Tomás Olivo Buys Hotel Villa De La Palmera In Sevilla

13 October 2017 – La Voz de Almería

Tomás Olivo, owner of the ‘Gran Plaza de Roquetas de Mar’ and ‘Mediterráneo’ shopping centres in the capital of Almería, has purchased Hotel Villa de la Palmera in Sevilla, an establishment where members of European royalty, artists and politicians typically stay when they are in Andalucían capital. Until now, the hotel was owned by the Porres family and its rooms have housed Ira de Furstenberg, Gina Logobrigida, Daryl Hannah, Ursula Andress and Ornela Muti.

General de Galerías, the company owned by Tomás Olivo, made its debut on the Alternative Investment Market (MAB) this summer (…). Tomás Olivo, a property developer from Murcia who now lives in Marbella, opened the ‘Mediterráneo’ shopping centre in Almería at the end of 1998 following an investment of 14,000 million pesetas. Four years later, he opened the ‘Gran Plaza de Roquetas de Mar’ shopping centre.

General de Galerías Comerciales owns a portfolio of six shopping centres and around hundred rental properties. Its shopping centres include ‘La Cañada’ shopping centre in Marbella, the ‘Nevada’ shopping centre in Armilla (Granada), the ‘Mataró Parc’ shopping centre in Mataró (Barcelona), as well as the two centres in Almeria and the ‘Las Dunas’ shopping centre in Sanlúcar de Barrameda (Cádiz).

The Socimi generates annual revenues of €87 million and has no debt since it has not resorted to bank financing for any of its development to date.

Original story: La Voz de Almería (by Manuel León)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Tomás Olivo Buys Cortefiel Building In Granada For €29M

3 July 2017 – Ideal

Last week, the owner of General de Galerías Comerciales, businessman Tomás Olivo, purchased the property known as the Cortefiel building on the corner of Reyes Católicos and Gran Vía, in Granada, owned until now by BMN. The price of the operation amounted to €29 million for a property that dates back to the beginning of the 20th century, which houses the aforementioned textile firm on the ground floors and offices on the upper levels. According to sources at Galerías Comerciales, the new owner intends to continue the lease contract with Cortefiel and subject the upper four floors to a “new renovation”, but no further details have been provided about the project at this stage.

The Cortefiel building – as it is known popularly – dates back to 1908 and at the time cost 500,000 pesetas. The property development group was formed by bankers Manuel Rodríguez-Acosta and Enrique Santos, architect Francisco González Arévalo and industrialist Juan López Rubio, amongst others, and the original idea was to use the property as a hotel to compete with the Victoria and the Washington Irving. But the Hotel Colón never took off and the building was later split into rental apartments. On the ground and first floors, La Paz warehouses set up shop, owned by the fabric merchant Ramón García Ruiz, who over time, ended up taking ownership of the whole property. (…).

The former Caja General de Ahorros y Monte de Piedad de Granada acquired the building in 1984 for 250 million old pesetas to avoid it being taken over by a foreign entity. That entity then invested another 300 million pesetas on the renovation and on 28 November 1991, the iconic building was unveiled again, to coincide with the savings bank’s centenary celebrations. (…).

Following the merger, the building was transferred to BMN’s estate, and that entity is now selling the property for €29 million – almost 5,000 million old pesetas – and the historical Cortefiel building is passing into the hands of Tomás Olivo, who also owns the Nevada Shopping Centre.

In parallel, Olivo has ruled out the acquisition of Serrallo Plaza, an opportunity that sources had been speculating about for several months. (…).

Original story: Ideal 

Translation: Carmel Drake

La Cañada’s Socimi Owner Finalises Its Stock Market Debut

17 October 2016 – Expansión

General de Galerías Comerciales – the company that owns La Cañada shopping centre in Marbella and five other retail parks, amongst other assets – is finalising its debut on the stock market, where it will be the second largest Spanish Socimi by market capitalisation, behind only Merlin. With its market value of almost €2,000 million, GCC will be the largest company on the MAB (Alternative Investment Market), according to Antonio Fernández, Chairman at Armabex, who was speaking last Thursday at a Socimi conference.

The company, which was constituted as a Socimi in September last year, will submit its DIIM – MAB joiner information document – within the next few weeks. The DIIM includes audited financial information and will be assessed by the MAB joiner coordination committee, which will then refer its assessment report to the Board of Directors.

The group expects to be able to complete all of the necessary procedures and authorisations relating to the MAB before the end of the year.

This Socimi, which is owned by the businessman Tomas Olivo López, owns six shopping centres with a combined surface area of around 350,000 sqm, as well as other less important assets. Specifically, the Socimi owns the following shopping centres: La Cañada Shopping Centre (Marbella), measuring 73,000 sqm; the Nevada Shopping Centre (Granada), measuring 108,000 sqm; the Mataró Parc Shopping Centre (Mataró, Barcelona), measuring 35,000 sqm; the Gran Plaza Shopping Centre (Roquetas del Mar), measuring 53,000 sqm; Las Dunas Shopping Centre (Sanlúcar de Barrameda, Cádiz), measuring 60,000 sqm; and the Mediterráneo Shopping Centre (Almería), measuring 19,000 sqm.

For its debut on the stock market, General de Galerías Comerciales has engaged: Armabex as its registered advisor; the law firm Martínez-Echevarría as its legal advisor; CBRE as its real estate expert; and Audalia Laes Nexia as its auditor.

The stock market debut of this company represents another in the wave of debuts that these kinds of Socimis, which focus their activity on the leasing of urban properties and which operate under a special tax regime, have been making in recent months. Socimis have gone from being an almost unknown corporate structure in Spain to being the main players in the sector.

Currently, in addition to the three large Socimis that listed on the main stock market – Hispania, Axiare and Lar – there are 25 smaller firms listed on the MAB.

The Chairman of Armabex, Antonio Fernández, expects that around 35 new Socimis will join the stock market during 2017, of which three are likely to debut directly on the main stock market. The combined value of these new Socimis, including General de Galerías Comerciales, will amount to around €5,500 million.

Original story: Expansión (by Rebeca Arroyo)

Translation: Carmel Drake