Hispania Signs €340M Financing Agreement with BNP Paribas

26 September 2018 – Hosteltur

Hispania Activos Inmobiliarios has signed an agreement with BNP Paribas to open a financing line amounting to €340 million to finance and/or refinance its debt, according to a statement filed by the Socimi today with Spain’s National Securities and Markets Commission (CNMV).

In the relevant fact, the company reports that on 25 September 2018, it signed the aforementioned agreement with the entity “under market terms, amounting to €340,000,000, to finance and/or refinance debt held by the group’s entities upon their maturity, plus commissions, costs and expenses”.

This new financing arrangement will expire on 16 February 2020, although it may be extended twice by the company for one year each time.

Hispania recorded a net profit of €71.9 million during the first half of this year, 55% less than during the same period in 2017 when it earned €161.4 million. That decrease was basically due to the recognition of a provision for the fees to be paid to Azora, the former manager of the group. As Hosteltur reported, the relationship between the two entities was terminated on Monday, with Concha Osácar and Fernando Gumuzio, the owners of Azora, leaving the Board of Directors of the Socimi.

Blackstone, the new owner of Hispania, has paid €224 million to the manager by way of compensation for the early termination of Hispania’s asset management contract, which covered its hotels, offices and residential buildings. The indemnity amount was calculated on the basis of the manager’s base fees (€33.6 million) and success fees (€190.8 million), according to the terms specified in the “Termination Letter”, following the success of the takeover bid launched by the US fund for 100% of the Socimi.

Nevertheless, in terms of the results during the first half of the year, Hispania’s operating profit grew by almost 16%, to €57.1 million, whilst its revenues amounted to €85.3 million, which represents an increase of 9.8%.

Revenues from rental income amounted to €80.9 million, up by 14%. Of that amount, €67.9 million corresponded to hotels, €11.3 million to office buildings and €1.7 million to homes.

At the end of the first half of the year, the gross value of Hispania’s assets amounted to €2.818 billion, which represents an increase of 60.8% with respect to their acquisition price and of 43.3% compared to the total investment.

Original story: Hosteltur

Translation: Carmel Drake

Alquiler Seguro Finalises MAB Debut of its Rental Home Socimi Worth €9M

4 July 2018 – Eje Prime

The Alternative Investment Market (MAB) is going to welcome another new Socimi into the fold very soon. Alquiler Seguro, owned by the Enacom group, is going to debut its rental home Socimi, Quid Pro Quo (QPQ). The company has obtained the green light from the MAB’s Coordination and Incorporations Committee, according to a statement issued by the Spanish Stock Exchange and Markets (BME).

The company owns 37 assets, all of which are located in Madrid except for one that is situated in Barcelona, and it is worth €9 million in total. The aim of the manager’s Socimi is to buy homes in “the main provincial capitals and their metropolitan areas”, taking advantage of the high current demand for rental homes in the main areas of the country.

Alquiler Seguro is managing the rentals of QDQ’s homes. Of the homes that it operates, 34 are located in the city of Madrid, two in Torrejón de Ardoz and Alcorcón, and one in Barcelona.

The Socimi has indicated that it has a new asset acquisition plan for the next few years, with the aim of “continuing to grow in an organised fashion”, with a maximum indebtedness ratio equivalent to 50% of the value of its portfolio, and future capital increases to finance its investment needs.

The holding company that owns QDQ is Enacom, which owns other companies in the group such as Ivermax, which specialises in advising and managing residential assets for investors; FIM Ibérica, which manages cases involving tenants in arrears; and the technological firm Anexia.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake

Aina Hospitality Plans To Invest €600M In Second Fund

18 July 2017 – Expansión

Aina Hospitality, the management company that specialises in the hotel sector, and which is driven by the wealth management group Edmund de Rothschild, is preparing a new fund. On 15 September, the company will launch Aina II, which will have an investment capacity of €600 million and which will focus on superior four-star and five-star hotels.

The launch of this second investment vehicle tightens relations between Aina Hospitality and Edmund de Rothschild. Both parties have created a joint company through which they seek to boost investment funds in the hotel sector every three years. “Edmund de Rothschild collaborates with management companies that specialise in different sectors; now we are joining this group of associates”, said the President of the company, Jaime Tàpies.

Aina Hospitality will begin raising funds in September and the process is expected to take a year and a half, with the first window closing in March 2018. The aim is to secure investment of €300 million and to double the capacity through debt financing (leverage).

