Tag: Mapfre

Spain’s Largest Landlords are Merlin, Colonial, GMP & Mapfre

19 April 2019 – Expansión

Merlin, Colonial, GMP and Mapfre: three Socimis and one insurance company together own 16% of the total office space in Madrid. Blackstone, Realia, Mutua Madrileña, Tristan, Pontegadea and Starwood complete the Top 10 ranking.

According to a report from Deloitte, the ten largest landlords own more than 3.1 million m2 of leasable space in Madrid, out of a total spanning more than 13 million m2 (24%). In Barcelona, there is 6.1 million m2 of leasable space.

Leading the ranking is Merlin, which owns 7% of the total stock in Madrid and more than 3% in Barcelona. Its 140-strong office portfolio is worth €5.5 billion and accounts for 45% of its total assets. The Socimi’s tenants include BBVA, Endesa, Inditex and PwC, and its star assets include Torre PwC in Madrid and Torre Glòries in Barcelona.

Behind Merlin is Colonial, which owns 3.8% of the office stock in Madrid and 4.6% in Barcelona (where it is the market leader). Its key assets include the building located on Paseo de la Castellana, 52, two properties on Calle Miguel Ángel (numbers 11 and 23), all in Madrid, and Torre Marenostrum in Barcelona.

Completing the podium is GMP, which owns 2.8% of the gross leasable area in Madrid, including Torre BBVA and Torre Ederra, both in Azca. Meanwhile, the insurance companies Mapfre and Mutua Madrileña own 2.7% and 1.4% of the total stock in the Spanish capital, respectively.

In addition, the funds have strengthened their positions in recent months. The US fund Starwood purchased a portfolio of offices in Madrid and Barcelona from Autonomy for €125 million. It also acquired the San Fernando Business Park, in conjunction with Drago, from Oaktree for €120 million.

The British fund Tristan has also been active, with the acquisition of an office complex on Avenida de Manoteras in 2017 and the purchase of six offices spanning 78,000 m2 from Colonial in 2018 (…).

Original story: Expansión (by R. Arroyo)

Translation/Summary: Carmel Drake

Mapfre to Invest in Property due to Low Interest Rates

7 March 2019 – Expansión

Mapfre has announced its intention to invest in more real estate in light of the low interest rates in the global markets. The insurance group ended 2018 with real estate investments worth €2.9 billion, accounting for 4.3% of its total investments, having invested heavily in the renovation of its asset portfolio during the year.

Given the scarce supply and illiquidity of the real estate markets in Madrid and Barcelona, the firm has already created two companies headquartered in Luxembourg to invest in properties in Paris and Germany. It also plans to acquire real estate in Amsterdam, Brussels, Milan and Luxembourg.

Moreover, it has teamed up with the German real estate fund manager GLL, with whom it aims to invest up to €300 million in properties in some of the main European cities.

The objective of the insurance company is to generate returns of between 4% and 6% p.a. on a recurring basis and to diversify its portfolio.

The firm did also divest some properties last year, in Portugal, Chile and Palma de Mallorca, which together with the appreciation of other assets, resulted in net gains for the group of €47 million.

Most of Mapfre’s investment portfolio comprises public and corporate fixed income securities, which had balances of €49.3 billion and €8.9 billion, equivalent to 56% and 18% of its total portfolio, respectively, at year end 2018. Equities accounted for €2.4 billion (4.9%) and investment funds €1.3 billion (2.7%).

Original story: Expansión (by E. del Pozo)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Mapfre Accelerates its Divestments: 250 Properties Up For Sale

9 November 2018 – Economía Digital

Mapfre acknowledged in its annual report for 2017 that its real estate strategy “was focused on the divestment of non-strategic assets”. That strategy has intensified in 2018: the Spanish insurance company has started a major sales operation, involving more than 250 assets, which now have a “for sale” sign hanging over them. The divestment will materialise next year.

