Tag: land bank

Neinor Evaluates Rental Market but Insists on Maintaining its Margins

31 October 2018 – El Economista

Neinor Homes sees a clear business opportunity in the rental market in Spain. Nevertheless, it is not going to enter the segment if doing so would reduce its profit margin.

That is according to Juan Velayos (pictured above), the CEO of the firm, who indicates that Neinor “must be clear about what it is and what it wants to be, and we want to be a property developer, and as such, our profitability is sacred”. On that basis, Velayos recognises that “there is a clear business opportunity in that sector and very few companies have the capacity that we have to produce rental homes”.

In fact, he says that “many players who want to take positions in the rental market are approaching us, and although I am not going to close an operation tomorrow, we are evaluating lots of options, whenever they are coherent with our business model. Common sense tells me that we ought to be capable of meeting that need in the market and for the business to be profitable for Neinor”, said Velayos.

The property developer, which had managed to multiply its operating EBITDA by four by the end of September, to reach €9.5 million, expects to close this year in the black, “in a comfortable way”, highlights Velayos, who believes that the firm’s EBITDA at the end of December will amount to around €50 million, in line with the consensus of the market.

At the end of September, the firm had recorded a loss of €1.2 million and revenues of €156 million. “The most interesting aspect is that €100 million of that turnover came from the development arm, whilst €32 million came from the Legacy business and €23 million from Servicing”, highlights the director.

Neinor has committed to handing over 1,000 homes this year, spread across 14 promotions. “Nine of them have already been handed over and during the last quarter, the keys to the remaining five will be handed over, given that they now have their final construction certificate”, specifies the director, who assures that the 1,000 units are almost all pre-sold. “We only have 2% left, which we have not been marketing because we are waiting until the end to maximise the price of the best units”.

“We have been on a journey that has involved a lot of work over the last three years and now we are starting to hand over a significant volume of homes, which actually represent more than all of our major competitors put together. Neinor started first and so now we are reaping the rewards”, highlights Velayos.

Specifically, the company has an order book comprising 3,049 homes, which represent a volume of pre-sales of €1.019 billion. Moreover, comparing units with the same characteristics, the property developer has managed to achieve an 8.2% increase in prices and has also increased its margin to 28%.

That has allowed the firm to handle rising construction costs, which have increased by 3.8%, without any problems. Those costs “are expected to continue to rise, by 6%, but we will also seek to increase our margins”, says Velayos.

For next year, the company has set itself the target of handing over 2,000 homes in 31 developments where building work is already underway. “We also have some very solid pre-sales figures for 2019 of 78%; and the rest are not being marketed, given that the best way of protecting our margin is to wait to sell those units”, explains the CEO of Neinor (…).

Currently, the company has one of the largest land banks with capacity for 13,700 homes (…).

Original story: El Economista (by Alba Brualla)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Habitat Starts Marketing 124 Homes in Valencia

31 October 2018 – Eje Prime

Habitat Inmobiliaria is continuing to squeeze its land in Valencia. The Spanish property developer, owned by the fund Bain Capital, has started marketing 124 homes in the provincial capital, through which it will expand its presence in a community that the company considers to be strategic for its growth plan.

The company led by José Carlos Saz has launched two projects onto the market: Habitat Malilla Parque, with 56 homes, and Habitat Las Moreras, comprising 68 flats. These developments follow three others that are already being marketed by the real estate company.

So far this year, the property developer has invested around €70 million in the purchase of land and is working on operations on which it is planning to spend another €50 million over the coming months. The company’s objective for 2018 is to invest more than €120 million to expand its portfolio of buildable land in Spain.

Habitat currently has a €500 million land investment plan underway, spanning the next three years. The property developer intends to hand over more than 2,000 home each year from 2021. In 2018 alone, the real estate company has acquired 16 plots all over Spain (Madrid, Sevilla, Valencia, Cantabria and the Canary Islands), and has whereby incorporated 200,000 m2 into its land bank for new developments.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake

Quabit Buys Land in Madrid for €3.8M to Build 85 Homes

29 October 2018 – Eje Prime

Quabit is expanding its land portfolio to fulfil its growth plan. The listed real estate company has purchased a plot of buildable land measuring 8,500 m2 in Valdemoro (Madrid) for €3.8 million, according to a statement issued by the company.

The property developer is going to build 85 homes on that site, through which it expects to generate revenues of €17 million. With this new investment, over the last year and a half, Quabit has incorporated residential land on which to build 4,925 homes all over Spain into its portfolio.

