Tag: Losantos family

Blackstone Considers Buying Neinver from the Losantos Family for €500M

23 January 2019 – El Confidencial

Neinver, a property developer and operator of shopping centres, specialising in outlets – focused on offering discounted products – is up for sale and the US fund Blackstone is one of the buyers that is evaluating the operation. The Losantos family is asking around €500 million for the company, which has become one of the major operators in the shopping centre sector in Europe, and which would fit well into Blackstone’s portfolio given the stable rents generated by its properties and land, according to explanations provided by sources in the real estate sector.

Spokespersons from Neinver consulted about the negotiations indicated that “they decline to comment on rumours” regarding the sale operation, one of the largest underway in the sector in Spain this year from a corporate perspective.

Nevertheless, other financial sources have assured that the Losantos family has entrusted the sale of the company to Credit Suisse, which has drawn up a sales book that it has been promoting since the end of the year and which is being considered by several funds.

Blackstone is the favourite because it has already acquired assets from Neinver. In November last year, the property developer placed a package of industrial warehouses and logistics assets with Blackstone for €290 million. Therefore, this fund, the largest overseas investor in the Spanish real estate sector, is an old acquaintance of the Losantos family.

Neinver is chaired by José María Losantos del Campo. It is the largest operator of outlet centres in Spain and Poland, where it operates under two own brands: The Style Outlets and Factory. It has developed some of its assets in association with the fund TH Real Estate. In total, it has promoted and managed 16 outlet centres, and six shopping centres and retail parks (…). It has a presence in seven countries, including France, Italy, Germany, Portugal and the Czech Republic.

Neinver in numbers

Neinver recorded revenues of €93.6 million in 2017, according to the consolidated accounts filed with the Mercantile Registry. That figure represented an increase of 27% compared with the previous year.

Nevertheless, the strong performance in terms of sales was not reflected in its profits. Neinver is selling more but earning less. In 2017, its net consolidated profit amounted to €4.7 million, a third of the €16.1 million that it earned in 2016. The decrease in profitability was due in large part to the projects underway and its indebtedness.

According to the group’s consolidated accounts, the gross debt at the end of last year amounted to €466.3 million, €30 million more than during the previous year, “due to debts stemming from the new companies incorporated into the Neptune joint venture”. Neptune is the joint venture owned by Neinver and TH Real Estate.

Valuations

The €500 million asking price is without the debt. The book value of the company’s assets amounts to €913 million, according to Neinver’s own accounts. The main appeal of the company is the revenue stream stemming from the rental of its assets (…).

Original story: El Confidencial (by Marcos Lamelas)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Onix Capital Buys Former ‘Páginas Amarillas’ HQ In Madrid

21 November 2017 – Expansión

The firm Onix Capital, in which several wealthy South American families own a stake, has reached an agreement with the former owners of the company to purchase the building, located on Avenida de Manoteras in Madrid.

Another office building in Madrid has changed hands. In this case, the star is a property located on Avenida de Manoteras, in the north of the capital, which, until just a few days ago, was home to the corporate headquarters of Páginas Amarillas (the Yellow Pages) in Spain.

The building used to be owned by the fund Hibu Connect, which sold the company that created the famous yellow coloured telephone directory in May (it now specialises in advising SMEs) to the firms Metric Capital Partners and Evolvere Capital. Following that corporate operation, the owners held onto the property, but they have sold it to a new owner six months on.

The architect of the purchase has been the firm Onix Capital Partners. “We are a group specialising in the real estate sector, with 30 years of experience in Argentina”, explained Martín Kielmanowicz, Vice-President of Onix Capital Partners. Our investors are Latin American families, above all from Argentina, and institutional groups (…).

In fact, the Páginas Amarillas building is the third purchase that this group of investors has made in Spain. Its first operation involved the acquisition of Edificio Montepríncipe, located next to Santander’s Ciudad Financiera, in Boadilla del Monte (Madrid). For that property, which is leased to the financial institution to house its IT services, Onix paid almost €80 million. Last year, the investor group also reached an agreement with Allegra Holding, the investment arm of the Losantos family, to purchase HP’s headquarters in Las Rozas.

“At the beginning, we focused on core properties, with long-term lease contracts and good tenants but, with such intense competition for those kinds of assets, we have now branched out to look at new options”, explained Kielmanowicz.

