Tag: listed company

Grupo Iffe Acquires Promorent & Implements a Change in Strategy

25 February 2019 – Eje Prime

Promorent, the second Socimi to enter the Alternative Investment Market (MAB), is changing hands. The company has been acquired by the Institute of Financial and Business Training (“el Instituto de Formación Financiera y Empresarial” or Grupo Iffe), which has purchased a majority stake through a capital increase amounting to €33.7 million, according to confirmation provided by David Carro Meana, CEO of Iffe, speaking to Eje Prime.

Following the operation, the company will cease trading as a Socimi and it has already filed a request with the MAB to enter the segment of expanding businesses under the name Iffe Futura. The group has also approved an increase in its share capital, at an extraordinary shareholders meeting, to take the leap into the field of property development.

Until now, Promorent was a Socimi with a real estate disposition. Now, with the entry of Grupo Iffe, it will also be a property developer. Moreover, the company’s new statutes provide for the possibility of acquiring and administering shares in other companies, even if they are not Socimis.

The new Board of Directors of Iffe Futura will be led by David Carro Meana. The President of Grupo Iffe will become the President and CEO of the company (…).

With this operation, Grupo Iffe is taking control of a listed company and consolidating its business as a property developer. The company, which is headquartered in Oleiros, A Coruña, already operates three other main lines of business: a business school, a financial consultancy and a business incubator.

Promorent, constituted in November 2011, has been a real estate company until now. It was promoted by the Pavón Olid family group and it was the second Socimi to make its debut on the MAB in December 2013. The company has a diversified portfolio comprising 18 assets: 11 homes in the centre of Madrid, 4 commercial premises and 3 plots (…).

Original story: Eje Prime (by Roger Arnau)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Urbas’s Share Price Rallies Following the Publication of its 5-Year Strategic Plan

8 January 2019 – Idealista

Few events are as long-awaited by investors and analysts as the presentation of the strategic plan of a listed company. Above all, when that company has had a difficult year on the stock market, such as the case of Urbas. The real estate company, a classic amongst the ‘small cap’ or companies with a small market capitalisation in the Spanish market, is leading the first stock market rally of 2019 in the sector after losing almost 75% of its value in 2018.

During the first week of the year, Urbas’s share price has recorded a large rise of 30%. In reality, the reaction began during the final week of last year, when the group revealed the broad strokes of its strategy for the period 2019-2024. Its plan pivots around a reduction in the level of debt, generating value from its assets and the payment of a dividend from 2022.

The market has picked up on the company’s message, which with a land portfolio of almost 18 million m2, also wants to provide a new boost to its property developer business. But its number one objective is to reorganise its debt balance, which amounted to €194 million at the end of the third quarter, up by 3.7% compared to the same period a year earlier. The figure contrasts with the just over €16 million that the company is currently worth on the stock market.

The objective is to reduce the debt figure to €86 million. To achieve that, Urbas faces the challenge of moving forward with the dual negotiations that it is holding on the one hand with its creditor banks and on the other hand with Sareb to refinance its indebtedness to the necessary levels to allow it to handle new investments.

Therefore, the group’s plans are aggressive, as shown by the fact that Urbas wants to finish the first year of its new business plan with revenues of more than €20 million and a net profit of more than €14 million. By the end of the period, in 2024, the forecasts skyrocket. But, today, the reality of the group is very different. Until 30 September, Urbas lost €5 million due to the effect of the financial interest adjustment made and its revenues slightly exceeded €2 million.

In any case, the sharp rise in Urbas’s share price so far this year should be considered with the utmost caution. It is a very small security with very limited liquidity, which means that its movements may be brusque and fast, both up and down. In recent years, it has recorded large fluctuations. With the sole exception of 2017, the share price has always moved by at least 33% in each of the last nine years (…).

Original story: Idealista 

Translation: Carmel Drake

Urbania Developer: Panamanian Capital Promotes 20 Developments in Valencia

31 July 2018 – Eje Prime

Numerous Spanish real estate entrepreneurs crossed the pond when the Spanish property sector crashed at the end of the 2000s. One of the property developers who got on a plane when the walls of the real estate sector were starting to crack in Spain was Juan Antonio Claveria. That Valencian businessman is now back on his home turf with Urbania Developer, a Panamanian real estate company that is planning to “have up to twenty projects under development over the next three years in the Community of Valencia”, explained Claveria to Eje Prime.

