Aquila Capital Acquires Land for Logistics Platform in Toledo

25 June 2019

Aquila Capital, a subsidiary of the German group Aquila Management Corporation, took a position in the Spanish logistics sector through its acquisition of 50 hectares in Illescas, Toledo.

Aquila’s real estate developer, AQ Acentor, signed the agreement with the temporary joint venture formed by Urban Castilla La Mancha and Plataforma Central Iberum Gestión de Proyectos. The developer will build a logistics platform on the land, with construction slated to begin in 2020.

Original Story: La Vanguardia

GreenOak Reaches Deal to Acquire Logistics Platform in Toledo

29 April 2019 – El Confidencial

GreenOak has once again launched an initiative to acquire logistics assets in Spain. The fund founded by John Carrafield has reached an agreement with Pavasal to acquire 40,000-square-meter project it recently in Seseña, Toledo. Pavasal acquired the land on which it will build a 30,000-square-meter warehouse and will sell the finalized project to GreenOak in the middle of the coming year.

Original Story: El Confidencial – Ruth Ugalde

Translation: Richard D. Turner

 

Goodman Seeks Virgin Land for New Warehouses

29 April  2019 – Eje Prime

Goodman, a global property expert in logistics and business space, has acquired 26,000 square meters of land in Castellbisbal (Barcelona) and will begin the construction of new warehouses during the second half of the year. The logistics giant is looking for non-finalist land near major cities for the development of new logistics platforms and currently has 285,000 square meters of land under development.

Finalist land in Spain have zoning limitations that prevent the installation of ramps or the development of warehouses that exceed a specific, both of which are essential characteristics for modern, multilevel logistics platforms. Therefore, the company is looking for virgin lands to develop.

Goodman is already working on its first multilevel platform in Spain in Molins de Rei (Barcelona). The warehouse, which Goodman is building for use by DSV, will consist of two connected buildings, each 10.5 meters high.

Last week, Goodman delivered 32,645 square meter centre in the Villadangos del Páramo industrial estate, in León, to Decathlon. The company will also conclude work on 75,000 square meter platform in Alcalá de Henares in June.

Original Story: Eje Prime – Marta Casado Pla

Translation/Summary: Richard D. Turner

TPG, Round Capital & Ares Enter Final Round of Bidding for Témpore

12 March 2019 – El Independiente

Sareb has reactivated the sale of its Socimi Témpore Properties and the funds TPG, Round Capital and Ares are some of the candidates in the final round of bidding.

The bad bank was close to signing the transaction last year but called it off due to a lack of transparency. Then, it was the US investment fund TPG, shareholder of companies such as Spotify, Airbnb and Burger King, who was the likely buyer of Témpore, which manages 2,249 residential homes worth €338 million.

Now, TPG is back in the final round of the new process, this time against two opponents. The real estate fund Round Hill already has a presence in Spain – just a few weeks ago it launched a joint venture with the fund KKR and the logistics firm Pulsar Properties to buy logistics platforms. Meanwhile, the US fund Ares has also starred in several transactions in Spain, particularly in conjunction with the Dutch real estate firm Redevco.

Témpore closed 2018 with a loss of €384,394, but is forecast to generate profits from 2020. Its portfolio of residential assets, which is managed by Azora, generated rental income of €7.3 million last year. Moreover, 80% of its assets are located in the metropolitan areas of major capitals and the rest are in areas with significant rental demand, such as Valencia, Sevilla, Zaragoza, Málaga and Almería.

Original story: El Independiente (by Ana Antón)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Merlin to Invest €500M to Double its Logistics Portfolio

15 February 2019 – Eje Prime

Merlin Properties is also joining the logistics boom. The real estate company is preparing a new development plan for warehouses and storerooms to double its existing logistics portfolio in Spain and Portugal over the next four years. The objective of the company is to incorporate an additional 1 million m2 into its portfolio in this sector with an investment of €500 million, according to reports from Cinco Días.