In this way, the Páginas Amarillas building appeared on the firm’s radar. It is one of the most well-recognised properties in the area thanks to its original design. Its surface area spans 12,000 m2 and it has 200 parking spaces. “The property is currently spread over five floors, but following the renovation, we hope to increase the height and extend the space to 13,000 m2”, said the Vice-President of Onix.

Following the completion of the purchase last week, the employees of Páginas Amarillas have now left the property, which will be renovated in its entirety to attract a new tenant. To this end, the Argentinian manager has engaged the architecture studio B720 Fermín Vázquez Arquitectos, which will take care of the complete refit of the building (…).

The renovation of the property will begin before the end of the year, with the aim of putting it on the market at the beginning of 2019. Onix will invest €35 million in total on the purchase and the renovation (…). “Behind the investment are five Latin American families and the Onix management team also holds a percentage stake”, he added.

The firms JLL, Knight Frank, Baker Mckenzie and Uría Menéndez have all participated as advisors to the operation.

Original story: Expansión (by Rocío Ruiz)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Allegra & ACR Invest €130M To Construct 600+ Homes

27 September 2017 – Expansión

The construction and real estate group ACR and its partner Allegra Holding, the investment arm of the Losantos family (former owners of Riofisa) have expanded their alliance in the Spanish real estate sector, with three new operations.

The partners have recently acquired three new plots of land, one in Madrid and the other two in Pamplona, with a combined surface area of 45,000 m2. In the case of the first, the plot of land is located in Vallecas, measuring 10,000 m2, where they plan to build 100 private homes, with an estimated investment of around €19 million.

In the case of Pamplona, it represents the first operation outside of the Community of Madrid. Specifically, ACR and Allegra have acquired two plots of land in the El Ensanche area, where they plan to construct between 120 and 140 2-, 3- and 4-bedroom homes.

These latest operations follow others undertaken just a few months ago, when the joint venture between ACR and the firm led by Mario Losantos invested more than €29 million in land, also in Madrid, specifically, in the El Cañaveral district.

In total, both companies have invested €130 million to build more than 600 homes, under the brand Nature. “It is a successful alliance that is continuing to make progress and it demonstrates the strong performance of both companies in the market, which is allowing us to continue evaluating new investment alternatives in Madrid, but also in other locations such as Barcelona, Málaga and Levante”, explains David Botín, Director General of Real Estate Development at ACR Grupo.

After years focusing on international real estate markets such as London and New York, the family office led by Mario Losantos returned to Spain three years ago, to invest in plots of land for residential use and to build homes on them. In its first operation, in February 2014, and in partnership with ACR Grupo, they invested around €19 million in the construction of 96 homes on a plot in the north of Madrid. A year later, they started work on 42 exclusive homes in the Puerta de Hierro area.

Beyond the residential segment, Allegra has also invested in office buildings, logistics platforms, as well as commercial premises in Castellana.

Original story: Expansión (by Rocío Ruiz)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Villar Mir Teams Up With ACR To Build Homes Through Its RE Firm Espacio

14 September 2017 – Expansión

Inmobiliaria Espacio, the holding subsidiary of Villar Mir, and the ACR Group have announced the joint purchase of a plot of land measuring 15,000 m2 (buildable surface area), where they plan to construct 160 homes.

The operation, whose consideration has not been revealed, forms part of a joint venture that the two companies have closed to construct homes in different parts of Spain.

In fact, the plot of land in Valladolid is the second purchase made by this joint company, which acquired another plot of land a few months ago in Madrid, specifically in Avenida Daroca, for the development of 32 homes.

“This new acquisition demonstrates the success of the collaboration between both companies and reinforces our idea of continuing to promote homes in those areas where we observe increasingly more demand and where both companies have an outstanding track record”, explains David Botín, Director of Real Estate Development at the ACR Group.

Sources at the company have said that they will continue to look for investment opportunities together with Villar Mir’s subsidiary. Moreover, ACR also has another alliance, with Allegra, the real estate arm of the Losantos family.

At the beginning of the year, Espacio announced its return to residential development, after several years away following the burst of the bubble. At the time, it announced that it planned to construct 241 homes along the coast (specifically, in Málaga, Alicante and Mallorca), whilst it looked for opportunities to buy land in Madrid. Espacio owns approximately 325,000 m2 of land in the urban development of Valdebebas, in the north of the capital.

Moreover, the real estate division of Villar Mir is the co-owner of Torre Caleido, the fifth skyscraper that is being constructed in the ‘Business Area de la Castellana’ complex in Madrid. It also owns a stake in the luxury Canalejas complex, which will soon be home to the first Four Seasons hotel in Spain.

