Tag: own funds

Ores Acquires 2 Commercial Premises in Madrid & León for €4.9M & €3.8M, Respectively

4 June 2018 – Eje Prime

Ores is ratifying its position as one of the most active Socimis in Spain in terms of acquisitions. The Socimi owned by Bankinter and Sonae has just purchased one commercial premise located on Calle Alcalá in Madrid for €4.9 million. That purchase was carried out after the Socimi signed a €140 million loan with ING, as revealed by Eje Prime.

The commercial establishment is located at number 157 Calle Alcalá and has a surface area of 374 m2. The premise is currently leased to the Tim Hortons restaurant group. The operation, according to sources in the sector, has been brokered by the real estate consultancy Aretail.

In addition, Ores has bought a commercial premise at number 13 Calle Ordoño II in León. That store, which has a surface area of 745 m2, is occupied by the Catalan fashion chain Mango as the tenant. The Socimi paid €3.8 million for the space.

“With these acquisitions, financed using available cash from Ores, the company is continuing to fulfil the investment objectives established in its business plan, in accordance with the financial parameters committed to with the shareholders”, add sources at the group.

These purchases form part of a new growth phase that Ores is embarking on, which is being financed by a €140 million loan. With this financial strength, the group is going to carry out new real estate acquisitions in Spain and Portugal. The group’s most recent purchases include two plots in Mejorada del Campo in Madrid for €6.6 million. With a surface area of 8,000 m2, they are both leased in their entirety to the Valencia-based supermarket group Mercadona.

The year 2018 is proving to be one of the most active for Ores in terms of property purchase operations. At the beginning of the year, the company invested €86 million in the acquisition of six commercial premises in Portugal (…).

Ores is aimed at private banking clients. Although its portfolio of assets is reduced, for the time being, the Socimi made its debut on the stock market with the aim of investing €400 million in high street retail premises, supermarkets, out-of-town retail parks (measuring up to 20,000 m2), bank branches and single assets with long-term leases and solvent tenants.

Bankinter and Sonae Sierra launched this new venture in the real estate sector in record time. The two groups constituted the company on 15 December last year and in just two months, carried out the process to create the vehicle, raised sufficient capital to bring it to life and completed its stock market debut.

Original story: Eje Prime (by C. Pareja)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Núñez i Navarro Builds a Prime Residential Development on Paseo de Gracia

30 May 2018 – Eje Prime

The industry stalwart Núñez i Navarro wants to generate returns from some of its old investments. The company has started work on the renovation of one of the buildings that it acquired in Barcelona before the crisis to convert it into a residential property. The asset is located at number 125 Paseo de Gracia, one of the most prime areas of the Catalan capital for the residential sector, as sources at the company explained to Eje Prime. Moreover, Núñez i Navarro has more than a dozen new developments under construction and on the market.

The group, founded more than 65 years ago, expects to begin handing over the new homes at the end of this year. The building, which used to house offices, will comprise around twenty apartments with between one and three bedrooms. These homes, whose average price has not been revealed, will be mainly targeted at international clients and will be available for rent.

Núñez i Navarro acquired this property during the process to buy a batch of assets at the end of the 1990s. The company purchased a portfolio of four buildings in Barcelona from the insurance company Eagle Star for €26.6 million. That lot contained three buildings on Paseo de Gracia, at numbers 125, 127 and 129, as well as the property at number 641 Gran Vía de les Corts Catalanes (…).

“This project on Paseo de Gracia joins the twenty or so other renovation jobs that Núñez i Navarro has carried out in Barcelona, highlights of which include the Andreu Tower, also known as La Rotonda, the Torre Enric Cera, the Casa Lleó i Morera, Hotel 1898 on la Rambla, the only colonial style hotel in Barcelona, Hotel Gran Vía, and the Can Trías de Bes farmhouse in Sant Joan Despí, amongst others”, explain sources at the group (…).

Diversification 

Although the group’s main business is residential, the company has diversified somewhat over the years in order to generate new revenue streams. The company has a major presence in the office sector in Cataluña, with a particular concentration in the city of Barcelona. For example, its portfolio contains assets such as number 35 Paseo de Gracia (Casa Lleó Morera) and number 20 Plaza Cataluña.

