TH Real Estate Changes its Focus in Spain to Purchase Logistics Properties, Offices & Alternative Assets

11 June 2018 – Eje Prime

After ten years in Spain, TH Real Estate is changing its focus in terms of acquisitions. The company, which has historically purchased retail assets in the country, is going to change strategy to strengthen its portfolio with logistics properties, office buildings and alternative assets, such as halls of residence for students. That is according to Marta Cladera (pictured below), Director General of TH Real Estate Iberia, talking to Eje Prime in an interview.

“Traditionally, and due to the type of active funds, we have been very focused on the purchase of retail products” – said Cladera – “Now, we want to nurture our portfolio with logistics buildings, offices and alternative assets, such as halls of residence”. “We are analysing the market, we have a good track record in other types of assets, and so we will be able to create a portfolio with new types of assets and we will begin this year”, she added.

TH Real Estate will carry out these purchases through its fund European City Fund, which is one of the most active at the moment in terms of acquisitions and which has sufficient resources to undertake new purchases. By type of asset, the plans in terms of alternative assets involve not only the purchase of properties but also “teaming up with other operators, which may be from other parts of Europe”. In this way, TH Real Estate will follow in the footsteps of other funds such as CBRE GI and Axa, which, in their strategy to enter the hall of residence business, purchased Resa, the largest student hall company in Continental Europe.

In terms of the office sector, Cladera assures that “the competition is fierce” and the supply “is scarce”. “We are looking for buildings costing upwards of €50 million, but the supply that we are finding is not prime and those that are prime due to their location need a lot of renovation work, and that is something that holds us back, given that the numbers have to make sense for us to proceed and we have to focus on returns”, said the director.

Currently, TH Real Estate manages a portfolio worth €103 billion around the world, although Spain represents a small proportion of that, accounting for just 2% of its total business. In the Spanish market, the company owns assets worth €2 billion. “Although it is small compared to other markets, you have to look at the evolution: when we arrived in 2007, the portfolio was worth €200 million, as such, the growth over the last ten years has been significant”, she said. TH Real Estate’s team in Spain comprises nine people.

Socimi: under consideration 

Although this move is still in an embryonic phase, TH Real Estate does not rule out joining the Socimi party that is raging in Spain with some of its assets (…).

Currently, TH Real Estate owns fifteen assets across the Iberian Peninsula, of which fourteen are located in Spain and one in Portugal. Of those, two are logistics assets (acquired in 2017), and the rest are retail properties. One of the formulae that the group has used in the country has been to create joint ventures with different players for the acquisition of assets. Such was the case of the purchase of 50% of Xanadú from Intu for €264.4 million, for example (…).

Original story: Eje Prime (by Custodio Pareja)

Translation: Carmel Drake