Aedas Reaches an Agreement with Castlelake to Buy Non-Finalist Plots

20 May 2019 – El Confidencial

Aedas Homes has reached an agreement with its main shareholder, the US fund Castlelake, to ensure its supply of long-term land, without having to make any major investments in the short-term.

Specifically, the property developer and the fund will create ad hoc companies for each non-finalist plot in which they decide to invest, whereby Aedas will take a 10% stake and will reserve the right to buy up to 25% of the homes built on each one of the sites.

Aedas’s team will be responsible for managing the vehicles, processing the urban planning formalities and obtaining the finalist land status. The company has already identified six plots in Madrid, Valencia and Sevilla, on which more than 9,200 homes could be built.

It will take between 4 and 5 years to transform those plots into finalist sites and the idea is that Aedas will build at least 2,500 of the homes permitted, with the remainder being sold for development to other property developers.

This strategy will ensure that Aedas has a supply of finalist land over the medium and long-term at affordable prices.

Original story: El Confidencial (by Ruth Ugalde)

Translation/Summary: Carmel Drake

Goodman Seeks Virgin Land for New Warehouses

29 April  2019 – Eje Prime

Goodman, a global property expert in logistics and business space, has acquired 26,000 square meters of land in Castellbisbal (Barcelona) and will begin the construction of new warehouses during the second half of the year. The logistics giant is looking for non-finalist land near major cities for the development of new logistics platforms and currently has 285,000 square meters of land under development.

Finalist land in Spain have zoning limitations that prevent the installation of ramps or the development of warehouses that exceed a specific, both of which are essential characteristics for modern, multilevel logistics platforms. Therefore, the company is looking for virgin lands to develop.

Goodman is already working on its first multilevel platform in Spain in Molins de Rei (Barcelona). The warehouse, which Goodman is building for use by DSV, will consist of two connected buildings, each 10.5 meters high.

Last week, Goodman delivered 32,645 square meter centre in the Villadangos del Páramo industrial estate, in León, to Decathlon. The company will also conclude work on 75,000 square meter platform in Alcalá de Henares in June.

Original Story: Eje Prime – Marta Casado Pla

Translation/Summary: Richard D. Turner

Neinor Homes Buys “Non-Finalist” Land for €194M

9 May 2018 – Expansión 

Despite recording losses of €8 million during the first quarter of the year, the property developer is maintaining its objective of closing the year in profit.

Neinor Homes closed the first quarter of the year flat in financial terms, with sales of €19 million and net losses of €7.9 million, but it is preparing to crank up the pace with the handover of 1,000 homes during the course of the year, primarily during the last six months, which will allow it to close the year in the black.

Moreover, in order to maintain the pace of deliveries from 2022 onwards, the firm has closed agreements to purchase “non-finalist land” (plots without building permits) for €194 million, on which it will be able to build 1,400 homes. “This land has very advanced planning in place and is without risk. The payment will only be made for these plots if all of the licences are granted within the planned timeframe”, explained Neinor.

These purchase agreements follow the €7.5 million invested in three finalist plots acquired during the first quarter of the year for another 120 homes. With these plots, the firm now owns a portfolio of land with capacity for 14,000 homes. In terms of Capex, Neinor is planning to spend €430 million on its construction projects, which implies 1% less than budgeted.

The property developer’s CEO, Juan Velayos (pictured above), says that this year is going to be “significant” in terms of revenues and he adds that, of the 1,000 home handovers scheduled for 2018, 90% have already been pre-sold. “The rest, which are the best units, will be sold once they have been handed over”, he said.

Pre-sales

Following the punishment from analysts in February, when Neinor announced a reduction in its delivery targets to 1,000 units in 2018 compared with 1,374 planned initially and to 2,000 in 2019 from 3,000 planned originally, the property developer now wants to reassure the market. It confirmed that the 31 developments that are going to be handed over in 2019 are already underway and have received their licences. “We have very high visibility over our revenues”, added the director. Specifically, Neinor’s order book includes almost 2,500 pre-sold homes, which corresponds to sales of around €828 million.

Velayos said that, with the projects underway, the company is going to reverse the weight of the different businesses and revenues will now be generated by the delivery of homes.

Neinor’s shares (…) ended trading yesterday down by 2.31% to €16 per share.

Original story: Expansión (by Rebeca Arroyo)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Aelca to Invest €200M Per Year in Land Purchases

28 February 2018 – Expansión

Aelca is moving forward with firm steps and already forms part of the new generation of listed property developers controlled by funds or, in its case, is on the verge of making its stock market debut. The firm constituted in 2012 by Javier Gómez and José Juan Martín, now the joint CEOs of the group, closed last year with a profit before tax (PAT) of €25.5 million, up by 154% YoY, and revenues of €132.2 million, up by 27%. And, it is preparing to continue growing through purchases.

