBA Capital Creates a Fund to Invest up to €300M in Spain’s High Street

25 May 2018 – Eje Prime

IBA Capital is gaining strength as one of the investment funds with the most potential in the Spanish market. The company has just launched an investment fund specialising in the retail high street segment, through which it plans to invest up to €300 million in the purchase of commercial assets located on the main streets (high streets) of Spain’s secondary cities, according to Thierry Julienne, founder of the investment vehicle, speaking to Eje Prime.

This new vehicle from IBA Capital will bet on buying commercial premises on streets such as Calle Larios in Málaga and Calle Tetuán in Sevilla, for example. Also on IBA Capital’s radar are assets located in cities such as Valencia, Santander, Coruña, Oviedo and Vigo, amongst others.

“We want to create a portfolio of prime assets – we are not looking for properties to create value, but rather buildings are profitable with operators such as H&M, Mango and chains from the Inditex group as tenants”, explains Julienne, who also added that the stores that may interest the fund should have a surface area of around 1,000 m2.

“It is a safe fund, which has been created with an investment capacity of €100 million, but which may reach €300 million over the next few years”, he says. The type of investor to which this new vehicle from IBA Capital will be directed are “conservative and Spanish”, explains the director. “Family offices, for example, are target investors of this new fund”, he concludes. (…).

Original story: Eje Prime (by Custodio Pareja)

Translation: Carmel Drake

GreenOak to Debut Second Socimi, Go Madrid Benz, on the MAB

15 May 2018 – Eje Prime

GreenOak is going to ring the bell again on the Alternative Investment Market (MAB). And this time it will do so with Go Madrid Benz, its second Spanish Socimi after Gore Spain, which made its stock market debut in January 2017. The US fund has already filed a request with Spain’s National Securities and Exchange Commission (CNMV) to incorporate the company on to the stock market; its main asset is the Las Mercedes Business Park. GreenOak’s intention is for the shares in this company to be listed before the summer.

With a surface area for offices and other administrative buildings spanning 80,000 m2, Las Mercedes is the jewel in the crown of Go Madrid Benz. The fund, which is led in Spain by Javier Zarragoitia, wants to assert its control over the 46% share capital that it owns in the Socimi to debut it on the stock market. The objective of the company is to achieve gross annual rental income of €7.65 million, with a yield of 6.5%, according to El Confidencial.

The sole shareholder of what will be the newest listed Socimi on the insatiable MAB, which is also home to more than fifty companies, is Go Benz Sarl, one of GreenOak’s investment vehicles. The fund has owned Las Mercedes since 2016 when it paid Standard Life €130 million for the business complex located in the northeast of Madrid.

The Las Mercedes Business Park comprises nine office buildings, situated around the A-2 motorway, an attractive area for companies, which has undergone significant development in recent years. Indeed, just a few weeks ago, GreenOak raised €95 million to refinance this asset through a long-term loan signed with PBB Deutsche Pfandbriefbank.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake

Investors Increase their Commitment to Rental Housing

3 May 2018 – Expansión

The boom in the residential market, the changing habits in society, the difficulties involved in accessing housing and the increase in mobility have all led to a rebound in the residential rental market in Spain. According to the latest data from Eurostat, more than 22% of Spanish households live in rented properties, although that figure is still well behind the average for the European Union (34%).

In addition, the State Housing Plan, which seeks to encourage rental amongst the younger generation, and the greater professionalisation of the sector, is going to serve to further boost the rental market in Spain.

The change in trend, as well as the increase in residential rental yields, has compelled investors to analyse this business as an alternative to other real estate assets such as offices, shopping centres and hotels.

To lead this market, certain players have redoubled their commitment to rental housing, such as the case of Testa Residencial – the Socimi in which Santander, BBVA, Acciona and Merlin hold stakes – which owns almost 9,300 residential rental properties, with a gross value of €2.275 billion and annual rental income of €72.2 million.

Stock market debuts

That Socimi is preparing its leap onto the market, which will be carried out through an offer of its existing shares (OPV) and an issue of new shares (OPS) aimed exclusively at qualified investors.

One of the first players to back this business was Blackstone, which purchased 18 residential developments, containing 1,860 homes in total, in the Madrilenian neighbourhoods of Carabanchel, Centro, Villa de Vallecas and Villaverde from the Municipal Housing and Land Company of Madrid (EMVS) in July 2013. In 2015, the fund debuted its Socimi Fidere on the MAB (Alternative Investment Market) with 2,688 social housing properties, including those acquired from the EMVS two years earlier. Currently, Fidere owns around 6,400 homes for rent.

