Trajano Iberia Receives Offers of €60M+ For its Manoteras Business Park

2o June 2019 – El Confidencial

The Socimi Trajano Iberia has received several offers amounting to more than €60 million for the Isla de Manoteras Business Park in Madrid that it purchased three years ago for €44.3 million.

The asset, located on Avenida de Manoteras 48, in the Manoteras, Las Tablas and Sanchinarro office district of the Spanish capital, has a leasable surface area of 13,442 m2 and 274 parking spaces.

The Socimi created in 2015, which is managed and promoted by Deutsche Bank and in which the Alcaraz brothers hold a 10.55% stake, is hoping to close the operation at the beginning of July.

Original story: El Confidencial (by E. Sanz)

Translation: Carmel Drake

El Corte Inglés Closes Los Arcos & Bahía Sur Shopping Centres and Sells Them to Castellana Properties

27 May 2019 – Cinco Días

El Corte Inglés has reached an agreement with Castellana Properties to sell two shopping centres in Andalucía, specifically Los Arcos (11,000 m2) in Sevilla and Bahía Sur (12,000 m2) in Cádiz, for €36.8 million.

The deal will become effective on 30 September, on which date both the El Corte Inglés store in Bahía Sur and the Hipercor in Los Arcos will be closed. The department store group will use the funds to reduce its debt, which amounted to €3.7 billion at the end of the first half of 2018.

The operation does not form part of Project Green, the portfolio containing 95 non-strategic real estate assets that ECI has entrusted to PwC, and whose sale is still on-going. According to market sources, the only bid received so far for the entire portfolio has come from the US fund Apollo.

Meanwhile, the Socimi Castellana Properties, which is listed on the Alternative Investment Market (MAB), is controlled by the South African group Vukile, and has 17 assets in its portfolio including shopping centres, retail parks and offices spanning a combined leasable surface area of 317,106 m2, worth €916 million.

Original story: Cinco Días (by Alfonso Simón Ruiz & Javier García Ropero)

Translation/Summary: Carmel Drake

Logistics Socimi Tarjar Buys Commercial Plot in Madrid for €1.17M

16 May 2018 – Eje Prime

Tarjar Xairo will add a fifth asset to its portfolio next year. The logistics Socimi has just purchased a plot of buildable land in Madrid for €1.17 million, according to a statement filed by the company with the Alternative Investment Market (MAB).

The investment company is going to build a commercial premise on the site, which is located in the Cerro de las Columnas area of the Madrilenian town of Pozuelo de Alarcón. The building work for the construction of the asset will begin at the end of 2018 or the beginning of 2019. Tarjar will lease out the space once the project has been completed.

For the acquisition of the plot, the Socimi has signed a mortgage loan with CaixaBank amounting to €2.5 million. The company has used two of its existing industrial warehouses as collateral, located in Coslada (Madrid) at numbers 31 and 33 Calle Fuentemar. Tarjar is the landlord of the Catalan pharmaceutical giant Grifols in the first of those properties.

The loan will be repaid over 144 monthly instalments between now and 2032 and will have a fixed annual interest rate of 1.5% plus 12-month Euribor. The plot in Pozuelo will be added to the existing real estate portfolio, which already contains four industrial warehouses. Besides the two properties in Coslada, Tarjar owns a third logistics space in Madrid, at number 75 Calle Hierro. Moreover, beyond the Spanish capital, the Socimi owns a fourth asset on the Ribarroja del Turia industrial estate, in the province of Valencia.

In total, the four properties span a constructed surface area of around 25,000 m2 and a leasable surface area, primarily for industrial and office use, of 22,000 m2.

50% of Tarjar is currently under the control of María del Carmen Escribano Sánchez-Beato, who owns 86,692 shares in the Socimi. After her, the other two main shareholders are Juan Hernández Villa, who owns 12.7% of the Socimi, and Francisco Javier Echenique Gordillo, who owns 7.6%. Hernández Villa also manages the Socimi’s rentals through his company Arquibuba.

First anniversary on the MAB 

Tarjar Xairo started to operate as a listed company over a year ago now. The logistics Socimi rang the bell of the Alternative Investment Market (MAB) on 20 February 2017 with a company valuation of €9.2 million. The company, which thereby became the 30th Socimi to debut on the stock market, set an initial share price of €53.12.

Now, with twenty more Socimis trading on the MAB (50 in total), Tarjar is betting on buildable land for commercial use, which it hopes will allow it to continue growing. In 2017, the Socimi registered a profit of €118,710, with revenues of €377,509, according to the company’s public records (…).

Original story: Eje Prime (by J. Izquierdo)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Realia Puts “Los Cubos” Building Up For Sale For €57M

2 November 2016 – Expansión

Realia, the real estate company controlled by Carlos Slim, has decided to cash in one of its most iconic assets. The company has put the office building known as Los Cubos, in Madrid, up for sale.