Moreover, the real estate firm now owns a portfolio of buildable land to fulfil 75% of the objectives established in its Business Plan for 2017-2022. So far this year, the property developer has invested €35.7 million in the purchase of land in areas such as Madrid, the Costa del Sol and the Corredor de Henares, as well as in the Balearic Islands. In total, Quabit has added 116,700 m2 of land to its portfolio on which to build 980 homes and through which it expects to invoice €179 million.

Since it launched its new business plan in 2017, the property developer controlled by Félix Abánades has invested almost €200 million in residential land. Currently, Quabit is marketing fifty developments comprising 3,724 homes. The property developer’s land bank spans 1.1 million m2 for the construction of 8,800 homes.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake

David Martínez: “Aedas Has Land on which to Build Homes for the next 4 Years”

8 September 2018 – Expansión

Aedas, the property developer in which the US fund Castlelake holds a stake, is continuing to push ahead and take on new challenges. As the first anniversary of its debut on the stock market approaches and with its business plan on track, the company is considering starting to buy plots of land that still require urban planning approval to anticipate possible price rises and improve margins, as well as to launch projects to sell to specialists companies in the rental sector, such as Socimis.

“We have a land bank spanning more than 1.5 million m2, which will allow us to build more than 14,000 homes. That gives us four years of visibility with respect to our business plan”, explains David Martínez, CEO of the company.

Aedas became the second largest property developer, after Neinor, to make its debut on the stock market after ten years of drought following the burst of the real estate bubble. It was followed shortly after by Metrovacesa, and several other companies are lining up to take the plunge, including Vía Célere and Aelca.

Aedas is sticking to the objectives announced in the listing brochure and unlike its rivals is not contemplating a reduction in its initial forecasts. “Our objective is to hand over more than 200 homes this year, more than 1,000 homes in 2019 and to exceed 2,000 homes in 2020. In total, by the end of 2020, we will have handed over more than 3,200 homes and we already have 114 developments underway, with more than 4,000 homes in different phases of development, which gives us a great deal of visibility over the objectives. We designed a realistic business plan and we will fulfil the forecasts for 2018, 2019 and 2020”, said the director.

Investment in land

The CEO of Aedas explains that during the first half of 2018, Aedas invested almost €100 million and purchased land for 1,905 homes, almost doubling the planned investment figure for the entire year. In addition, the company signed a corporate financing line for €150 million to continue expanding its land bank.

“We have detected interesting opportunities that fit with our investment criteria that are not going to be available in six months time. For that reason, we decided to bring forward our investment plan. Recently, we formalised a loan amounting to €150 million to provide us with sufficient financial resources to continue bringing forward the purchases planned in the business plan between now and 2023”, he explained.

At this point, Martínez opened the door to the possibility of purchasing non-finalist land. “There is a lot of land classified as “urbanisable” that still requires urban planning. Given that we now have land to cover our requirements for the next four years and we are not in any hurry, nor do we need to buy finalist land, we are considering land in areas with demand that has the partial plans approved but that still require some urban planning management”, he revealed.

Martínez highlighted that a significant percentage of the €150 million resulting from the loan formalised a few weeks ago will be used to buy non-finalist land. “With the economic recovery, new property developers are emerging who need to buy finalist land to get to work. For this reason, in some places, the prices of some plots of finalist land now exceed our expectations. We want to take advantage to buy land at more affordable prices even if that requires more management subsequently (…).

Rental

Similarly, the property developer is exploring other business opportunities, such as the sale of homes to Socimis and other vehicles specialising in the rental market. “One of the challenges involves supplying homes to young people. Aedas is exploring formulae that allow the construction of homes for rent, basically developing projects that we can sell to companies that specialise in rental. We have a very extensive and urban land bank”.

The director anticipates a “long” upwards cycle. “We are at the beginning of a cycle and notwithstanding the fact that we may see some adjustments in prices in certain specific towns, in general, it is going to last”, he predicted.

Original story: Expansión (by Rebeca Arroyo)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Habitat Inmobiliaria Revives a 186-Home Development in Camas (Sevilla)

30 July 2018 – La Vanguardia

Habitat Inmobiliaria has acquired almost 12,000 m2 of land in the Sevillan town of Camas to build a new residential development comprising 186 homes that will involve an investment of more than €30 million. According to the company, the plot on which the new development will be located has a total buildable surface area of 23,357 m2 and the project will allow the re-launch of a development that was first started back in 2009. The marketing of this development will begin at the end of this year.