According to sources speaking to Economía Digital, Mapfre has engaged Solvia, the real estate firm still owned by Banco Sabadell – which is up for sale itself and which is expected to change hands before the end of the year – to exclusively market 256 real estate assets located across Spain, although they are particularly concentrated in Barcelona, Valencia and Madrid.

The most important assets in this portfolio are six plots in Madrid, Las Palmas and Mallorca, whose sale is expected before the end of this year. The other assets are essentially commercial premises that Mapfre owns as investment assets and leases to third parties. The divestment period will run until 31 December 2019.

The plots and offices that the insurance company wants to sell are located in around a dozen Spanish provinces. Approximately, half of them are situated in three autonomous regions: the Community of Valencia, Cataluña and Madrid, although the firm also has assets in Galicia, Andalucía, Aragón and Navarra.

When consulted by this newspaper, Mapfre and Solvia did not deny the operation but they did decline to comment. Sources at the insurance company have explained that the company is constantly rotating its real estate assets and searching for others of more value, although they have not explained whether the company is currently investing or not.

Mapfre’s real estate sales

The truth is that in 2016 and 2017, Mapfre completed some major real estate divestments, but it did not get rid of anything close to 250 assets in either year. Last year, it sold properties for €130 million, mainly corresponding to four large assets: a plot in Madrid for €5.5 million; a building also in Madrid for €72 million; and two plots in Palma de Mallorca for €22.5 million. With these sales, the company chaired by Antonio Huertas (pictured above) obtained capital gains of €65 million.

In 2016, the entity’s property sales were clearly impacted by the sale of a majority stake in Torre Mapfre in Barcelona. First, it tried to sell that property to an investor who wanted to convert it into a Four Seasons hotel, but after failing to obtain the necessary permits due to Ada Colau’s moratorium, it sold 66% to the Fundación Mapfre for €175.4 million and renovated it.

Mapfre’s real estate risk amounts to around €3 billion. Specifically, it closed 2017 with properties that had a market value of €2.945 billion, around €170 million lower than in 2016. More than €1.2 billion correspond to own-use properties, such as headquarters and offices, whilst almost €1.7 billion are investment assets, including the portfolio that the entity has put up for sale through Solvia (…).

Original story: Economia Digital (by Xavier Alegret)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Mapfre Divested Non-Strategic Assets Worth €130M in 2017

7 May 2018 – Eje Prime

The insurance company Mapfre is still interested in the Spanish real estate sector, but it is divesting certain assets that it considers to be non-strategic in the country. The company sold properties worth €130 million in the Spanish market last year, according to information presented in the group’s annual report for 2017. The most high profile sales were carried out in Madrid and included the Luchana building, amongst others.

During the year, divestments amounting to around €130 million were carried out in Spain and Portugal. Highlights include the sale of a plot of land in Valdemarín (Madrid) for €5.5 million and two plots in Palma de Mallorca for €22.5 million, plus a series of other smaller assets for €24.5 million in total.

One of Mapfre’s main divestment operations last year was the sale of the Luchana building to GMP for €72 million. It is an exempt asset, dating back to the beginning of the 1980s, located just six minutes from Paseo de la Castellana by foot.

GMP is currently renovating that property, which spans a gross leasable area of 14,424 m2, spread over eleven above ground floors in total, ten office floors and one commercial-use floor at street level. Its main tenant is Mapfre, which houses the headquarters of its General Regional Management team for Madrid and Verti in this building.

In total, all of the operations signed in the Iberian Peninsula generated gains of more than €65 million for Mapfre, according to the annual report.

Investment in its asset stock in Spain 

But Mapfre has not only been selling assets in Spain, it has also been feeding its portfolio by investing in the renovation of its properties. The insurance group has undertaken improvement work on its portfolio in Madrid, where it has finished work on an asset it owns on Calle Sor Ángela de la Cruz amounting to €8 million, where the General Regional team for Madrid is located; and work on Plaza de la Independencia amounting to €7.39 million. That building has already been leased out for the most part (70% of the leasable surface area).