The group is also strong in other businesses such as industrial warehouses, car parks and hotels (…).

Financial information 

The company, the largest unlisted real estate firm in Cataluña, saw its profits soar in 2016 to €33.1 million, compared with €12.9 million in the previous year. In this way, the group returned to positive growth, coming close to its best ever result, recorded in 2007, when it generated profits of €48.6 million (…).

By contrast, Núñez i Navarro’s turnover worsened in 2016. The company generated revenues of €110 million, down by 5.1% compared to the same period a year earlier, when its sales amounted to €116 million. The company’s consolidated own funds amount to €595 million.

Original story: Eje Prime (by C. Pareja)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Taylor Wimpey Enters Sotogrande & Strengthens its Presence in Ibiza

28 May 2018 – Eje Prime

Taylor Wimpey España is entering one of the most luxurious urbanisations in Spain. The Spanish subsidiary of the British real estate group is backing Sotogrande, synonymous with luxury housing, in its business plan for 2018, which also includes the launch of around twenty developments in the Balearic Islands, Costa del Sol and Costa Blanca, the three markets where it already has a presence and “in which we will continue working”, says Reyes Coll, Marketing Director at Taylor Wimpey in Spain, speaking to Eje Prime.

So far this year, the real estate company has launched eight new projects. Four of them are located on the Costa del Sol, three in Mallorca and the eighth is in Alicante. The aim of the company is to “launch between five and ten more promotions before the end of the year”, says Coll.

Taylor Wimpey’s main business in Spain is second homes for foreigners, which account for more than 90% of the company’s housing reservations.

In the Balearic Islands, where land is scarce and prices are growing rapidly, the company is finalising the requirements necessary to bring three new projects onto the market: Cala Lliteras, Cala Vinyes and Cala Gració. The latter is located in Ibiza, an island on which the real estate only has 22 homes to date, in Can Misses. The other developments in the Balearic region are located in Mallorca (…).

Almost twenty developments on the market

Without taking into account the aforementioned projects and those in the pipeline, the real estate company already has 19 developments up for sale in the country. Mallorca and the Costa del Sol are the two regions where most of its developments are located, with seven residential projects up for sale, whilst the company has five urbanisations on the market on the Costa Blanca.

Taylor Wimpey España’s business depends on foreigners interested in buying a second home in the country. This profile of buyer is growing again in line with the recovery of the economy. Indeed, the company recorded a 10% increase in its portfolio of international clients. “German, Scandinavian, British, Russian and Belgian buyers all stood out”, explains Coll. The General Council of Notaries explained recently in a report that those nationalities account for the fact that 20% of the homes purchased in Spain are acquired by foreigners. In 2017 alone, the company completed operations involving new homes with buyers from 32 different countries.

In the case of buyers from the United Kingdom, players in the Spanish residential market were fearful of the consequences that Brexit might have on sales. Nevertheless, sources at Taylor Wimpey explain that reservations from Brits have increased over the last nine months.

40% growth in post-crisis reserves

The end of the real estate crisis has also arrived for Taylor Wimpey España, whose reservations grew by 40% in 2015 and have continued to increase ever since (…).

According to its roadmap, the company is not planning any changes to the line of business that it has operated for sixty years. The property developer will continue to specialise in the construction of apartments and terraced homes in the most touristy areas of the country and will finance them solely using own funds.

Original story: Eje Prime (by J. Izquierdo)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Micmarsein to Invest €60M in New Land in 2018

13 March 2018 – Eje Prime

The property developer Micmarsein is taking advantage of the good health of the residential market in Spain. The company, a joint venture between the construction firm Marsein and the property developer Mercat Inmobiliaria Català, is focusing on developing its promotion business in Cataluña, Ibiza and Valencia, with the purchase of new land worth €60 million, according to sources from the group speaking to EjePrime.

“Micmarsein has been created out of the need for two companies to join forces to reach an objective, which is to build residential properties”, explain the sources at the group. The company, which has more than 25 years of experience across Spain, has started 2018 with the purchase of a plot in Les Franqueses, Barcelona, for the construction of a development comprising 35 homes, as well as retail premises and parking spaces, which will involve an investment of €14 million.