Specifically, the development will contain 186 homes in total and 277 parking spaces. It will have common areas with green spaces, playgrounds and swimming pools and four commercial premises. According to the property developers, the project is located around 20 minutes from the centre of Sevilla by car and just a few minutes from the bus stop that connects with the regional capital.

According to Habitat Inmobiliaria, the purchase of this plot forms part of the land acquisition plan that the group has launched and the project will be added to the more than 1,400 homes that the company currently has under construction. This operation follows other land purchases made by the firm in Collado Villalba and Móstoles in Madrid and the plots in Entrenúcleos in Dos Hermanas and Mairena del Aljarafe, both in Sevilla.

Currently, Habitat Inmobiliaria has a presence in the Andalucian provinces of Málaga, Córdoba and Sevilla and is interested in continuing to invest in the region, where the company has four developments up for sale and where it is planning to start on new residential developments in the coming months.

Original story: La Vanguardia 

Translation: Carmel Drake

Quabit Generated Profits of €1.1M in H1 2018

27 July 2018 – El Economista

Quabit Inmobiliaria recorded a net profit of €1.1 million during the first half of the year, compared with losses of €3.5 million during the same period in 2017, according to information submitted by the company on Friday to Spain’s National Securities and Exchange Commission (CNMV).

The firm’s net turnover amounted to €9.1 million during H1, which more than tripled the €2.8 million recorded a year earlier; and the operating result entered positive territory, amounting to €3.6 million.

The real estate firm closed land operations amounting to €24 million, spanning a buildable surface area 85,130 m2, during the first six months of the year.

In total, since kicking off its growth plan in 2017, Quabit has invested €193 million in plots to build almost 4,850 homes, which means that it has already fulfilled 75% of its target to promote 7,900 homes by 2022.

As at 30 June 2018, the firm’s residential portfolio comprises 3,237 homes, which will generate an estimated turnover of €672 million that will be reflected in the income statement as they are handed over in 2018 and 2019. In June, handover began of 116 homes on the Quabit Aguas Vivas urbanisation in Guadalajara, and the firm will finish the year with a total of 215 homes delivered.

The group highlighted that it will see the sale of almost 1,000 homes in 2019 before it reaches its “cruising speed” of 3,000 deliveries per year in 2022.

Original story: El Economista 

Translation: Carmel Drake

Värde Will Integrate Aelca into Vía Célere to Strengthen the Latter’s IPO

21 July 2018 – El Economista

A new merger operation is on the horizon in the real estate sector, and it is going to star Vía Célere and Aelca. According to confirmation from several sources in the sector speaking to this newspaper, the two entities’ common shareholder, the fund Värde, is working in an active way to integrate the two companies with the aim of strengthening the structure of Vía Célere ahead of its upcoming stock market debut.

The fund and its partners in the real estate company (Marathon, Attestor, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, JPMorgan and Barclays) are currently holding conversations with the founders of Aelca to carry out an operation in which the assets of the property developer would be integrated into Vía Célere’s portfolio. According to the same sources, Värde, which owns around 80% of each real estate company, wants to close a preliminary agreement within the next two weeks, although the operation may not actually be executed until October and November.

The objective of the fund is to close the integration before the end of the year, in such a way that the company will be ready to carry out its debut on the stock market when the next sales opportunity presents itself. Following the debuts of Neinor, Aedas and Metrovacesa, the market has almost exhausted its appetite for the real estate sector, plus there has been some high volatility on the stock market due to political instability.

These circumstances have meant that the fund has not been able to liquidate its investment in Vía Célere so far this year, as it had planned, although, sources at the company say that no specific date had ever been set for the IPO. In the case of Aelca, its founders and shareholders, Javier Gómez and José Juan Martín, have been aiming (to list their firm) in 2019, a step that may now be taken under the umbrella of the Vía Célere brand.

With this move, once listed on the stock market, the firm launched and presided by Juan Antonio Gómez Pintado will be positioned as the property developer with the largest market capitalisation, amounting to €2.3 billion. Similarly, according to the same sources, the target for the delivery of homes by the new company would increase to around 5,000 units per year, thus reaching the figures planned by its competitor Metrovacesa, which also forecasts such volumes for 2021.

Before designing the integration process for the two property developers, Värde has also studied the possible merger of Vía Célere with one of the other large listed companies, although, that formula was giving rise to a giant with a volume of business that was not seen in the property development sector even in the boom years.

With the merger of the two property companies now on the cards, the new Vía Célere will have a land bank with capacity for the development of around 23,000 homes. To this figure, the plots that Sareb will inject into Aelca will have to be added, with an approximate value of €800 million, in the event that the property developer ends up reaching an agreement with the bad bank.