The property, which owes its name to its unique architecture, has a leasable surface area of 18,324 m2 and 334 parking spaces. The building has been empty since the end of 2015.

Its location, alongside the M-30 and next to the headquarters of companies such as Iberia and Alstom – which occupy an adjacent office complex owned by Colonial and its unique design make it attractive in the market, even though it does not have any tenants, say sources in the market.

Realia has decided to put the property on the market for €57 million – in other words, for around €3,000/m2 -, although it is also considering a possible project to renovate it, according to sources in the sector. Realia bought the building, which was constructed in 1981, in July 2004 from the insurance company Allianz for €60 million.

Possible interested parties include large Socimis such as Axiare, Hispania and Lar España, which have experience buying and renovating empty properties of this kind, as well as international funds looking for investment opportunities in Spain, who are struggling to find available properties in the centre of Madrid and Barcelona, say real estate sources.

This is Realia’s first divestment in the Spanish market in recent years. In 2014, the real estate company sold its stake in the French Socimi Siic de Paris. Realia received €559 million from the sale of its 59% stake, which it used to reduce its debt by around €1,000 million.

As at 30 September 2016, the group’s financial debt amounted to €900 million, down by 20% compared with the same time last year.

During the first nine months of the year, Realia generated revenues of €71.7 million and profits of €89 million. Excluding extraordinary items, its recurring profit amounted to €17.6 million.

Original story: Expansión (by Rocío Ruiz)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Socimi Trajano Iberia Launches €47.2M Capital Increase

7 September 2016 – Expansión

The Socimi Trajano Iberia, which is listed on the MAB and managed by the real estate investment division of Deutsche Asset Management, is going to carry out a capital increase amounting to €47.2 million, with the aim of raising new funds to allow it to continue to benefit from the real estate cycle in Spain and Portugal.

The Socimi, which expects to have invested all of its initial funds (€182 million) by the end of this year, is on the look out for new investment opportunities.

On 14 June, Trajano approved a capital increase amounting to a maximum of €47,238,400, through the issue and placing into circulation of 4,723,840 new ordinary shares at €10/share, which represents a discount of 6% on the company’s current share price (of €10.65 per share) and 5% on its latest NAV, published at the end of 2015 (of €10.52 per share).

Trading of the subscription rights is expected to begin on 12 September and the preferential subscription period will last for one month.

The Company’s Board of Directors has ratified its plans to participate in the increase covering at least 58% of the maximum amount, which will amount to €27.5 million.

The team responsible for Deutsche Asset Management’s real estate division in Spain and Portfolio has undertaken transactions amounting to almost €1,000 million over the last 15 months and currently has a portfolio of assets under management amounting to around €1,300 million. To date, the Iberian portfolio comprises 17 real estate assets: 7 shopping centres, 7 office buildings and 3 logistics assets, with a combined leasable surface area of around 400,000 sqm.

Original story: Expansión

Translation: Carmel Drake

Q1 2016: Merlin’s Profits Soar By 131% To €45.2M

13 May 2016 – Negocios.com

Merlin recorded revenues of more than €78.4 million during Q2 2016, up by 141% compared to last year. EBITDA increased by 127% to reach €67 million.

The Socimi Merlin Properties confirmed the real estate recovery by generating a net profit of €45.23 million between January and March, up by 131% compared with Q1 2015, whilst its total revenues rose by 141% to reach €78.4 million, according to a statement sent by the company to the CNMV.

The company’s EBITDA increased by 127% to reach €67 million, and its gross annualised revenue amounted to €310.1 million, with an occupancy rate of 94.5% and a net asset value of €3,218.3 million.

In its statement, Merlin highlighted that it has accepted offers for more than 30 assets, worth over €50 million and explained that it will allocate most of those revenues to paying off some of its debt.

During the quarter, the company purchased assets amounting to almost €150 million, bringing its real estate portfolio at the end of March to 1,028 assets and a gross leasable surface area of 1.9 million sqm.

Original story: Negocios.com

Translation: Carmel Drake

Norwegian Pension Funds Sells Off Two Logistics Assets

22 April 2016 – Expansión

The Norwegian Pension Fund has sold its 50% stake in two logistics assets in Spain, which it held jointly with Prologis, for €25.1 million. The operation has been performed through Norges Bank Real Estate Management, the company that it created in 2014 to independently manage its investments in the real estate sector, which it expects to account for 5% of its investment portfolio in the future.

The properties, which have a combined leasable surface area of 96,000 m2, are located in Valencia and Zaragoza. The Fund acquired the assets in March 2013 for €20.6 million.

Original story: Expansión (by A. Medina)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Lar España Completes Acquisition of ‘Portal de la Marina’

4 April 2016 – Mis Locales

The Socimi, which already owned 59% of the asset and the hypermarket, has completed the acquisition of the remaining 41% stake for €14.58 million.