The homes will have surface areas of between 68 m2 and 105 m2. This development, which will be started at the end of 2018, comes in addition to the developments that Micmarsein is currently executing in Cataluña and the Balearic Islands.

In Ibiza, the group is immersed in two developments. The first is located in Santa Eulalia, where it has purchased a plot on which to build 29 flats and where it is going to invest €17 million. Moreover, on the same island, it is also going to build a new development in Sant Josep, aimed at a public with a high purchasing power.

In terms of Barcelona, the company is on the verge of handing over a development containing 13 homes in Collblanc and has just finalised work on two more developments containing fourteen and six homes in the neighbourhood of San Andreu, also in the Catalan capital. To complete the picture in the Catalan market, Micmarsein is also now building a development in Cardedeu.

Of the new purchases that Micmarsein is going to carry out this year, some will be financed using own funds to nourish its business, whilst others will be commissioned by other funds, which trust in the group to develop their investments in the country.

This year is going to be one of the most ambitious for the company in recent times. According to the group, the forecast is to end the year with a turnover of close to €40 million, which will mean multiplying by almost seven its revenues from a year earlier, when the group recorded sales of €6 million.

Micmarsein hopes that the increase in its revenues over the coming years will stem from its expansion plan in the Spanish market. In addition to the Mediterranean Coast and the Balearic Islands, the group is planning to acquire land and build new developments in Madrid and Málaga over the medium term (…).

Original story: Eje Prime (by Custodio Pareja)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Barcino Buys Building in Barcelona for €1.6M

29 December 2017 – Eje Prime

Barcino is already going on shopping sprees as a listed company. Just 48 hours after making its debut on the Alternative Investment Market (MAB), the Catalan Socimi has purchased a building in the centre of Barcelona for €1.6 million.

The company, which specialises in the management of rental homes, has executed a purchase option, amounting to €1,227,000, which it signed over this property located at number 92 Calle Girona in November, after paying €493,000 for the transfer of the rights to acquire the asset, according to a statement made by the Socimi to the MAB.

The building comprises two commercial premises and seven homes in total, all of which are currently occupied. For the operation, the company has made use of its available own funds, without having to resort to additional financing.

Barcino, whose assets are concentrated in the Metropolitan area of Barcelona, made its debut on the stock market last Wednesday with a share price of €1.33 and a portfolio value of €19.1 million.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake

Kingbook Injects €22M to Offset Losses & Buy New Assets

29 November 2017 – Eje Prime

Kingbook is reorienting its financial situation. The Socimi, which specialises in gas stations, has announced a capital increase amounting to €21.6 million to offset its losses, according to explanations provided by the company. The company, which is owned by GL Europe Reit, which owns a 60% stake, and JZ Real Estate, with a 40% stake, will use this capital injection to eliminate a considerable part of its current liabilities and to increase its own funds.

According to the information document prepared by Kingbook, “the purpose of this increase is to resolve the company’s equity imbalance”. This increase has been subscribed by Holdreit in its entirety, the company’s sole shareholder. On 11 July, the company decided to increase its share capital by €4.52 million, through the issue and launch into circulation of 4.52 million new shares with a nominal value of €1, through the offsetting of credits, with an issue premium that amounted to €17.1 million in total. At present, “the company is waiting for final approval from the Alternative Investment Market (MAB) before its share price reflects the increase in value resulting from the capital increase, which should happen within the next few days”, according to the group.

The report also highlights that the Socimi has incurred losses since it started operating. As at 30 September 2017, the result for the year was negative, with losses of €1.25 million. The group has seen its losses increase, given that during the same period last year, it made a loss of €767,390. “Following this move, the company’s equity position has been restored, with own funds of €23.3 million”.

Nevertheless, Kingbook has a solid portfolio of assets to continue operating for the next few years, which it has managed to increase by 21.5% over the last year, to €38.9 million. The company owns land worth €10.3 million and buildings worth €20 million, compared with €16.3 million a year ago.

Moreover, in the last year, Kingbook has added more than a dozen gas stations to its real estate portfolio. The company has acquired gas stations in León, in San Andrés de Rabanedo, for €900,000; in Cantabria, in Castro Urdiales, for €1.4 million; and in Burgos, in Miranda del Ebro, for €2.3 million, amongst others. Kingbook has spent €7.5 million on new acquisitions in total so far this year.