The Spanish businessman is the CEO of Urbania Developer, a company listed on the Panamanian stock market, which he created last year together with his partners, the local investors Yasser Williams and Omar Fricentese. “The company’s share capital is 100% private”, highlighted Claveria.

The three have recently teamed up with the Valencian builder José Vicente Roig, who has included the assets of the former property developer Patrimonios del Levante in the group. With those, the real estate company has launched its growth plan in the Community of Valencia, where the firm already has eight projects underway or on the verge of being executed.

“We are interested in towns with between 200,000 and 300,000 inhabitants”, explains Claveria, who is also attracted to “those suburbs that have between 40,000 and 80,000 inhabitants, which are well connected by metro”. Public transport links and the proximity to the capital of Valencia are the key aspects of the investment policy that Urbania Developer is going to carry out. It is turning its back on the overheating of prices that is being recorded in the centre of the city.

Torrent, Paterna, Mislata, Benimamet and Paiporta are the towns on the outskirts of Valencia where Urbania Developer has residential projects underway at the moment. Nevertheless, “we are now finalising the purchase of new plots of land”, said Claveria, who indicated that his company could close around half a dozen operations soon.

Moreover, the property developer has already expanded its business to the south of Valencia with the purchase of a “small plot” in Alicante. Size is important for the company, which projects developments comprising “between eight and thirty homes”. “In Castellón, we are also looking at plots”, said the businessman, who wants to focus solely on the Community of Valencia in this first phase of his arrival in Spain (…).

Currently, the property developer has more than 5,000 homes built or under construction in Panama, the epicentre of the company’s business,  as well as in Paraguay and Nicaragua. In the Panamanian market alone (“the Switzerland of Latin America”, according to Claveria), the property developer manages 2.2 million m2 of residential land spread over 18 projects.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake

Ores Acquires Millenium Retail Park in Madrid for €31M

20 July 2018 – Eje Prime

Ores is still on its shopping spree in Spain. The Socimi owned by Bankinter and Sonae Sierra has acquired the Millenium retail park in Madrid from the property developer Procinco for €31 million. The investment reinforces the new asset purchase plan that is being developed by the company, the most active of the entities listed on the Alternative Investment Market (MAB) so far this year.

Millenium is a commercial complex located in El Carralero, within the municipality of Majadahonda, which was inaugurated in 2002. It has a gross leasable area of 11,353 m2 and its tenants include Media Markt, Aldi and Toys’r’us. Savills Aguirre Newman and JLL have advised Procinco on the sale.

“This operation demonstrates the high degree of interest from institutional investors in retail parks in Spain”, says Salvador González, National Director of Capital Markets at Savills Aguirre Newman.

In June, Ores purchased a package of four retail premises from Inditex for €12.5 million. With these latest operations, the Socimi is continuing with its new growth phase, which is going to be financed with a €140 million loan. With that financial injection, the group is going to undertake new real estate acquisitions in Spain and Portugal.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake

Nyesa Buys 2 Residential Plots in Madrid for €3.6M

18 June 2018 – Eje Prime

The historical firm Nyesa is building homes again in Spain. The group has purchased two plots for residential use in Madrid for €3.6 million. Located in Vicálvaro, in the southeast of the Spanish capital, the plots have a buildable surface area of 5,700 m2, according to explanations provided by the company.

On this land, the real estate company is going to build private housing in its return to the domestic residential market. Having returned to the stock market in January, after six years of lethargy and emerging from creditors’ bankruptcy, Nyesa is going to build flats in El Cañaveral, “one of the largest urban developments in Spain, with a surface area of 5.3 million m2 and plans for 14,000 new homes to be built in the area over the coming years”, said the group.

This new project represents the relaunch of the group’s real estate development division, which has projects underway in Russia and Costa Rica. Listed on the stock market since 1989, its largest shareholders include Grupo Gaber, which controls 23.97% of the company; Grupo Eldarov, owner of 13.88%; Aqualdre, owner of 12.29%; and Fanumceo and Andrei Ivanov with smaller stakes of 8.97% and 5.57% of the company, respectively.