The real estate company, which forms part of the Ibex 35, already owns logistics platforms spanning 1.1 million m2, spaces that are leased to various operators in the sector. Currently, Merlin is developing the so-called plan Best II, scheduled for 2021, with the construction of 500,000 m2 of logistics space in Madrid, Guadalajara and Toledo, and it is already working on Best III, which sources at the company explain will add another 500,000 m2 by 2023, in that case also on land in Portugal.

With the construction of these warehouses, Merlin’s objective is to diversify its portfolio and improve its yield, given that these types of assets offer a higher return. Currently, the Socimi owns assets worth €11.8 billion, of which €780 million correspond to logistics properties, accounting for just 6.7% of the portfolio.

Original story: Eje Prime 

Translation: Carmel Drake

The Hunt for the Last Mile: 77% of Logistics Investors Bet on Urban Platforms

7 February 2019

Madrid and Barcelona are still the preferred markets for investments in the logistics sector, though there is growing interest in Valencia, Malaga and Zaragoza.

Get closer and reduce delivery times. The rise of e-commerce and the logistics for covering the last mile are bringing logistics platforms ever closer to urban centres. According to CBRE’s latest Survey on the evolution of the Spanish logistics sector, 77% of investors and logistics developers are already committed to urban logistics platforms to accelerate their capacity for rapid delivery and facilitate the constant flow of good to stores in the city centres.

Madrid and Barcelona are still the main logistics markets in Spain: the vast majority of investors surveyed, 96% and 81% respectively, opt for these two cities, although demand also extends to other cities. The best example is Valencia, which, with 77%, is gaining supporters as a logistics pole of growing interest. Other cities such as Malaga and Zaragoza are also registering an increase in demand.

CBRE bets on a slight increase in rental income in Barcelona

Investors are optimistic. 96% of respondents say they will continue buying assets in the coming months. All are betting on the logistics real estate sector, while 42% believe that it will also invest in the industrial sector. According to data from CBRE, the volume of investment in Spain during the past year reached 1.5 billion euros.

The report shows that there exist significant differences in opinion regarding future changes to rents in the sector. While 54% of investors believe that rents will rise in the main logistics markets, 42% believe that they will remain stable.

Concepción Mínguez, who analyses at Research, Industrial & Logistics at CBRE, believes that during the coming months “there will be minor increases in some areas where there is a shortage of available product, for example in Barcelona, ​​Zaragoza, Seville and Malaga.” Ms Mínguez added that, however, “rents in Madrid, with some exceptions, will remain stable due to a large number of speculative developments underway.”

Original Story: EjePrime

Translation: Richard Turner

Invesco Real Estate Acquires Three Logistics Assets in Madrid and Barcelona

5 October 2018

Invesco Real Estate (Invesco), the global real estate investment manager, has announced the acquisition of three newly built logistics assets in Madrid and Barcelona, the two Spanish cities with the greatest demand for logistics capabilities. The sum of the three transactions reached 173 million euros, totalling 189,000 square meters. The acquisitions resulted from mandates from two German companies.

Fernando San Juan Monje, director of transactions for Invesco Spain, said that “the size, quality and location in prime logistics areas makes these three properties truly unique and give us the opportunity to increase our presence in the “last mile” segment, which is the last link in the chain of  distribution of goods in cities.” Mr San Juan added that “their locations, close to Madrid and Barcelona and with direct access to motorways, makes these high-quality assets an attractive product for both investors and logistics operators.”

The interest of institutional investors in the Spanish logistics market is growing significantly, driven by an increase in rents and relatively high returns. The absence of new logistics developments during the economic crisis in Spain has caused that the supply of logistics centres in many cities to become obsolete and of low quality, which has limited the alternatives for investors interested in acquiring assets.

Guy-Young Lamé, the director of Invesco’s European Studies, stated that “this fantastic opportunity for two of our mandates in Germany comes at a great time. We have seen how the e-commerce sector in Spain has been rapidly expanding in recent years after a previous lull, so, these days, there is a growing demand for high-quality logistics assets.”

The acquisition of Abrera’s assets (see photo) together with the other two in Madrid’s south and east were finalised in recent weeks. Thanks to the interconnection of their different modules, the properties have the advantage of a high level of flexibility, with the option of offering different sizes to suit the needs of both large and small operators.

