Tag: Lara family

2018: The Year that Blackstone was Crowned the King of the Spanish Real Estate Sector

17 December 2018 – Eje Prime

Blackstone wants it all and it wants it now. That is the sensation that the US investment fund, the new king of the Spanish real estate market, is transmitting throughout the real estate sector. Its portfolio is worth more than €20 billion after an accelerated period of purchases during 2018.

One of the objectives of the US fund manager has been, precisely, to expand its network in the Spanish real estate sector by entering markets such as the logistics segment. At the beginning of December, the company closed its latest operation in the country with the purchase of a logistics portfolio from Neinver for €300 million.

Nevertheless, the deal involving the giant Neinver is by no means the most significant operation that Blackstone has undertaken this year. Over the last twelve months, the group has taken control of Hispania, to grow in the hotel sector; it has acquired 80% of Testa, to manage thousands of rental homes, and in the logistics sector, it has accumulated 1 million m2 of space with the 55 assets from Neinver and the purchase of an industrial portfolio from Lar España.

Blackstone has disbursed almost €4 billion in the Spanish real estate sector this year, a figure that far exceeds the €127.5 million that it spent on its first investment in the domestic market in 2013. Moreover, that debut was not free from controversy, given that the group purchased 18 residential developments, containing 1,860 social housing units, which the Town Hall of Madrid sold the fund through the Municipal Housing and Land Company of Madrid (Emvsa).

Five years later, Blackstone is one of the largest owners of residential assets in Spain and the leader of the hotel sector. It leapt to first position in the hotel market ranking this year following its successful takeover of the Socimi Hispania. The company paid €1.99 billion for that vehicle, managed by Azora. With that operation, the fund added 46 assets and almost 13,150 rooms in Spain to a portfolio that it started to grow in 2017 with the purchase of HI Partners, the hotel arm of Banco Sabadell, for €630 million. In total, the manager owns 63 assets and almost 18,000 hotel rooms across Spain.

Hispania also provided Blackstone with residential assets worth €230 million, as well as 25 office buildings whose market value exceeds €600 million. Also in that segment, the company added the iconic Planeta office building in Barcelona to its portfolio during 2018, which it purchased from the Lara family in July for €210 million.

Spain, 20% of its global portfolio

Today, Spain accounts for 20% of Blackstone’s global investment. In total, the US firm owns property worth almost USD 120,000 million (€105,387 million) around the world. This real estate giant has become the largest unlisted real estate company in Spain (…).

The superiority of Blackstone’s portfolio in Spain with respect to those of the large domestic real estate firms is clear. The two largest players, Merlin and Colonial, are ranked within the top 15 Socimis in Europe and, yet, their portfolios are worth just half of that of the fund, at €11.785 billion and €11.19 billion, respectively.

Santander’s best friend

As well as mixing with other real estate players, Blackstone has made friends with some of the Spanish financial institutions. The banks, big losers in the previous real estate cycle, have worked hard over the last two years to place their property with the highest bidder, taking advantage of the new boom in the residential market.

In this way, in 2017, Banco Santander agreed with Blackstone the largest operation involving the sale of toxic assets from the real estate sector in the country. The fund manager purchased 51% of Popular’s property, a portfolio with €30,000 million in assets.

The relationship with the bank owned by the Botín family has been strengthened in 2018 with Project Quasar, the real estate firm created by the financial institution and the fund. The joint venture received a capital injection amounting to €300 million in May. Through this vehicle, the transfer of Popular’s assets is being carried out.

In order to place this property into circulation, as part of the operation in 2017, Blackstone also acquired the bank’s servicer, Aliseda, led by Eduard Mendiluce (…), who also manages the Socimi Albirana.

Albirana Properties is one of four residential Socimis that Blackstone currently has listed on the Alternative Investment Market (MAB). The others are Fidere Patrimonio, Corona Patrimonial and Torbel Investments.

Original story: Eje Prime (by Jabier Izquierdo)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Blackstone has Created a RE Giant in Spain Worth €20bn

4 September 2018 – Expansión

In just five years, the US fund has become the largest owner of hotels and one of the biggest landlords in the country. Moreover, it manages several major mortgage portfolios.

Blackstone made its first foray into the Spanish real estate market in July 2013, with the purchase from the Municipal Housing and Land Company of Madrid (EMVS) of 18 residential developments, containing 1,860 homes in total, in the Madrilenian neighbourhoods of Carabanchel, Centro, Villa de Vallecas and Villaverde for almost €126 million.