The American fund reached an agreement with the Avintia group in the summer of 2016 to acquire Aelca for around €50 million. Almost simultaneously, Värde launched Dospuntos from the leftovers of the former Parquesol, the real estate subsidiary of the Sanjose Group.

Six months later, it closed the purchase of the property developer led by Gómez Pintado for around €90 million to integrate it with Dospuntos and create a new giant in the sector, retaining the Vía Célere brand, which has become the fund’s new darling.

Created shortly before the real estate bubble burst, the real estate company is one of the few that managed to survive the crisis and if Värde’s plans do crystallise, it could position itself as the largest listed property developer in the country.

Original story: El Economista (by Alba Brualla)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Quabit Invests €15M Buying Land in Madrid & Málaga to Build 320 Homes

10 July 2018 – Eje Prime

Quabit is continuing to expand in Spain. The property developer is pushing ahead with its growth plan and, to this end, has completed the purchase of new plots of land in Estepona (Málaga) as well as in the Madrilenian towns of Azuqueca de Henares and San Agustín de Guadalix, for a total investment of €15.2 million. On these plots, the property developer will be able to build 320 new homes.

The operation follows another that the firm recently signed in Menorca, where it acquired a portfolio of residential land for €24.6 million. During the first half of the year, the company led and controlled by Félix Abánades (pictured above) invested €32 million in new land in total.

On these surface areas for residential use, which span a buildable area of 108,3000 m2, Quabit is going to build almost 900 homes, with a forecast turnover of €162 million.

Since the company launched its strategic plan 2017-2020, the real estate company has invested almost €200 million in the purchase of land for the construction of 4,850 homes. If we add those units to the ones still to be developed, the company has already fulfilled 75% of its development objective for 2022, which amounts to 7,900 homes.

Currently, Quabit has 45 developments up for sale with almost 3,300 homes being marketed, after ending 2017 with 1,700 units under construction located all over Spain. The property developer’s land bank exceeds 1.1 million m2 of buildable space, with capacity for the development of up to 8,800 homes.

Original story: Eje Prime 

Translation: Carmel Drake

Metrovacesa to Invest €400M in a 2,870-Home Residential Project in Sevilla

7 June 2018 – Eje Prime

Metrovacesa is looking south in its growth plan for the next few years. The listed property developer has unblocked, together with the Town Hall of Sevilla, what is going be its largest project outside of Madrid and Barcelona and what constitutes the largest development currently being planned in the Andalucían capital.

The project is going to bear the name of the Sevillan neighbourhood in which it is located, Palmas Altas Sur, and will consist of a 2,870-home development, of which 2,000 units will be built by Metrovacesa. The remainder will be social housing properties and their construction will be entrusted to the Town Hall, according to El Confidencial.

For the property developer, this land is the most significant plot that it has undeveloped at the moment in its Andalucían portfolio – that region accounts for 25% of the company’s total land bank. The first 600 homes in Palmas Altas Sur will start to be handed over from 2021. Moreover, Metrovacesa will also build 400 VPO homes as part of its construction plan for the area, which will last for five years.

In terms of investment, in the access routes and urbanisation of the land, Metrovacesa is going to invest €60 million, which will come from the corporate loan the firm signed with seven financial institutions at the end of 2017. For the construction of the residential buildings, Pérez de Leza has announced that they will be financed through property developer loans for each phase.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake

Aelca & Aedas Enter Final Round of Sareb’s Property Developer Venture

1 June 2018 – Eje Prime

The bad bank is gradually outlining what its property development venture in Spain is going to look like. Aelca and Aedas Homes are the final candidates in the bid to take over the land portfolio that the bad bank has put on the market in exchange for entering the share capital of one of the house builders. By contrast, Vía Célere has abandoned the competition, leaving the path clear for the other two operators.

According to sources familiar with the process, Vía Célere has decided not to submit a final proposal to Sareb. The property developer, controlled by Värde Partners (51%), together with other funds, decided against going forward to exploit the bad bank’s €1.2 billion portfolio.

The bet by the entity chaired by Jaime Echegoyen is also happening because its property developer partner is listed on the stock market, such as in the case of Aedas, or has the intention of doing so, such as Aelca. That means that the financial institution will be able to divest its shares easily in the future and make a gain. That point is likely to have been one of the reasons that led Vía Célere to back out of the deal, given that it has put the brakes on its stock market debut following the postponements announced by Testa and Azora.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake