Tag: Lisbon

BMO Debuts its New RE Vehicle in Spain with €1bn to Invest

15 May 2018 – Eje Prime

BMO Real Estate Partners is backing Spain with its new real estate investment vehicle. The international fund has just launched Best Value Europe II (BVE II), which will specialise in the high-street retail market. One of the company’s first purchases has been a prime asset in Madrid, which it bought together with another commercial premise in Verona (Italy): for the two properties, BMO paid €39 million.

Nevertheless, BMO’s new vehicle has the financing to spend a lot more. The fund’s initial plan involves creating a portfolio of assets worth €500 million, a figure that it plans to double to €1 billion over the medium-term, according to Business Inmo.

After its initial purchases in Madrid and Verona, the fund has also just closed its third acquisition in Lisbon. BMO has paid €15.2 million for that asset, which is located on Avenida da Liberdade, the main commercial thoroughfare in the Portuguese capital. The property, which has been completely renovated, is designated for mixed use as offices and retail space, and has a total surface area of 2,104 m2.

The path that BVE II will follow will be similar to that of the first vehicle that BMO launched for this market and which focused on finding high street premises on the most prime streets of the main European capitals. The predecessor of this new company has now invested more than 90% of its funds; it owns a portfolio containing 12 assets worth more than €700 million.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake

Medcap Diversifies & Allocates €50M to Alternative Investments & Portugal

19 March 2018 – Eje Prime

Medcap is starting 2018 by making new investments and entering new markets. Diversification and alternative assets are going to be the focus of the group over the coming months, which has just invested €50 million on its entry into Portugal and the launch of a healthcare assets investment division, according to explanations provided by Dimas de Andres, the group’s CEO to Eje Prime.

One of the main operations that Medcap is going to carry out this year, as well as continuing “to keep an eye on opportunities in the prime retail sector, which is one of the fund’s main activities” is going to be the launch of two out-of-town retail parks in the Portuguese market, specifically, in Lisbon and Porto.

The company has invested €30 million in the purchase of 2 plots of land, one spanning 19,000 m2 and the other measuring 27,000 m2, for the complete development of two commercial areas, which are going to be leased in their majority to a supermarket group, according to explanations from Medcap.

Medcap Real Estate, a company owned by the De Andrés Puyol family, has also explained that it is going to back alternative investments this year. The company is currently involved in a healthcare project in the Community of Valencia. With an investment of between €15 million and €20 million, Medcap is going to construct the building with all of the needs that a healthcare operator may have, in order to put it on the market and lease it or resell it.

With these types of assets, the company is going to focus its efforts on Valencia and Cataluña. “We are not afraid to continue buying in Spain: our investments in Madrid and Barcelona are still intact”, explains the CEO of the company. “We are long-termists and we are not afraid of the political situation”, he says.

In addition to its investments, the group is also starting a divestment phase in 2018. The company has already sold the NH Murcia Hotel, located in Cartagena, and a supermarket, also located in Cartagena, for €12.5 million. “At the end of the day, divestment forms part of our business too”, say sources at the company.

MedCap, ten prime assets

At the beginning of 2015, the De Andrés Puyol family constituted Medcap Real Estate to manage its portfolio of assets, formed as a result of the contribution by Inversora del Reino de Valencia of one of its branches of activity, which included all of the urban assets leased or offered as rental properties, as well as all of the shares of the subsidiary specialising in managing operations relating to prime retail.

Medcap’s shareholders have a long history in the real estate business, with extensive experience in the search for, development of and letting of assets. Medcap focuses its activity mainly on the prime segment given the greater stability of that sector. Nevertheless, it also has a portfolio of rental properties for operation such as supermarkets in more secondary areas.

Medcap has a pipeline of assets in different stages of development or study in Spain, the Netherlands and Italy. Its most noteworthy properties include the building at number 80 Paseo de Gracia, where the luxury firm Louis Vuitton has its flagship store in the Catalan capital, as well as the Desigual megastore on Plaza Cataluña and the Apple store on Paseo de Gracia, according to the firm’s annual accounts.