“The funds that invest in hospitality are usually of an institutional size; we are one of the few funds that provides an opportunity to medium-sized private investors”, said Tàpies. Aina’s first fund established a minimum entry investment of €1 million. No minimum ticket has been set for this new vehicle yet, although it will probably be somewhat higher than that of its predecessor.

The yield on Aina II will amount to around 12% per annum On the other hand, the rental income will contribute 8%, whilst the appreciation in the value of the real estate assets may vary between 3% and 7%. The fund’s life cycle will be seven years, which may be extended by two more years: “That does not mean that all of our investments will remain in the portfolio for the duration. The average life of an operation tends to last for between five and six years”.

The company plans to undertake between 15 and 20 operations and will apply a similar risk policy to that of the previous fund. “We will not invest more than 25% of the fund in a single country or city”, he explained. The company is expanding its radius of operation to 35 cities in Europe, including countries outside of the Eurozone such as the United Kingdom, Switzerland and Scandinavia.

Aina has a special interest in Barcelona and Madrid. “Occupancy rates cannot grow much more, but we do see a lot of potential in terms of property prices”, said Tàpies, who added that demand is continuing to grow by more than supply in both cities. Nevertheless, he said that, nowadays, there are other more interesting cities such as London, Paris, Rome and Milan.

Original story: Expansión (by Gabriel Trindade)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Carmena Grants Partial Demolition Licence For Former MOD Building

9 December 2016 – Expansión

The Town Hall of Madrid has granted a licence for the partial demolition of the Precision Artillery Workshop, on Raimundo Fernández Villaverde, despite opposition from Ganemos.

Cooperativa Maravillas, the property developer behind the residential project that is going to be constructed on a plot of land that used to be owned by the Ministry of Defence, on Calle Raimundo Fernández Villaverde, has received some good news this week. The Town Hall of Madrid has granted the management company Domo a licence to demolish the Precision Artillery Workship, now in disuse, despite opposition from Ganemos, one of the parties that forms part of the municipal government’s coalition.

Following a favourable report from the Community of Madrid’s Local Heritage Committee, the Town Hall has authorised the partial demolition of the building. The remodelling of the property forms an essential part of the management company’s plans, which involve the construction of more than 300 homes on this street, located in the Madrilenian neighbourhood of Chamberí.

In any event, the licence for the complete demolition is pending a decision by the Heritage Committee to determine whether the building’s basement still contains any old air-raid shelters from the Civil War, in which case, they should be preserved. In addition, the cooperative is waiting for the agreement reached between the Town Hall and the management company to be ratified.

Details of the agreement

According to this agreement, the Town Hall of Madrid will receive 5,422 m2 of land for residential use, corresponding to 10% of the obligatory concession.

Similarly, the Town Hall of Madrid will receive 3,360 m2 of green space and 1,000 m2 of space on the ground floor of the building, where it plans to building a primary school. It will also receive 250 m2 of free space.

Manuela Carmena’s urban planning team has reached an agreement with the property developer to assign the property in this way, rather than monetise it, with the aim of “covering the deficiencies of these types of facilities in the district of Chamberí”, explained the Town Hall.

The agreement, which is necessary for the approval of the urban planning project and the subsequent work and construction licence, will be circulated for public information purposes and referred to the Town Hall for its ratification.

Opposition from Ganemos

The decision to demolish this building does not have the blessing of Ganemos. The municipal platform, which forms party of Ahora Madrid, considers that “there is no reason” to grant a licence to allow the demolition of the historical building, given that the management agreement required to be able to construct the new buildings has not been approved. According to the platform, several legal cases are still open with the Prosecutor’s Office and the High Court of Justice of Madrid that may still result in the cancelation of the urban planning project. (…).

Meanwhile, the cooperative pointed out that the buildings belonging to the former Workshop are not classified as being of cultural interest, nor do they have any kind of offical protection. “The General Urban Planning Plan of 1997 and its subsequent review did not foresee the need to classify buildings or land as urban land for residential use.”

Original story: Expansión (by Rebeca Arroyo)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Servihabitat Records Revenues Of €1,300M In YTD Sept 2016

21 October 2016 – Expansión

Servihabitat, the loan and property management company that is jointly owned by the fund TPG and CaixaBank, has recorded revenues from property sales and rentals amounting to €1,300 million during the first nine months of 2016.

Original story: Expansión

Translation: Carmel Drake