“In 2018, we are going to have a production capacity, both in terms of construction work as well as pre-sales, of around 6,300 homes and, in 2019, we should reach cruising speed, with the delivery of around 2,000 or 2,500 homes. We have been working on and handing over developments since 2014, and growing at sustainable rates”, explains Javier Gómez to Expansión.

Specifically, the company sold 1,118 units in 2017 and handed over almost 500 homes. This year, pre-sales are expected to exceed 1,600 homes and revenues are expected to amount to around €160 million or €170 million.

Aelca wrote a new chapter in its history in the middle of 2016 when the US fund Värde purchased a 75% stake in the property developer from Avintia for €50 million and gave a boost to the business. “Investment in the company over the last 18 months since then has been significant, with more than €400 million spent on land purchases. Over the next few years, we plan to invest between €150 million and €200 million per year in land”, explains the director.

After several capital increases, Värde currently controls 80% of Aelca, whilst the remaining 20% remains in the hands of the founders.

In terms of the stock market debut, Gómez acknowledges that going public is a natural exit for the funds and expects that it could be an option in 2019. For the director, although Aelca is already the right size to list, the group’s plans involve continuing to grow and taking advantage of opportunities.

Gómez acknowledges that to debut on the stock market after its competitors may be a risk, but adds “we have a history of deliveries, a strong track record and a set of results that support us”.

Madrid and Andalucía

Specifically, the group has purchased land in Dos Hermanas (Sevilla), mostly from CaixaBank, for a mega-project involving 2,100 homes.

Moreover, like its rivals such as Neinor, Aelca is looking at the possibility of buying up non-finalist land and is analysing operations worth between €50 million and €70 million. “We are analysing the option of acquiring land under development, at the most advanced stage possible, in Madrid and Andalucía”, he explains.

Currently, Aelca has a land portfolio spanning 1.3 million m2, worth more than €1 billion and with capacity to launch around 13,000 homes.

The company has six regional offices in País Vasco, Cataluña, Madrid, Málaga and the Comunidad Valenciana and is not planning to expand its footprint at this stage. “There are still great opportunities in those locations”.

Original story: Expansión (by Rebeca Arroyo)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Neinor Starts Buying “Non-Finalist” Land

23 February 2018 – Expansión

With its first birthday as a listed company just around the corner, Neinor is making a strategic shift. It is negotiating the acquisition of “non-finalist” land (plots that require urban planning management to become developable) to maintain its pace of development once it has reached its cruising speed in 2020. Specifically, the property developer, which has plots of land on its radar worth €500 million, is holding negotiations with banks, private investors and institutional funds regarding the possible completion of three land purchase operations involving “non-finalist” plots for around €200 million. They will allow for the construction of around 1,000 homes spread over various cities, including Madrid and Barcelona.

Under the framework of the negotiations, Neinor plans to make an initial payment of almost 10% of the total price to take control of the “non-finalist” land and to pay the remaining balance once the plots have been granted their corresponding urban planning permits, within a period of between three and five years. “My concern now focuses on acquiring a land bank to put into production from 2022 onwards”, explains the CEO of the company, Juan Velayos (pictured above).

The real estate firm, which announced results yesterday, closed last year with losses of €4.6 million but expects to become profitable in 2018. If we take into account the incentive plan for directors amounting to €19 million – of which €10.6 million corresponded to the CEO – paid in its entirety by the fund Lone Star, and the costs associated with the stock market debut,  then the property developer lost €25.9 million last year.

In 2017, Neinor generated revenues of €225 million, of which €77 million proceeded from its property developer business. It also recorded cumulative pre-sales of €746 million. The company, which delivered 313 homes in 2017, expects to hand over 1,000 units in 2018. It then plans to double that figure in 2019, to 2,000 units; and reach its cruising speed from 2020 onwards with 4,000 units. That would represent the high end of the range announced initially, although it will do so with an evolution in “more conservative phases to protect margins, improve the quality of revenues and deliveries”, he said.

Neinor owns 1.5 million m2 of developable land with capacity for the construction of 12,500 homes and a gross asset value (GAV) of €1.7 billion. The company, which invested €286 million in land in 2017 for the development of 3,100 units, plans to disburse another €200 million on purchases this year. Neinor’s share price closed trading down by 4% yesterday at €16.66.

Original story: Expansión (by Rebeca Arroyo)

Translation: Carmel Drake