In Madrid, until January, the group was the owner of the Adidas flagship store at number 21 Gran Vía (pictured above), which it sold to Triuvua; and the Louis Vuitton flagship store at number 66 Calle Serrano in Madrid, amongst others. The valuation of Medcap’s prime retail assets exceeds €475 million, according to the most recent valuation performed by the company.

Original story: Eje Prime (by Custodio Pareja)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Neinor Expands Overseas & Finalises Purchase of 3 Plots in Lisbon

26 December 2017 – El Confidencial

The dream of making the leap overseas is increasingly closer to becoming a reality for Neinor. The property developer led by Juan Velayos is holding advanced talks to acquire three plots of land in Lisbon, according to sources familiar with the deal. Provided nothing goes awry, the deal is expected to close between the end of January and the beginning of February.

With this move, the company will fulfil its objective of entering the Portuguese market, where it first placed its focus several months ago in order to take advantage of the recovery happening in the country. The evolution there is expected to be similar to the recovery that Spain has been enjoying in recent times.

Neinor’s objective is to acquire sufficient plots of land to enable it to build 300 homes per year, a volume that would justify the opening of a dedicated office in Lisbon.

The acquisitions that the property developer currently has on the table would justify its debut in the neighbouring country, although the same sources also indicate that, currently, Neinor is in the “due diligence” phase and that all three plots must pass the test for it to go ahead with the agreement.

Although the entry into the Portuguese capital would represent Neinor’s international debut, the property developer regards the move in the context of the entire Iberian Peninsula representing a single market, albeit taking account of the Portuguese cultural, legal and regulatory rules.

In light of this commitment to urban housing, Neinor and its main shareholder, Lone Star, have taken the decision to not transfer to the property developer the plots of land that the fund acquired two years ago in the Algarve from Catalunya Banc.

The plots in question house the Vilamoura tourist complex, which spans a surface area of almost 2,000 hectares and a buildable area of 700,000 m2. More than 5,000 apartments and homes are going to be constructed there and the US fund engaged CBRE last autumn to start selling them.

During the first nine months of 2017, Neinor invested €275 million in buildable land, which means that it now has land for the immediate development of around 12,000 homes. It also generated revenues of €169.4 million, with a gross margin of €40.7 million.

Original story: El Confidencial (by Ruth Ugalde)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Valliance Puts Asset Portfolio On Madrid’s Gran Vía Up For Sale

17 November 2017 – Eje Prime

Valliance, the real estate services company specialising in investment operations, is reactivating the real estate sector on Gran Vía. The company has been selected to coordinate the sales process of a real estate portfolio comprising residential and commercial properties in one of the most iconic buildings on Gran Vía, Madrid.

Located between Plaza de Callao and Plaza de España, a Madrilenian family office has engaged Valliance to sell three residential units and five commercial assets.

All of them are located in one of Gran Vía’s most well-known buildings, which was constructed in 1923 and which has a comprehensive listing. “The scarcity of assets of this kind for sale on Gran Vía means that this portfolio represents a great investment opportunity”, explains Belén Díaz, Director General at Valliance in Spain.

Valliance is a real estate services company that specialises in real estate investment, divestment and value-enhancing operations. It advises on the buy- and sell-side of all kinds of real estate assets, including offices, shopping centres, retail premises, logistics warehouses and hotels.

The firm works in the Spanish market, as well as in the United Kingdom through a partnership with Lambert Smith Hampton. It also collaborates with partners in Lisbon and other European capitals to render its services. The company is also the capital markets arm of Gesvalt.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake

Vesta Real Estate Fund Invests €100M In Renewal In Portgual

26 October 2017 – Iberian Property

The new Vesta Real Estate Fund, which is headquartered in Luxembourg, is preparing to invest a total of €100 million in the acquisition and renewal of residential real estate in Portugal, and its subsequent retail sale.

The fund is the result of a partnership between Quantico, an investment company founded and headed by Carlos Vasconcellos Cruz (pictured above), Ubeda, from Carlos Mallo, and Bank of Andorra, specialised in private banking Andbank, and it is going to focus on opportunities in Lisbon, Estoril, Cascais and potentially Oporto.

With a lifespan of 6 years, this vehicle adopts the form of a SICAV-RAIF, supervised by the Luxembourg monetary authorities, and each property to renew will be acquired by a separate vehicle under Portuguese law. Clients of Andbank, Quantico and Ubeda, are the main participants of this fund, which has €100 million to apply over the next 12 to 18 months, according to a Quantico press release.

Carlos Vasconcellos and Carlos Mallo, advisors of the fund, explain that “despite an increase in the acquisition prices of real estate to renew in premium areas, there is still much work to be done and good investment opportunities in well-located buildings in prime areas of the city and Cascais, and which require deep renewal and high technical complexity”.

The managers explain that “we do not buy at speculative prices, and we believe that in Lisbon, Cascais and Oporto, there is room for selling prices to remain stable or even rise, as there is a significant gap between prices there and in other comparable European cities. Portugal, and particularly Lisbon/Cascais offer unbeatable levels of attractiveness and quality of life”.

Original story: Iberian Property (by Ana Tavares)

Edited by: Carmel Drake

Trajano Iberia Goes Shopping For Offices, Retail & Logistics Assets

31 May 2017 – Eje Prime

Trajano Iberia, the Socimi managed by Deutsche Bank (…) is drafting a roadmap for its upcoming acquisitions, which will see it buy assets worth up to €100 million in Spain and Portugal, according to a statement issued by the Socimi. The company highlighted that it is looking for commercial properties, “primarily, offices, retail premises, shopping centres and logistics assets”.

Madrid and Barcelona will be in the spotlight of Trajano Iberia, which began to trade on the Alternative Investment Market (MAB) back in July 2015. The group has set itself the objective of spending “between €10 million and €100 million” on the acquisition of assets over the next few months.

The type of properties that Trajano Iberia wants to incorporate into its asset portfolio include: offices that need refurbishing or that are empty in prime and semi-prime areas of Barcelona and Madrid; prime offices and retail assets in Lisbon and Spain’s secondary cities; prime shopping centres in Spain’s secondary cities; and prime logistics centres located in the vicinity of transport hubs.

In this way, Trajano Iberia will be able to diversify its range of assets, given that until now, it has been more focused on buying large shopping centres in major cities in Spain and Portugal. One of the Socimi’s most recent purchases was the Alcalá Magna shopping centre, in Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), for which it paid Incus Capital €100 million. (…).

As at the end of 2016, the asset portfolio of the Socimi, chaired by José Moya Sanabria, was valued at more than €200 million and comprised four properties. The Socimi, which plans to increase its portfolio to more than €300 million before the end of the year, acquired its first property in October 2015 (…). A month later, in November, Trajano added the Nosso shopping centre, located in the Portuguese city of Vila Real to its collection of assets, for which it paid €54 million. Then in 2016, the Socimi acquired the Manoteras office building in Madrid, for €45 million. In the middle of last year, the group also bought the Plaza logistics park in Zaragoza, for €43.8 million.

Since its constitution in March 2015, Trajano Iberia has raised funds amounting to approximately €95 million. The administrators and managers of the company estimate a maximum investment period of 2 years (…).

Original story: Eje Prime (by C. Pareja)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Madrid’s Town Hall Prepares To Legislate For Tourist Apartments

30 April 2017 – El Confidencial

The Town Hall of Madrid has decided to take the lead regarding the problem of the proliferation of tourist homes in the capital. Although it lacks the power to introduce legislation (that responsibility lies with the Community of Madrid), the Town Hall’s Councillor for Sustainable Urban Development is working towards signing a Memorandum of Understanding with Airbnb, and the other platforms that operate in the city, to try to put some order to a situation that isn’t showing any signs of letting up. (…).

José Manuel Calvo (pictured above), Councillor for Sustainable Urban Development, plans to have the agreement ready before the end of this legislature.

Specifically, there are three measures that the Town Hall of Madrid is hoping to extrapolate from an example that it has been studying in Amsterdam. The first is “to establish a maximum period of time, be it 60 days, 120 days, etc, that an owner may lease his/her property (home/room) for each year and for the platform to withdraw the property in question from its website, once that quota has been reached, until the following year”.

The second measure involves ensuring that only the owner of a property may lease it out, whereby preventing the involvement of any companies. This will allow “people who need to supplement their mortgage payments, or who need to lease their house to make ends meet, to continue to let out their homes/rooms, but it prevents people from creating tourist accommodation companies without paying taxes, or complying with legislation, etc”.

The crux of the agreement comes in the third measure: “we are considering a tourist tax for tourist homes only, not for hotels, given that hotels already pay taxes, fees, fulfil their obligations etc. Meanwhile, tourist homes do not currently pay any taxes. In other Central European cities, and even in some American cities, some of the landlords’ profits are reinvested in the town, in agreement with the operators”, said Calvo.

With this new revenue stream, the Town Hall could finance the systems of control that it plans to implement to verify that Airbnb and its competitors are complying with the agreed conditions.

But the problem of the touristification or gentrification of the centre of Madrid goes beyond the tourist homes and also affects the proliferation of hotels, to the detriment of residential buildings; another challenge that Calvo wants to tackle by limiting changes of use. (…).

Although he acknowledged that “Madrid faces a very different situation in terms of hotels to Barcelona, Venice and Lisbon (we have 2.7 beds for every 1,000 inhabitants, compared to 8 in Barcelona)”, he also admits that he is worried by the degree of saturation that is starting to be seen in certain neighbourhoods in the centre, where limits do need to start being imposed (…).

“Madrid undoubtedly still has the capacity to increase its hotel and tourist capacity, but, the question is whether that should all be concentrated in the centre, in the same neighbourhoods, where the residential fabric is being pushed out by the increase in hotels and tourist apartments? We don’t think so, we need to diversify. Ideally, they would go towards the Arganzuela district, towards Chamartín, towards Chamberí, to the outskirts, to the other side of the M-30…”.

And it was on this point that Calvo was most belligerent, going as far as to state that he would be willing to set thresholds, to establish limits in those areas where saturation is detected. (…).

Original story: El Confidencial (by Ruth Ugalde)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Clemente: “Merlin May Participate In A Future Wave Of Socimi Mergers”

26 April 2017 – Cinco Días

He is one of the stars of the new real estate sector. In 2014, Ismael Clemente (…) created the Socimi Merlin Properties out of nothing. In less than three years, it had debuted on the Ibex 35 to become the largest player in the sector by market capitalisation. The company’s CEO convinced international funds to back the recovery in Spain and later on, he adopted an aggressive acquisitions policy.

First, Merlin acquired Testa from Sacyr, and then it absorbed the tertiary assets (shopping centres and offices) of Metrovacesa, which made way for Santander and BBVA to enter that company as major shareholders. Merlin Properties now has properties amounting to almost €10,000 million in its portfolio. Here, Cinco Días interviews the CEO.

Q: Merlin has grown very quickly. What are your plans now?

A: During 2017, we are focusing on managing our assets and on consolidating the company after several years of rapid growth. Over the next few years, we will invest in creating value from our properties, above all, rather than in buying more assets on the market. Right now, it is hard to justify any asset purchases to our shareholders because of the prices.

Q: In other words, you are going to withdraw from the market because of the high prices?

A: It seems like we have been very active in the market, given our recent acquisition of Torre Agbar in Barcelona, but really, since the middle of 2016, we have had a quiet period. Nevertheless, we knew that we wanted to increase our exposure in Barcelona and Lisbon and that is what we have done.

Q: What do you think about the future of the Socimis?