In addition, Mapfre has started refurbishment work on the facilities of its property on Calle Mateo Inurria, a building that has been leased in its entirety to the Ministry of Finance for a rental cost of €5.04 million per year. Improvement work on its offices on Calle General Perón is still underway with an investment of €5.81 million in 2017. Work is also still underway on the tower in Barcelona amounting to €22 million in 2017, which is expected to be completed during the first half of 2018.

At the end of 2017, the market value of Mapfre’s real estate investments in Spain amounted to €2.945 billion, “with latent capital gains of more than €750 million”, explains the group. Of the total, approximately 58% corresponds to properties for own use, and the remaining 42% relates to properties that are rented out to third parties or are on the market for sale. The occupancy ratio of the rental properties amounts to 83%, considering that at the moment, more than 7,500 m2 of its space is being renovated for repositioning on the market from 2018 onwards.

Commitment to Europe 

In March, the insurance group announced its partnership with GLL to launch a fund to invest up to €300 million in the purchase of prime offices in Europe over a two to three year period.

The new vehicle launched by Mapfre and GLL aims to enter large capitals cities across the continent (Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands and Belgium) with the aim of achieving returns of between 4% and 6% per year and diversifying its portfolio against other types of financial assets (…).

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake

C&W: 130,000m2 of Office Space Leased in Sant Cugat since 2015

15 March 2018 – Eje Prime

Sant Cugat del Vallès is growing strong in Barcelona’s slipstream. In addition to being one of the most sought-after cities in the residential market, the office sector is also strongly committed to this location, where 130,000 m2 of office space has been leased since 2015. Those figures place the city as the second location of choice for this segment in the province of Barcelona.

Currently, there are more than 3,100 companies installed in the city, with a financial district containing 49 hectares of business parks and more than 62,000 professionals working in its office buildings, according to the Marketshot report prepared by the consultancy firm Cushman&Wakefield.

According to the research, Sant Cugat del Vallès has played a fundamental role in the expansion of Barcelona’s office stock in recent years, evolving from a dormitory city into a nucleus of activity for the services sector, bringing together workers and residents alike.

Since 2015, the number of office rental operations in the city has soared. During that year, a record volume of office space was leased, with more than 75,000 m2 signed. In 2015 and the following year, 54 transactions were signed in the office market, spanning a leasable surface area of 104,000m2, which represented 27% of all the office space leased in the entire province of Barcelona.

In recent years, large operations have been carried out with the arrival of Stradivarius into an office building that spans 26,400 m2; and the leasing of offices to Echevarne, Mapfre and Natura Bissé Internacional, which contracted 12,000 m2, 10,000 m2 and 9,200 m2 of space, respectively.

In terms of the type of office being demanded, in Sant Cugat, prime products stand out. Quality A-rated offices account for 93% of the total space leased in the city, whilst properties rated Quality A/B+ represent 96% of the leasable surface area. These records have generated a significant decrease in the space available in the city.

In 2017, the shortage of available office space in Sant Cugat became clear with the leasing of just 22,000 m2 of space, a much lower figure than had been recorded in previous years. And, currently, the available surface area has been reduced to just 25,500 m2, which represents an availability rate of 4.9%, when just a few years ago, it stood at 30%.

Sant Cugat is a sought-after enclave for sectors such as pharmaceutical, R&D and technology, due to the services, communications and technical quality of the buildings, according to the report. It also highlights the location in the city of the Esadecréapolis knowledge and innovation centre as a “powerful” magnet for those types of companies to set up shop there.

1,800 m2 on average 

Since 2015, the average rental operation in Sant Cugat has amounted to around 1,800 m2, when between 2010 and 2014, the figure was less than half (750 m2).

Today, in Sant Cugat, there is more than 115,000 m2 of potential office space, of which 100,000 m2 is located on buildable land, without a construction start date. The potential for growth in the stock is significant, and if all the projects were to be completed, the office supply in the city (the capital of the office market on the outskirts of Barcelona) would increase by 22%.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake

Mapfre & GLL Launch New €300M Office Fund

8 March 2018 – Iberian Property

The insurance company Mapfre and GLL have just formed a new partnership for the launch of a new investment fund amounting to €300 million.