The fund also debuted Albirana on the MAB in March 2017 with a portfolio of 5,000 rental homes proceeding from Catalunya Banc loans. Another star of the real estate sector that has detected an opportunity in the rental sector to offload its assets is the Company for the Management of Assets proceeding from the Restructuring of the Banking System (Sareb) with Témpore Properties. That Socimi debuted on the MAB in April with a portfolio of 1,553 residential units, which have a gross value of €175 million.

Another player is Vivenio Residencial, the investment vehicle created by the Dutch pension fund APG together with Renta Corporación. Vivenio has invested around €200 million in the purchase of properties and now owns more than 1,000 rental homes. The Socimi plans to debut on the stock market in 2019.

According to data from Armabex, in 2017, five new Socimis debuted on the stock market with residential assets in their portfolio. In total, at the end of last year, 16 Socimis held rental homes in their portfolios, including, in addition to Fidere and Albirana, Vitruvio, VBare, Colón Vivienda and Domo.

In addition to the listed Socimis, other players in the sector include the real estate managers. One of the largest by volume of assets under management is Anticipa Real Estate, owned by Blackstone. Anticipa currently manages 12,000 homes proceeding from banks acquired by the fund during the crisis. Anticipa manages Albirana’s homes, amongst others.

Another star in the rental home manager sector in Spain is Azzam Vivienda – a subsidiary of Azora – which has more than 11,000 homes under management distributed across 140 buildings.

Azora, which will make its debut on the Madrid stock market on 11 May, plans to raise up to €500 million from its stock market debut to co-invest with its partners in various assets, including in the residential sector.

New players

The company founded by Concha Osácar and Fernando Gumuzio in 2003, was managing €1.5 billion in residential assets at the end of last year, which represented 33.4% of its total portfolio. It plans to increase its footprint in the sector to have between €1.3 billion and €1.6 billion under management by 2022 in homes, accommodation for the elderly and assets relating to healthcare.

Despite the increasing prominence of the rental sector, the business is still very fragmented and one of the challenges for the sector is to gain scale in order to compete. Juan Manuel Acosta, CEO of Greystar in Spain, said in an interview with Expansión in February that the US real estate investment firm is looking for opportunities to become one of the largest operators in the residential rental market in Spain.

Original story: Expansión (by Rebeca Arroyo)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Lennar’s Socimi Al Breck Sells 14 More Assets for €11M

19 April 2018 – Eje Prime

Whilst last year was marked by investments on the part of the Socimis, this year is being marked by divestments. Lennar Corporation is divesting in Spain again and has closed fourteen operations to sell properties through one of its Spanish Socimis, Al Breck, for €11 million, according to a statement from the company.

The company has carried out the transactions through the company Rialto Capital Management, an investment vehicle headquartered in Luxembourg, which Lennar uses to carry out its real estate operations in Europe and the only one that has a stable structure in Spain.

The company divested the properties between 16 February and 12 April, generating a gain for the company of €5 million. This divestment follows another carried out in January when it sold four assets for €3.5 million.

Lennar Corporation made its debut on the Alternative Investment Market (MAB) with Al Breck at the end of November 2016 (although it commenced activity in Spain in December 2014), with a stock of around 639 rental homes located in the centre of Madrid. The Socimi created its asset portfolio through the purchase of a portfolio from Segurfondo Investion in December 2014.

Specifically, the Socimi’s assets are located in the centre of the Spanish capital (in the Centro, Salamanca, Chamberí and Chueca districts), as well as in La Moraleja and in towns close to Alcobendas and Torrejón de Ardoz. The portfolio also contains retail premises and offices. According to the IPO prospectus, the market value of the asset portfolio at the time of its stock market debut was €110.52 million.

The Socimi made its stock market debut with a business plan that involved generating value from its portfolio, in other words, selling all of its homes within a 5-year period, ending in December 2020. The company has now initiated this divestment process with the sale of these first assets.

Al Breck’s strategy

Specifically, the company’s plan involves investing in improvements in homes “to increase their yields and increase their occupancy rates to stable levels, and then implementing an aggressive rental strategy that includes, where necessary, reducing the rents and making concessions to tenants to improve the cash flow conditions”.

Subsequently, according to the group’s IPO prospectus, “after improving the occupancy rate, the objective is to keep it stable and start to progressively increase the rents in accordance with the improvements made to the properties and market prices”.

Finally, the Socimi plans “to optimise the value of its portfolio by selling assets individually or in batches, when the demand and price so dictate, and once the minimum ownership term of three years has passed in each case”, according to the firm in its brochure.