I think that we have a rather interesting period to look forward to because the Socimis have undergone a settling down period, and are now focusing on different specialisation strategies. There will be less purchasing activity and we will see more M&A activity between entities. (…).

Q: Might Merlin participate in any mergers?

A: Maybe, but it will take a while for the merger period to really get going. If we find something that we think may have value for our shareholders, then we may participate in the future wave of mergers between the Socimis.

Q: Why would Merlin be interested in that?

A: We would be interested if we could strengthen one of our areas of activity, if it was good for us from a cash flow point of view or if such an operation would contribute an asset that complemented the quality of our portfolio particularly well.

Q: Will we see mergers amongst the large players?

A: There are two very large players, us and Colonial, which is not actually a Socimi, even though it may as well be. Any of the large players could be interested in any of the small entities on the stock market, and even, eventually, on the MAB.

Q: Can we expect to see mergers in 2017?

A: It is still too early. I think that we will see some activity from 2018 onwards. What we are not going to see is mergers between real estate companies and residential developers. I don’t think that there will be any interaction between those two sectors. The starting point features five large players, including Colonial as a Socimi equivalent, and 30 entities on the MAB, where the largest players are GMP and Iba Capital. (…).

Original story: Cinco Días (by Alfonso Simón Ruiz)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Merlin Buys Office Building In Portugal For €29M

19 April 2017 – Expansión

Last week, Merlin Properties announced a new investment in the Portuguese market. The Socimi in which Santander, BBVA and Popular own a stake, has acquired the Central Office building, located in the Expo area of Lisbon.

The property, located on the main avenue of Parque de las Naciones in the Portuguese capital, has a surface area of 10,310 m2, spread over 13 floors, plus 265 parking spaces.

Merlin has paid €29 million for the building, in other words, around €2,850 /m2, which places its initial gross yield at 6.8%. The property is leased out in its entirety to “first-rate companies”, said the Socimi.

The Socimi, which owns assets worth more than €9,800 million, has identified Madrid, Barcelona and Lisbon as the main destinations for its office investments. In the Portuguese capital, it already owns 50,000 m2.

Merlin Properties, which debuted on the stock market in the summer of 2014 without any assets on its balance sheet, closed 2016 with a net profit of €582.6 million and a recurrent EBITDA of €303.6 million, after recording revenues from property rentals amounting to €351 million.

The Socimi’s share price rose on the stock market on Tuesday (11 April, the date the office purchase was announced) by 0.23%, taking the share price to €10.84. Its market capitalisation exceeds €3,500 million.

Original story: Expansión (by Rocío Ruiz)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Banco de Portugal Chooses Lone Star To Buy Novo Banco

5 January 2017 – ABC

The Board of Directors of Banco de Portugal has selected the US fund Lone Star to participate in the final negotiations to purchase Novo Banco. Its decision is based on the fund’s €770 million proposal, which would be accompanied by a subsequent injection of an equivalent amount to strengthen the bank’s capital.

But Antonio Costa’s Socialist Government will have the last word, and so the complex process is far from complete. Even so, it is clear that Lone Star’s offer is the most attractive, after the bid from the Chinese giant Minsheng was deemed to lack the necessary financial guarantees.

Lone Star’s only competitor in the bidding was an alliance between two other US private equity funds, Apollo and Centerbridge, whose most senior managers travelled to Lisbon to try to complete their negotiations against the clock.

The major difficulty stems from the fact that Lone Star is shielding itself through the creation of a commission bridge that holds Novo Banco’s non-strategic assets. Novo Banco is the cleaned up heir of the now extinct entity Espírito Santo. That situation is something that concerns the Portuguese Finance Minister, Mário Centeno, to such an extent that he has even raised the possibility of nationalising the entity.

In any case, the proposal from Lone Star falls well below the figure required for the operation to be considered a success by the Portuguese State, given that it put €4,900 million on the table in 2014 to avoid the total collapse of the entity when Espírituo Santo went bankrupt that same year.

Original story: ABC (by Francisco Chacón)

Translation: Carmel Drake