Since then, the US fund, one of the largest investment firms in the world, has turned the Spanish real estate sector into one of its favourite destinations for investment, encouraged by the boom that the market in Spain has experienced over the last five years.

Blackstone’s dominance in the Spanish market is now unquestionable. Since 2012, the US fund has acquired property in the country worth almost €20 billion and it is now the owner of several listed vehicles, as well as of some of the main asset managers in the country.

With that figure, which accounts for 20% of the €100 billion that Blackstone Real Estate has invested around the world, the firm is the country’s largest private manager of real estate assets, including properties and portfolios of mortgages.

In Spain, the fund was one of the first to back the residential segment when the real estate market was still struggling and it has been one of the most active players in the purchase of asset portfolios containing NPLs and REOs from financial institutions.

The fund’s purchase of homes in Madrid from EMVS in 2013 was soon followed by the acquisition of another 1,000 social housing properties from Sareb and FCC. Those homes are owned by Fidere, the fund’s first Socimi, which made its debut on the Alternative Investment Market (MAB) in 2015.

In the same year, Blackstone completed its first major operation with the purchase from Catalunya Caixa of a portfolio comprising 40,000 loans in total, worth €6.4 billion. Blackstone paid €3.5 billion for that portfolio, known as Hercules.

A year later, the US fund purchased the Catalan entity’s real estate manager (without any assets), which was later renamed Anticipa.

Nowadays, that company manages the more than 12,000 rental homes which Blackstone has been purchasing from the banks in different portfolios and which it controls through the Socimi Albirana, which made its stock market debut in 2016, and Torbel Investments.

Popular’s property

Two years after purchasing the Hercules portfolio, Blackstone hit the headlines again with the purchase from Santander of 51% of Banco Popular’s real estate business, with a book value of around €10.3 billion. With that acquisition, Blackstone increased its commitment to Spain and become the most active overseas investment fund in the country. To group together those assets, months later, Blackstone and Santander created Project Quasar Investment, a company that also includes the marketing platform Aliseda (…).

In addition, (…) the US fund has launched itself into the hotel segment, to take advantage of the good times being enjoyed in the tourist sector at the moment. Blackstone’s first incursion into that market in Spain was the acquisition of HI Partners from Sabadell last summer for €630 million. Through that platform, Blackstone owns 17 hotels in Spain comprising more than 4,500 rooms.

Takeover of Hispania

A few months after that acquisition, the US investment firm made a bid for Hispania, the Spanish Socimi specialising in hotels managed by Azora, which owns 46 assets and almost 13,150 rooms in Spain (…). Following that operation, which valued the Socimi at €1.99 billion, the US fund controls almost 91% of Hispania.

As well as hotels, Hispania owns 25 office buildings, with a market value of more than €600 million and residential assets worth €230 million, which now also form part of the fund’s assets (…).

Blackstone is also a star player in the logistics sector. The fund currently controls 10% of the Pan-European platform Logicor, which manages approximately 1.2 million m2 of logistics space in Spain (…).

Also, in July, it purchased five logistics warehouses from the Socimi Lar (…) for almost €120 million.

The fund’s most recent purchase was the headquarters of Planeta, located on Avenida Diagonal in Barcelona, which it acquired from the Lara family for €210 million (…).

Original story: Expansión (by Rebeca Arroyo)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Blackstone Acquires Planeta’s HQ from the Lara Family for €210M

12 July 2018 – Expansión

Inversiones Hemisferio, a company owned by different branches of the Lara family, has reached an agreement with the US fund Blackstone to sell the headquarters of the editorial and media group Planeta before Banco Sabadell can repossess the building in exchange for the debt taken out at the time by the family holding company.

According to sources close to the operation, Blackstone is going to pay €210 million for the property located on Avenida Diagonal in Barcelona, where Planeta will continue as the tenant. The rental income will generate a yield of less than 4% for the investor.

In May, the Lara family, owner of Planeta, agreed to transfer the building, worth €170 million, to Banco Sabadell, but was given until September to try to find another buyer on its own and attempt to agree a higher price.