The vehicle will focus on the purchase of offices in some of the major European markets, such as Germany, France, the Netherlands, Italy and Luxembourg, according to the Spanish real estate firm. The idea is to achieve returns of 4%-6% per year, diversifying the portfolio of the entities.

In Spain, Mapfre already owns a portfolio of buildings including Plaza de la Independencia, 6 in Madrid and Torre Mapfre in Barcelona.

Original story: Iberian Property

Edited by: Carmel Drake

Mapfre Sold Non-Strategic Properties for €130M in 2017

1 March 2018 – Expansión

In 2017, Mapfre focused the management of its properties on the sale of non-strategic assets for a total of €130 million, of which €124.5 million corresponded to assets located mainly in Spain. That activity generated a profit of €65 million for the insurance company.

The entity sold the building it had occupied on the Madrilenian street Calle Luchana (pictured above) for €72 million, plus two plots of land in Palma de Mallorca for €22.5 million and other smaller assets for €30 million in total.

At the end of 2017, the market value of Mapfre’s real estate investments amounted to €2.9 billion, with latent gains of €750 million. That figure would offset a decrease in the price of its properties amounting to approximately 26.28% of the market value of the portfolio.

Of that total, €1.0 billion relates to properties that the insurance company uses in its normal activity, whilst the remainder, €1.3 billion comprise group investments.

Mapfre’s real estate portfolio accounts for 4.4% of the insurance company’s total investments, which amount to €49.6 billion.

Its government-backed fixed-income securities account for most of its portfolio (55%) at €27.4 billion, although they have reduced their weighting by 2.3 percentage points, given that previously they accounted for 57.3%. Corporate fixed-income securities accounted for 19% of the total, at €9.6 billion, compared to 20.2% a year earlier.

Insurance companies are natural investors in these types of assets, but in light of the decrease in interest rates, most entities are reducing the weight of their investments in those portfolios and increasing their presence in others that may offer higher returns, although also higher risk.

Equities are the caption that is growing the most within Mapfre’s portfolio, up by 44.2% in one year to reach €2.4 billion. Their weight amounted to 4.8% at the end of 2017, compared with 3.4% a year earlier.

Spanish fixed-income assets, both public and corporate, amounted to €18.2 billion at the end of last year, almost half the total amount, which reached €37.0 billion. The United States of America, with €3.7 billion and Brazil, with €3.4 billion, were placed in second and third position in that ranking.

Original story: Expansión (by E. del Pozo)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Mapfre Inaugurates Newly-Renovated Office Building In Plaza De La Independencia

26 October 2017 – Inmodiario

Mapfre has started the hand over to its tenants of the building on Plaza de la Independencia 6, in Madrid. Dokei RE prepared the execution and activity plans.

Dokei RE was awarded the full scope commission, including the writing of the due diligence report for the acquisition of the building, determining and limiting the risks of the development, logging the necessary urban planning queries given that the building is surrounded by several historical monuments, performing the Project Management services and coordinating all of the teams involved in the construction work.

The building, located in a unique position, in an unparalleled environment, has been renovated in accordance with the highest quality standards in terms of its finishes, installations, as well as sustainability. It has an A-rated Energy Certificate and a Gold Leed rating.

The property comprises open-plan floors, without any pillars, which allows for the maximum efficiency and natural light from 4 of the 5 façades (…).

With a total constructed surface area of 11,568 m2, of which 7,559 m2 is above ground and a useful surface area of 9,893 m2, “Plaza de la Independencia has sought to install the best acoustic and thermal insulation, and as such, all of the external windows and doors have been replaced and the insulation of the façades has been reinforced (…). Moreover, the use of a highly efficient air conditioning system has allowed us to obtain an A energy rating”, said Jesús Lanzón, Director at dokei RE (…).

The building has a car park, paved with resin and equipped with LED lighting; meanwhile, the basement level has parking space for bikes and a changing room/shower area.

