Drago Capital Buys 75% Of The Company Foujita 16

17 November 2016 – Cinco Días

Drago Capital has acquired 75% of the company Foujita 16, which owns three plots of urban land in Estepona (Málaga). The fund will construct its second housing development on the Costa del Sol on the plots. This project comes after Drago Capital made its first move into the construction sector with the Ocean Hills residential development.

The company has launched itself into the residential market on the Spanish coast. Until recently, funds of this kind invested almost exclusively in tertiary assets (offices, shopping centres and logistics platforms), but the economic recovery and the slight improvement in the property sector has led domestic and international investors alike to search for high returns in the construction of homes. In the case of the Spanish firm, it is firmly committed to the Costa del Sol.

The real estate fund has acquired 75% of Foujita, a Málaga based company that owns three plots of urban land in Estepona. These plots are adjacent to the existing urbanisation that Drago has already built in the area (Ocean Hills), near the Selwo adventure park, where 62 homes have already been built.

Drago will construct 136 apartments on the three new plots, which will be followed by two new developments containing 28 and 33 additional homes. In total, it will build around 260 homes on the Málagan coast, on a plot of land that has a buildable surface area of 30,000 m2.

The fund is making its investment through its subsidiary Esvernia Investments, the same company that developed Ocean Hills. The firm plans to spend between €30 million and €35 million on the development of the site. Several individual investors will join Drago in the project.

Original story: Cinco Días (by Alfonso Simón Ruiz)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Drago Capital Enters Residential Development Segment

29 December 2015 – Cinco Días

Property development is becoming a business opportunity for companies in the real estate sector once  again, following the severe crisis that began in 2008. Even for the least conventional players, such as Drago Capital, an investment fund that normally acquires other kinds of assets like office buildings and commercial premises.

The fund has started to develop a new urbanisation, dubbed Ocean Hills, in the vicinity of Estepona (Málaga) on the Costa del Sol. It represents its first major project targeted at the second home market and the development comprises 62 apartments.

Drago Capital identified the business opportunity in an unfinished development, which it acquired in December 2014, and which it has completely redesigned.

In total, the initial investment amounted to €8 million, which was sourced mainly from a number of family offices, according to the managers of the fund.

Type of apartments

The managers ruled out a development on the beachfront and instead, consider that more value can be obtained inland. The homes are located next to the Monte Selwo park, in a natural environment and with views of the Mediterranean Sea.

62 modern homes will be constructed with a maximum of two bedrooms and all with spacious terraces. Construction will centred around four, three-storey blocks of flats. The marketing of Ocean Hills will be targeted primarily at overseas buyers, mainly in the North of Europe and in the UK. The first part of this urbanisation has already been sold in its entirety to a group of Norwegian citizens.

Project details

The development is being constructed on a plot of land measuring 7,000 m2 and there may be an opportunity to construct new buildings on two adjoining plots, which would add another 7,000 m2.

The contract for the construction work has already been awarded to Avintia, which will complete the construction of the homes and resume the work that was suspended before Drago Capital’s purchase. The homes are expected to be finished by the end of 2016.

Drago Capital considers that the market for second homes, with the characteristics found in this development, has returned and it regards this investment as a good opportunity. Moreover, its managers consider that the Costa del Sol area in general, and both Marbella and Estepona specifically, represent places with significant demand.

Original story: Cinco Días (by A. Simón)

Translation: Carmel Drake