In addition, the company launched a second Socimi, Ceres Real Estate Socimi, at the end of last year. Although for the time being, that entity’s activity has been very limited (it does not hold any assets in its portfolio), the sole administrator of the company is Rialto Capital.

This new Socimi is, in turn, the heir of Clearfield Invest, a firm constituted just over two months ago and whose administrators form part of the TMF Group’s team in Spain, a company specialising in the provision of services for all kinds of companies.

Original story: Eje Prime (by C. Pareja)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Corpfin Begins its Divestment Period by Placing Assets Worth €160M Up For Sale

23 March 2018 – Eje Prime

Corpfin Real Estate is rotating its asset portfolio. According to sources familiar with proceedings, the company has started to divest some of its assets, and to this end, has placed on the market commercial premises and out-of-town retail parks worth €160 million. Currently, Corpfin Real Estate manages four investment vehicles in the Spanish market.

“The investment strategy of Corpfin Capital Real Estate Partners includes the rotation of assets once they have reached their maturity period”, explain sources at the group. “Specifically, the two vehicles that Corpfin Capital Real Estate Partners is managing at the moment, Corpfin Capital Prime Retail Assets and Corpfin Capital Retail Parks, are nearing the end of their investment periods, and so the group has not ruled out divesting some of the assets owned by those vehicles”, they said.

Corpfin Retail Parks, a vehicle with an investment capacity of €150 million, specialises in retail products “with a high management component”. Meanwhile, Corpfin Capital Prime Retail Assets was created in 2011 and completed its investment phase in 2016.

In parallel, the company has been fattening up its portfolio with the investment vehicles that remain active. Through its vehicles Corpfin Capital Prime Retail II Socimi and Corpfin Capital Prime Retail III Socimi, the company purchased two commercial premises last year, in Madrid and Vitoria (…).

In addition, with Corpfin Capital Retail Parks, the company has also been purchasing assets until recently, although it still has a small percentage of its funds left to invest before it finalises that vehicle’s purchasing process. Corpfin’s most recent operations with CPRP include the purchase of a plot of land measuring 4,345 m2 from the General Foundation of Madrid’s University of Complutense.

For now, Corpfin has signed a contract to set up an Aldi supermarket on that plot, which will occupy a surface area of more than 1,200 m2 and which will be the chain’s first store in the municipality. The rest of the land is still being marketed.

Other operations undertaken by the fund include the Las Moruchas Shopping Centre in Ávila, inaugurated in June 2016, and the construction of a new shopping complex in Alcorcón (Madrid), which is currently under development.

New director general

In addition, this year, the group is also shaking up its management team and has appointed a new CEO for the Socimi. Ana Granado has served as the most senior executive of the company since February (…).

Original story: Eje Prime (by C. Pareja)

Translation: Carmel Drake

IBA Capital & CBRE GI Sell Preciados 9 to Generali

15 March 2018 – Eje Prime

A new prime retail operation has been closed in the capital. The fund manager IBA Capital, together with CBRE Global Investment, has closed the sale of number 9 Calle Preciados in Madrid to the real estate vehicle of the insurance company Generali, Generali Real Estate. The Italian group has paid €100 million for the asset, which is going to be home to the future Pull&Bear store on that street, one of the most expensive in Spain for opening a store.

The property, which has a surface area of more than 3,000 m2, was the first building that El Corte Inglés sold in the Spanish capital and fired the starting gun for the policy of real estate divestments by the distribution group.

The asset, located in the so-called Golden Triangle of Madrid, was built in the 1940s. The building overlooks the confluence of the areas of Sol, Preciados and Gran Vía, and has a commercial surface area of more than 2,100 m2, distributed over six floors.

The operation, which has been brokered by the real estate consultancy Colliers, has been in the pipeline for six months, but the parties have not signed the agreement until now. In this way, IBA Capital is continuing to transform its asset portfolio in Spain.

Founded in 2013, IBA Capital is headed by Thierry Julienne and Jesús Valderrama, founders of the investment vehicle. The group has the capacity to manage all kinds of real estate assets and, currently, manages assets with a value of approximately €1 billion.

IBA Capital’s activity is divided into three lines of business. The company is continuing to acquire new assets following a phase of “prior selection of opportunities and a process of internal analysis”, according to sources at the company. IBA Capital also manages and sells assets, as well as controls the Socimi Zambal.

Its current portfolio comprises more than a dozen assets situated in prime locations of Madrid and Barcelona for the most part. They include number 18 Gran Vía and the ABC Serrano shopping centre, which have been acquired for their subsequent renovation and enhancement.

Original story: Eje Prime (by C. Pareja)

Translation: Carmel Drake