Original Story: Inmodiário

Translation: Richard Turner

GreenOak Acquires 720,000 m2 of Logistics Space in Spain and France

25 September 2018 – Eje Prime

GreenOak is on the hunt for logistics assets in Europe. The fund manager has purchased 720,000 m2 of industrial space in France and Spain. These latest acquisitions increase the company’s logistics assets and projects under development to 1.8 million m2.

GreenOak’s Spanish investments comprise two cold storage facilities in Barcelona and Valencia, leased in their entirety to Spanish companies in the food logistics sector.

In France, the manager has acquired twenty warehouses and cold storage facilities, located mainly around the principal nuclei along the logistics corridor between Paris, Lyon and Marseille. Its tenants include Carrefour, Easydis, CDiscount and Dachser.

GreenOak owns a portfolio of logistics assets in France, the Netherlands, Italy and Spain. Most of its assets are facilities with an average size of 37,000 m2.

The fund is present in almost all of the markets of the Spanish real estate sector. One of its main assets is Las Mercedes Business Park, one of the largest business parks in Madrid.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake

IBA’s Socimi Zambal to Complete €80M Capital Increase

30 July 2018 – Eje Prime

Just over a year after expanding its share capital by more than €91 million, Zambal is preparing to undertake a new operation. The Socimi managed by IBA Capital has convened its shareholders for a General Meeting in September to carry out a new capital increase, in this case, amounting to €80 million.

According to a statement filed by the company with the Alternative Investment Market (MAB), the capital increase will be undertaken through the issue of 80 million shares with a nominal value of €1 and an issue premium of €0.25, which “will be subscribed and fully paid up through the offsetting of loans”.

Without resorting to bank financing, Zambal has built a portfolio worth more than €730 million. The company’s main assets include, for example, the property at number 77 Avenida San Luis (which houses the headquarters of Gas Natural in Madrid); the Vodafone Building on Avenida de América, and number 18 Avenida de Burgos, which is leased in its entirety to BMW.

The Socimi, which started life in 2013, is an investment vehicle managed externally by IBA Capital Partners. The company specialises in the investment and subsequent management of assets in cities such as Madrid and Barcelona in the office and retail segments, although the company is also looking at other assets such as nursing homes, hospitals, retail parks and logistics platforms.

One of the most recent operations undertaken by Zambal was the purchase of two office buildings on Calle Albarracín in Madrid, which is leased to the French multi-national Atos. That operation involved an investment of €38 million.

Original story: Eje Prime 

Translation: Carmel Drake

Axiare Buys Four Retail Outlets In Almería For €20M

19 April 2016 – Valencia Plaza

Axiare Patrimonio has purchased four retail outlets in the Viapark retail park, located between Almería and Roquetas de Mar, for €20 million, according to a statement made by the Socimi to Spain’s National Securities Market Commission (CNMV) on Monday.

These four outlets, which have a combined gross leasable surface area of 15,745 m2 and more than a thousand parking spaces are leased in their entirety to Decathlon, Carrefour, Bricomart and Kiabi.

The Socimi has highlighted that these retail spaces have “excellent” visibility, are easily accessible from the A7, the Mediterranean Highway, and are located in an area of “limited” competition, which comprises a population of approximately 385,000 inhabitants, which increases during the holiday season.

The CEO of Axiare, Luis López Herrera-Oria, highlighted that, with this operation, the company is strengthening its presence in the retail outlet segment and is continuing to pursue its strategy focusing on offices.

Following this acquisition, the total investments made by Axiare increase to almost €900 million, with a portfolio of 31 assets in the Spanish real estate sector. 72% of the properties in its portfolio are offices, 14% are logistics platforms and 14% are primarily retail outlets.

For this operation, Axiare has been advised by Aguirre Newman for commercial matters and Gómez-Acebo & Pombo, Malcolm Hollis and Cushman & Wakefield in the due diligence process, meanwhile, Solvia has managed the sale of the properties on behalf of one of its clients.

Original story: Valencia Plaza

Translation: Carmel Drake