Tag: jewel

Barclays Leases Central Madrid Office From Mutua Madrileña

26 July 2017 – El Confidencial

Last year, just a few months apart, Mutua Madrileña and Barclays starred in two of the most important office transactions in the capital’s recent history.

On the one hand, during the summer, the insurer broke a decade of investment drought when it acquired the property at number 51 on Calle José Abascal, the former headquarters of Fórum Filatélico.

On the other hand, in the autumn, the British bank took the decision to sell its last jewel in Spain with the sale of the property at number 1 Plaza de Colón, an operation that was completed at the beginning of this year.

Now, the paths of these two entities have crossed again with a rental agreement that they have signed for Barclays to occupy the whole, recently refurbished, Mutua Madrileña building.

The property, located just a stone’s throw from the heart of the Paseo de la Castellana, has a surface area of 3,600 m2, spread over seven floors and 62 parking spaces. It has just been renovated in accordance with the latest energy efficiency and sustainability technologies.

Mutua Madrileña acquired the building for €30 million from Credit Suisse, an entity that had, in turn, taken over the property during Fórum Filatélico’s bankruptcy process (…).

Now that the property has restored its past splendour, Barclays will install its investment banking and corporate banking activities there, given that it sold its entire retail business to CaixaBank two years ago for €820 million.

Barclays’ former headquarters on Plaza de Colón was acquired by CBRE GI, which also plans to carry out a comprehensive renovation of that property, which may be used for retail purposes in the future.

Original story: El Confidencial (by R. U.)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Liberbank Puts Building On c/San Jerónimo Up For Sale

13 September 2016 – El Confidencial

Liberbank has decided to cash in one of the gems that it inherited from the former Caja Castilla-La Mancha (CCM), specifically: the building located at number 19 on the sought-after Carrera de San Jerónimo. It is a modern, 5-storey building, with a ground floor, terrace and parking area, which was fully renovated less than a decade ago; and it is located just a stone’s throw away from Palacio de las Cortes, right in the heart of Madrid.

In financial circles, it has always been said that this building was a personal whim of Juan Pedro Hernández-Moltó, who, after leaving the Congress of Representatives and taking over the reins at CCM, saw an opportunity to unit his two passions in this property, which was completely remodelled in 2007, just two years before the Manchego entity was intervened by the Bank of Spain and sold to Cajastur, from which the current Liberbank emerged.

Faced with these trappings from the past, the entity led by Manuel Menéndez is now immersed in an asset sale process, which includes an open process to sell this headquarters building, which has a total surface area of 2,500 sqm and which may fetch up to €13 million upon sale, according to sources familiar with the process.

In addition, the decision to put this property up for sale comes a year and a half after Liberbank acquired a complex of office buildings measuring 13,500 sqm from Sareb in Fuente Mora, number 2, in the area known as Manoteras, which is close to the headquarters of companies such as Axa, Caser and BBVA’s Ciudad Financiera. (…).

Although initially, the group was considering the possibility of holding onto the headquarters on Carrera de San Jerónimo for its President and institutional work, the roadmap that the entity is now working with involves transferring all of its offices in Madrid to the new offices in Manoteras, and leaving the building free for the new purchaser to fill with its own tenant.

Sales plans

At the presentation of its latest quarterly results, Liberbank acknowledged that its priority now is to sell off as many of its non-performing assets as possible this year, given that the EPA (asset protection scheme) that it was granted by the State to cover it against potential losses in CCM will come to an end on 31 December 2016.

The hole inherited from the Manchego entity currently amounts to €2,000 million, whereas the cushion from the EPA barely amounts to €456 million. Its divestment strategy also includes trying to sell a portfolio of overdue mortgages amounting to between €700 million and €800 million.

Original story: El Confidencial (by Ruth Ugalde)

Translation: Carmel Drake