Recently, Nyesa divested some of its business in Costa Rica, with the sale of part of one of its projects in the Central American country to the local businessman Humberto Vargas for €21 million. The surface area transferred amounts to 140 hectares and is located within the La Roca resort, the largest in Costa Rica and one of the largest in all of Latin America.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake

Sareb Plans To Return €6,000M To Its Shareholders

16 June 2016 – Expansión

Sareb has a business plan on the table that involves returning its shareholders all of their investments, including an annualised return of between 1% and 2%. According to the explanation provided yesterday by the Chairman of the company, Jaime Echegoyen, these plans involve paying back €6,000 million to the banks and insurance companies that hold its share capital, together with the Fund for Restructuring (the Frob).

Between 2012 and 2013, those shareholders invested €4,800 million in Sareb – €1,200 million in share capital and €3,600 million in subordinated debt. The investors have already written off around three quarters of that amount.

Echegoyen, who was speaking yesterday at an event organised by UIMP, Apie and BBVA, did not specify whether the €6,000 million would be returned in cash or by handing over assets that the bad bank has not been able to sell by the time it has to be wound up, November 2027.

The Chairman of Sareb praised the role of the entities that supported the creation of the company, all of the major banks with the exception of BBVA. (…). The company’s most senior executive said that it was “time to help the whole country” (…).

Podemos’ plans

Echegoyen also made reference to the possibility that Sareb may be converted into a public housing stock, as proposed by (the political party) Podemos, something that in his opinion would have serious consequences for the Spanish economy.

“I don’t think we should forget that Sareb owes €43,000 million. If anyone wants to do anyhing with Sareb, they would have to deal with Parliament first and then Brussels”, he explained, before adding that “those €43,000 million would mean raising the deficit by 4 percentage points”.

Meanwhile, Sareb’s Chairman reported that the company has now sold 35,000 properties since it was created, although the rate of sales has decelerated slightly in 2016, to 25 homes per day, compared with the average of 27 since 2013. Despite that, he said that “we are performing in line with budget” and he maintained the goal to “stop losing money in 2017”.

This slight slowdown has happened despite the fact that the real estate market is experiencing a “sweet moment”, according to Echegoyen. This is reflected by the fact that new, more conservative, investors, “such as Socimis, family offices, insurance companies and private banks have covered the gap left by the opportunists”.

The importance of property

According to the executive, low interest rates are encouraging investors to pay attention to real estate assets. “Property is intrinsic to human beings, above all Spaniards”, he said. “Banks are still granting finance, but are no longer allowing any nonsense”, he added.

The Chairman of Sareb acknowledges that competition is being felt from other banks when it comes to selling properties, although he pointed out that the financial institutions are in more of a hurry to sell given the pressures (they face) from the stock market and capital requirements.

“We have time, a trump card, on our side, which lasts for the next 12 years. Furthermore, we are never going to be listed on the stock exchange, which means that we are not subject to pressure from the financial markets”, he noted.

Original story: Expansión (by J. Z. and S. A.)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Merlin Closes A €1,034M Capital Increase To Buy Testa

16 July 2015 – Expansión

Yesterday, the Socimi Merlin Properties announced a €1,033.7 million capital increase, representing 66% of its current share capital. The operation will allow it to finance the purchase of Testa, the subsidiary of Sacyr, which it has bought for €1,986 million.

The capital increase will have preferential subscription rights and will involve the issuance of 129,212 million shares, with a value of €8 and a premium of €7 per share. Last April, the Socimi chaired by Ismael Clemente closed its first capital increase amounting to €613.8 million, with the issuance of 64,605,999 new shares, to finance the purchase of real estate assets, offices and retail premises.

Merlín debuted on the Madrid stock exchange in June 2014 with a market capitalisation of €1,250 million, at €10 per share. Yesterday, it closed trading at €11.50 per share, up 1.86%, and its market capitalisation amounted to €2,228.9 million. Merlin’s main shareholders, which include UBS, Marketfield, EJF apital, BNP Paribas Asset Management and the fund Gruss Capital, are expected to participate in the capital increase.

The integration of Testa and Merlin will create a real estate giant with assets worth around €5,500 million, gross annual income of €290 million and a market capitalisation of close to €4,400 million.

Original story: Expansión (by R. Ruiz)

Translation: Carmel Drake