The Socimi Lar España Real Estate has acquired 41% of the company Puerta Marítima de Ondara, which, in turn, owns the Portal de la Marina de Ondara shopping centre in Alicante.

The Socimi had already acquired 59% of the company in October 2014, and it acquired the hypermarket in June 2015, in such a way that, following the recent acquisition, it now owns the entire Portal de la Marina shopping complex, worth €94.5 million.

Figures relating to activity at Portal de la Marina in 2015 clearly reveal its appeal, given that it recorded a 13% increase in sales compared with the previous year and a 6% increase in the number of visitors, to 3.76 million.

José Manuel Llovet, Director of Retail, said that “with this acquisition, we have consolidated 100% of Portal de la Marina, an excellent regional shopping complex, and this allows us to accelerate the decision making process and drive our ambitious management and value creation plans.

The shopping complex has a leasable surface area of approximately 40,000 m2, spread across 120 stores over two floors. It has eight cinema screens, with brands such as Cortefiel, H&M, Mango, C&A, Tien21 and eight brands from the Inditex Group, as well as 1,600 parking spaces.

Following this purchase, Lar España has now acquired assets worth €961 million, of which €686 million has been spent on the purchase of twelve retail premises located in Madrid, Valencia, Sevilla, Alicante, Cantabria, Lugo, León, Vizcaya, Navarra, Guipúzcoa, Palencia, Albacete and Barcelona; €150 million on the purchase of four office buildings in Madrid and one in Barcelona; €70 million on the acquisition of four logistics assets in Guadalajara and one in Valencia; and €55 million on the acquisition of a residential asset in Madrid.

Original story: Mis Locales

Translation: Carmel Drake

Merlin Buys Galp’s HQ & Another Property In Lisbon For €103M

15 March 2016 – Expansión

The Socimi Merlin Properties has purchased two properties in Lisbon, one of which is leased in its entirety to the oil firm Galp, for a combined total of €103 million, and has whereby strengthened its presence in the Portuguese capital, where it has an office portfolio comprising three buildings with a total leasable surface area of 42,842 m2.

The real estate company has explained that the acquisition price was fully paid down using own funds, and so the acquisition will generate an initial gross yield of 7.4% and an initial net yield of 6.5%.

Specifically, Merlin has acquired the Monumental building (pictured above), located in Plaza Duque de Saldanha – in the heart of the city’s financial district -, with a total leasable surfacea area of 22,387 m2, comprising offices and retail space. 89% of the offices are leased, to domestic and international firms, such as KPMG, Marsh and Mercer. Meanwhile, the retail area has 41 outlets.

The other property it has acquired is the Torre A Building, with a surface area of 13,715 m2, spread over 16 floors and leased to Galp under a long-term contract. Torre A forms part of another office complex, which contains eight buildings that have a surface area of more than 70,000 m2 and 1,683 parking spaces.

Merlin, which focuses on the Iberian market, made its debut in Portugal last June with the acquisition of an office building in Lisbon for €18 million.

The office building, located in the Expo area, is fully leased to Novabase. Meanwhile, Fidelity has notified the CNMV that it holds a 3.55% stake in Merlin, which is worth €117 million at the current share price.

Original story: Expansión (by Rebeca Arroyo)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Merlin Finances Logistics Assets With €68M Loan From ING

28 January 2016 – Expansión

The Socimi Merlin Properties has financed a portfolio of logistics assets through a loan from ING, amounting to €67.9 million. The loan contract has a five-year term and the debt represents around 55% of the asset value.

The seven distribution plants that Merlin has financed are located in logistics estates in areas of influence in Madrid, Valencia, Zaragoza and Vitoria. In total, they have a total leasable surface area of 211,291 m2.

It is not the first time that the largest Spanish Socimi has financed assets with the help of ING. Yesterday, the Director General of ING Wholesale Banking, Íñigo Churruca, said that “this operation is the third financing arrangement between the two companies”.

Merlin Properties, which joined the Ibex 35 in December, is the largest Spanish Socimi by asset volume. In total, it owns 990 properties, worth €5,807 million. It is also the largest Socimi in terms of logistics assets, with a total surface area under management of 1.3 million m2.

The Socimi, created by the management team of Magic Real Estate, with Ismael Clemente (pictured above, centre) at the helm as the President, signed its largest financing operation to date in December, when it secured a loan for €1,700 million from ten overseas financial entities, including ING.

That loan was used to pay off the debt owed by Testa, the real estate company purchased by the Socimi from Sacyr.

The remainder of Merlin Properties’s portfolio includes office buildings, bank branches, a shopping centre and a hotel, and its average occupancy rate amounts to around 94.5%.

Original story: Expansión (by M. Anglés)

Translation: Carmel Drake