Original story: Inmodiario

Translation: Carmel Drake

Spain’s First Student Hall Socimi Prepares Its MAB Debut

13 September 2017 – El Confidencial

Student Properties Spain Socimi will be the first listed real estate investment company specialising in student halls of residence to debut on the stock market. And it will do so with an asset that could mark a before and after in this market in the Spanish capital.

It acquired the building at the end of 2016 from the insurance company Mapfre for €13 million. The property is located on Calle Don Ramón de la Cruz, in the heart of the Salamanca neighbourhood, just opposite Nuestra Señora del Pilar school, 200m from the Deusto Business School (the Universidad de Deusto’s business and economics school) and 500m from the IE Business School.

With a total surface area of 5,420 m2, spread over eight floors, of which 3,500 m2 are above ground, the asset used to house one of Mapfre’s private clinics. But its new owner is committed to converting it into a hall of residence for wealthy students. In fact, the property is currently being renovated by the construction company Vialterra Infraestructuras, which was awarded the building contract, with a budget of around €3 million (…) plus indirect costs of €1 million (…).

With those figures on the table, all indications are that the building will end up housing a luxury hall of residence for students, in line with The Lofttown project in Barcelona. The price of rooms is likely to reach €1,800/month. Having said that, all kinds of services will be included: an outdoor gym, a solarium, a co-working room, a private kitchen, weekly cleaning, use of a 3D printer, laundry, a Play Station, a chill-out terrace and a parking area for bikes, amongst other services.

“Projects such as The Lofttown in Barcelona are hard to replicate in many cities in Spain, and above all, they are hard to scale up. That does not mean that they cannot be attractive and even very profitable real estate investments than more standard products, but it does mean that they always have to be marketed and managed by very specialist teams. Moreover, institutional capital will always consider them to be niche products”, says Patricio Palomar, Senior Investment Consultant at AIRE Partners.

Name change and upcoming stock market debut

Don Ramón de la Cruz 37 was acquired by Collie Investment, a joint-stock company that was subsequently transformed into a Socimi. A week ago, that entity changed its corporate name to Student Properties Spain Socimi (…).

The managers behind the company are Altamar Capital Partners, whose President and founding partner is Claudio Aguirre (Goldman Sachs España), Amira Real Estate Asset Management and Orienta Capital, which is chaired by Emilio Soroa, former Director at Seguros Bilbao.

Indeed, one of the directors of Altamar, Miguel Zurita, joined the Socimi just two weeks ago to replace Fabrizio Agrimi, CEO of the firm until 28 August (…).

“In markets such as the USA, Australia, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Germany, student halls have gone from being considered as alternative real estate assets to being products that have as much demand and liquidity as hotels and logistics platforms. To the extent that our market converges towards that trend and becomes more mature, we are going to see products of a different quality appearing, designed for a different type of consumer, in the same way that three-star hotels exist in cities alongside super-luxury hotels”, says Palomar (…).

Original story: El Confidencial (by E. Sanz)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Mapfre Sells Office In Madrid To GMP For €72M

7 April 2017 – Expansión

Yesterday, Mapfre agreed to sell an office building in Madrid to the real estate group GMP for €72 million. GMP will completely refurbish the property from 2018, according to a joint statement issued by the two companies.

The building, located on Calle Manuel Cortina, in the district of Chamberí, has a gross leasable area of 14,424 m2, with ten office floors and a ground floor that is used for commercial purposes. Moreover, it has three underground parking floors, with 368 parking spaces.

At the moment, the property’s main tenant is Mapfre, but the insurance firm will vacate the office floors at the end of 2017. Nevertheless, it will continue to occupy the majority of the commercial space on the ground floor over the long term.

The Director General of Business at GMP, Xabier Barrondo, highlighted that the operation “is another example of GMP’s commitment to investing in high-quality office buildings and business parks”.

Meanwhile, the Director General of Mapfre Inmuebles, Melchor García, explained that the sale “formed part of the insurance company’s policy to rotate its real estate assets and diversify its portfolio”.

Original story: Expansión (by I. García)

Translation: Carmel Drake