The complex has a total surface area of 27,000 m2, of which 25,000 m2 correspond to office space, leased to Planeta and other tenants, therefore Blackstone will be paying €8,000/m2. The same sources assure that that buyer and seller have already reached an agreement on the price and conditions and that the operation is just pending the signatures.

In 2001, the Lara family purchased the building – the former headquarters of Banca Catalana – for around €100 million. In 2006, Inversiones Hemisferio, together with other real estate companies, such as the firm owned by Mango’s boss, Isak Andic, Joaquín Folch Rosiñol (Industrias Titán) and Héctor Colonques (Porcelanosa), purchased 12% of Banco Sabadell for €1.295 billion. The Lara family controlled 3% of the bank, but during the crisis, Sabadell’s share price plummeted and Hemisferio was obliged to offer up the building on Avenida Diagonal by way of guarantee.

Hemisferio’s debt with the bank matures in September. Sabadell and the Lara family agreed to transfer the asset two months ago if Hemisferio did not manage to sell the building sooner on its own for a higher price. This situation forced the real estate company owned by the family behind Planeta to organise the sale of the building in record time and to find a buyer with sufficient financial standing to fork out the more than €200 million that it was asking for with the utmost speed. The process was entrusted to the consultancy firm CBRE.

With this operation, Blackstone is further strengthening its commitment to Spain, where it has invested in the real estate sector through the purchase of Anticipa, the former real estate division of Catalunya Caixa, and of HI Partners, created from the hotel assets of Banco Sabadell.

Original story: Expansión (by Marisa Anglés)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Banco Sabadell Finalises Purchase of the Planeta Building in Barcelona

24 May 2018 – Eje Prime

Firstly, some of the tenants vacated Edificio Planeta and now the property itself looks set to change hands. The iconic asset belonging to the Lara family, owner of the publishing group that gives it its name, located in the centre of Barcelona, is very close to ending up in the hands of Banco Sabadell.

The Spanish bank is finalising the purchase of the building, taking advantage of the debt restructuring process that the Hemisferio group is currently undertaking. Moreover, in this regard, Sabadell may have required the resignation of José Lara García as director, according to La Vanguardia.

Owned by Planeta since 2001, the property will lose the multinational publicity group McCann as a tenant on 31 May; that firm is moving to a newly renovated building in the most sought-after business centre of the Catalan capital, 22@, as reported by Eje Prime.

Constructed in 1979, Edificio Planeta, which cost the publishing group €100 million, is the fruit of work by the architects Tous and Fargas, who received the commission from Banco Industrial de Catalunya. Its surface area of 26,000 m2, spread over three octagonal towers, will form part of Sabadell’s portfolio. As such, the entity will acquire an asset situated very close to the towers of its competitor, La Caixa.

Original story: Eje Prime 

Translation: Carmel Drake

The Lara Family Sells Roca Junyent’s HQ For €55M+

3 October 2016 – Expansión

The Lara family, owner of Planeta, has sold the historical headquarters of Roca Junyent on Calle Aribau in Barcelona for more than €55 million. The buyer, a real estate fund linked to the Swiss bank UBS, will maintain the long-term lease contract with the law firm Miquel Roca, which occupies eight of the building’s twelve floors. The four remaining floors are leased to the medical centre QMS (Quality Medical Service).

The building has a surface area of 11,000 sqm, of which 8,600 sqm are used offices, 1,360 sqm are used as a commercial space on the ground floor, which is occupied by QMS, and a basement measuring 1,270 sqm.

The Lara family’s real estate company, Inversiones Hemisferio, bought the building from Colonial in 2007, just before the burst of the real estate bubble for €55 million and it has now sold it for a slightly higher figure.

This operation confirms that investment prices of buildings in Barcelona have now returned to their pre-crisis levels, driven by a shortage of assets for sale and the priority of large funds to invest in the real estate sector.

Despite the strong international demand to invest in cities such as Barcelona, the volume of investment in the city’s real estate sector is lower so far in 2016 than it was this time last year. In 2015, the Catalan capital broke records, with total investment of €2,000 million. Of that, 85% came from international buyers.

Despite the sluggish first half of 2016, which the sector attributed to the lack of assets for sale and the political uncertainty, the second half of the year has started with more movement in the investment market and all indications are that the final quarter of the year will be very busy in terms of the closure of operations whose negotiations are already being finalised.

Original story: Expansión (by M. Anglés and J. Orihuel)

Translation: Carmel Drake