According to the latest results corresponding to the year 2015, Villar Mir’s subsidiary recorded turnover of €114 million in 2015, up by 52% compared to the previous year.

Original story: Expansión (by Rocío Ruiz)

Translation: Carmel Drake

RE Firms Prevalent On Hacienda’s List Of Overdue Debtors

24 December 2015 – El Mundo

The tax authorities have published their list of overdue debtors for the first time.

Four large construction companies from the bubble – Reyal Urbis, Nózar and the Cordoban companies Prasa and Arenal 2000 – together owe the tax authorities €852 million.

The real estate bubble was made possible not only thanks to the banks’ willingness to grant loans, but also because the property developers that borrowed money stopped paying their taxes. That is the main conclusion to be drawn from the list of overdue debtors that the tax authorities have published for the first time just days before Christmas Eve – which features construction companies and manufacturers of construction materials in abundance. (…).

Almost none of the stars of the Spanish real estate bubble are missing from the list of major overdue borrowers. Four names stand out in particular: Reyal Urbis, owned by Rafael Santamaría; Nózar, owned by the Nozaleda family; the controversial property developer Rafael Gómez ‘Sandokán’ (Arenal 2000) and the Cordoban group Prasa, owned by the Romero family. Together, the four owe debt amounting to €852 million.

Reyal Urbis leads the ranking of overdue borrowers with a tax debt of €378.2 million. (…). But countless other companies owe millions of euros. From Fernando Martín, the major shareholder of the bankrupt Martinsa Fadesa (€65.39 million) to Carlos Cutillas, one of the main operators in the north of the capital with his company Inmobiliaria Chamartín (€20.53 million). Alongside them feature hyperactive property developers from the boom years, such as Dirusa (€40 million), the Lábaro group (€27.8 million) the Álvarez family (Gedeco-Avantis, with €17.7 million) and Detinsa (€29 million).

Riofisa, the construction company created by the Losantos family and acquired at the height of the boom by Luis Portillo, owes €31.97 million. Another one of the major overdue borrowers is Hilario Rodrígeuz Elías, who was considering listing Group Tremón, a construction company with operations in Madrid and Andalucía, on the stock exchange. His companies Atlantis Servicios Inmobiliarios and TR Hoteles Alojamientos y Hosterías together owe €47.77 million. Other less well known property developers that also have sizeable debts with the tax authorities include: Ventero Muñoz (€11 million); the unknown Ramón Olivareas Garrigós (€68.6 million), owner of Grupo Casoli and the company Vivienda y Bienestar SL; Carlos Monteverde de Mesa, owner of Grupo Monteverde (€13.9 million) who was linked to the “Blesa case”; José Ávila Rojas (€4.3 million); and the Torrego family (Conther), former owner of Cine Bogart and Continental Auto (€2.5 million).

Sahanuja, the great Catalan saga

The Sanahuja family owes the tax authorities €37.2 million through three of its companies -Sanahuja Escofet, Sacresa Terrenos and Sacresa, Terrenos y Promociones-. (…). Another one of the largest overdue debtors is Vicente Roig, owner of Grupo Coperfil, who owes the tax authorities €69.79 million through four companies.

Marina D’Or and the Valencian clans

Jesús Ger, who was behind the Marina D’Or golf complex, owes the tax authorities €46.3 million through his company Comercializadora de Mediterránea de Viviendas. (…). The Community of Valencia is very well represented in the list of overdue debtors. Another illustrious surname is that of the Serratosa Caturla brothers, who together have a debt of €15.9 million. They are joined by Bautista Soler, the partner of Luis del Rivera, who owes €26 million through the companies Inmobiliaria Lasho and Urbanas de Levante. Andrés Ballester, owner of Edificaciones Calpe and the company Nereida, with a debt of €17.7 million. And the controversial builder from Alzira, Vicente Girbés Camarasa, owner of Grupo Blauverd, with €20.6 million. And Juan Cotina and his companies Asedes Capital and Asedes Infraestructuras, with €21.4 million.

Other (in)famous overdue borrowers include the Mexican businessman Luis Nozaleda Arenas; the Romero family, the Sánchez Ramade brothers and Rafael Gómez Sandokán, all from Cordoba; and Facundo Armero, the Murcian developer behind Polaris World, who owes €78.5 million.

Original story: El Mundo (by José F. Leal)

Translation: Carmel Drake