Tag: Marina D´Or

Sareb Curbs Marina d’Or Bankruptcy For 260 Homes

9 March 2016 – Economía Digital

Observers are adopting a wait-and-see policy regarding the final resolution of Comercializadora Mediterránea de Viviendas (Comervi), the development company behind Marina d’Or, owned by Jesús Ger, which filed for voluntary bankruptcy in Commercial Court 1 in Castellón in May 2014.

Everything depends on the decision to be taken by the judge regarding the purchase option submitted by Sareb, the main creditor of Comervi, for 260 homes in the holiday resort, distributed across several developments.

Only then will we know whether the negotiations will resume between the company and the two main creditors, the bad bank itself, chaired by Jaime Echegoyen and Banco Sabadell. The judge’s decision will determine the outcome of the two possible alternatives on offer: try to reach an agreement with the creditors or push ahead with the liquidation of the company.

Sareb and Banco Sabadell are the creditors

Comervi has accumulated financial debt amounting to €125 million. Most of this liability, around €80 million, relates to loans that Sareb received three years ago from Bankia, Banco de Valencia and the former Caixa Galicia.

Almost all of the debt that the construction company, owned by Jesús Ger, holds with Sabadell, around €16 million in total, comes from the loans it inherited from CAM, covered by the Asset Protection Scheme (EPA) that Sabadell received when it acquired the Alicante-based entity in December 2011. This coverage will absorb most of the losses until 2021, ten years after the date it was awarded.

The most indebted company in the Commuity of Valencia

Besides its financial debt, Comervi, the construction company responsible for building the facilities at the Marina d’Or holiday resort, took the honour of being named the Valencian firm that owed the most money to the Public Treasury – more than €46 million – according to the list that the Tax Authorities published at the end of December.

Comervi, which used to be called Construcciones Castellón 2000 and was then called Marina d’Or Loger, was constituted in 1983 by Jesús Ger, who at the time, sold electrical appliances, in order to benefit from the enormous opportunities offered by the construction of apartments on the Castellón coast.

The banks tried to avoid bankruptcy but Ger responded with a solution that was not viable for the creditors, with discounts of more than 50%, the long-term maturity of the remaining debt and even a request for liquidity to take on new projects.

Sareb and the banks said no and the businessman himself decided to file for voluntary bankruptcy for the company.

Original story: Economía Digital (by Juan Carlos Martínez)

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

Wanda Negotiates Purchase Of 75% Of Marina d’Or For €1,200M

2 December 2015 – Expansión

The Wanda group is holding negotiations to acquire 75% of the shares in the Spanish holiday complex Marina d’Or, located in Oropesa del Mar (Castellón), which is currently owned by the businessman Jesús Ger.

The purchase will amount to around 8,200 million Chinese Yuan (i.e. around €1,200 million), according to reports yesterday by Diario del Pueblo.

The newspaper reports in its digital edition that the founder and president of the group, Wang Jianlin, the richest man in China, has already visited the complex (which includes a golf course, a theme park, five hotels and a spa, amongst other buildings) together with other representatives from the company.

The official body of China’s Communist Party cites own sources for the basis of its information. When contacted by Efe, the Wanda group declined to make any comments on the subject for the time being.

Meanwhile, the Castellon group did not want to confirm or deny the talks and merely stated that it has been in touch with several Arab, Chinese and other investors over the last few months regarding their interest in its iconic project: Marina d’Or Golf, an urban development plan that was suspended several years ago. The group itself valued the project at €1,300 million, even though not a single brick has yet been laid.

In July, Jianlin revealed that his company would make at least three major overseas acquisitions over the next six months, after it expanded its entry into the sports sector this year with the purchase of Triathlon Corporation, the owner of events’ rights such as Ironman, and Infront, one of the largest sports rights companies in the world. (…).

Original story: Expansión

Translation: Carmel Drake

A Qatari Group Negotiates The Purchase of Marina d’Or Golf

16 January 2015 – Cinco Días

A Qatari investment group with close ties with to “important” investment fund in Spain that has invested in Europe in recent years, has expressed its interest in the Marina d’Or Golf project, according to a statement released by the company.

The group visited the Marina d’Or-Holiday Resort at the end of last year. The delegation expressed its interest in getting to know the investment project “first hand”, which will be the “Greatest Holiday Resort in Europe and one of the largest and most spectacular resorts in the world: Marina d’Or Golf”.

The investors attended several presentations made by the company over a two-day period and visited the properties that comprise the current Marina d’Or-Holiday Resort – 5 hotels, 8 leisure parks, the largest scientific seawater spa in Europe, osmosis and cogeneration plants – as well as the land onto which Marina d’Or Golf will be expanded.

In this way, the Qatari investment group obtained an “in depth” insight into the current facilities, as well as the plans for their expansion under the development of the Marina d’Or Golf project.

Similarly, the delegation met with the president of the Marina d’Or-Holiday Resort, Jesús Ger, who, along with his finance team, provided information about the economic and financial aspects of the project and its investment yields.

The company explained that it expects its total investment to amount to €4,500 million, which will include not only the acquisition of shares in the parent company, but also funding for the construction and development of the new Marina d’Or Golf project.

Nevertheless, according to the project’s Financial Plan, the investors will need to spend less than €2,100 million during the first three years of development, since the various hotels and facilities that will open as part of the project will co-finance some of the investment costs; the remainder will be financed by a bank from the Qatari group’s circle and by funds generated from the operation of the various hotels already in operation.

The sales price of the shares in the parent company amounts to €1,300 million and the Qatari investor group is expected to acquire 50% of the total, which means that the initial outlay to begin the project will amount to €650 million. Another possibility under consideration is the acquisition of 70% of the parent company’s shares, which would increase the upfront investment to €910 million.

The strategic plan for the transaction forecasts that construction would begin one year after the transaction is signed, with completion of 20% of the total project over the following two years; construction of the remaining 80% would take place over the next 5 to 10 years, depending on demand.

Marina d’Or Golf will include almost 130,000 tourist-hotel beds, including 3*, 4* and 5* hotels, tourist apartments and apart-hotels. The project will generate 30,000 direct jobs and more than 45,000 indirect jobs.

The interest shown by the investor group is “patent” in that both parties have already agreed the dates for the continuation of their negotiations to implement the Marina d’Or Gold project, reported the company.

Original story: Cinco Días

Translation: Carmel Drake