Moreover, the company announced in October that it is in the process of expanding its asset portfolio into other business areas besides gas stations.

Although the group explained that it has achieved high levels of efficiency in the management of its portfolio thanks to its specialisation, it has indicated that it does not want to limit its activity to a niche as specific as gas stations, given that it considers that “it has the financial potential and management resources to venture into other areas and to achieve competitive returns”.

In terms of the new business areas that Kingbook is exploring to incorporate into its portfolio, potential assets include parking lots and other infrastructure linked to the world of transport.

The Socimi currently manages 57 real estate assets where fuel distribution activities are carried out (gas stations) and also owns one hotel and one industrial warehouse (…).

Original story: Eje Prime (by C. Pareja)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Ores Socimi Buys 4 Retail Assets In Northern Spain For €63M

4 October 2017 – Eje Prime

Ores is fattening up its portfolio of assets with some new purchases. The company, which had invested just over €60 million in the acquisition of commercial assets in Spain prior to August, has taken its chequebook out again and broken its own record. The Socimi, owned by Bankinter and the Portuguese firm Sonae Sierra, has purchased four commercial assets in the north of Spain for €63 million, according to confirmation from the company itself to Eje Prime.

Ores has acquired four hypermarkets in different parts of the north of Spain. It has purchased one commercial asset in Logroño, on Calle Rio Lomo, which is operated by Carrefour and which has a surface area of 14,912 m2. In Calahorra, Ores has bought a property operated by Eroski, located on the Logroño road, which has a surface area of 10,252 m2.

The Socimi has also carried out purchases in Tolosa and Guernica. In Guipúzcoa, the company has acquired a commercial establishment in Barrio de San Blas, measuring 4,147 m2, whilst in Guernica, it has bought a commercial asset measuring 4,348 m2 in the Txaporta neighbourhood. Both of those properties are operated by Eroski.

“With this acquisition, financed entirely using own funds, the company is continuing to fulfil the investment objectives set out in its business plan and in accordance with the financial parameters that we committed to our shareholders”, say sources at the group.

In recent months, Ores has been expanding its asset portfolio in Spain and Portugal. At the beginning of August, Ores acquired a property, which is leased to and operated by the supermarket chain Pingo Doce, located in Lisbon, Portugal. That asset has a gross leasable area of 2,200 m2 and is located in the Alta neighbourhood (…).

Ores is aimed at clients of Bankinter’s private bank segment. Although its portfolio of assets is limited, for the time being, the Socimi came to the stock market with the aim of investing €400 million in high street retail premises, supermarkets, retail parks (spanning a maximum surface area of 20,000 m2), bank branches and single assets with long-term leases and solvent tenants.

Bankinter and Sonae Sierra launched their new venture into the real estate business in record time. The two groups constituted Ores on 15 December last year, completed the process to create the vehicle and raised sufficient capital to give it a head start and debut on the stock market.

Ores was created with contributions from clients of Bankinter’s private banking segment (in other words, wealthy investors) through a capital increase amounting to €196.6 million. In this way, the private banking clients and some institutional investors control almost 86% of the company’s share capital. Meanwhile, the entity led by María Dolores Dancausa has retained a 10% stake, with Sonae Sierra holding onto just under 4% of the shares.

Original story: Eje Prime (by C. Pareja)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Montebalito Buys Office Building In Las Palmas For €11.8M

2 August 2017 – Bolsa Mania

On Monday, Montebalito announced its latest operation, its largest investment for at least a decade: the acquisition of an office building in Las Palmas for €11.8 million. According to the real estate company, this operation fits into its new strategy to rotate its asset portfolio, selling properties located overseas to reinvest all of the proceeds it obtains in Spain.

The property acquired in Las Palmas is the ‘Iberia’ building, an office block located in the heart of the city’s administrative centre. It has a surface area of 3,931 m2, spread over six storeys, as well as 134 parking spaces. Moreover, the property, which was constructed in 2005, is fully occupied with “stable and high-quality” tenants, including PwC, Repsol and El Cabildo de Gran Canaria.

In terms of the amount paid for the asset, Montebalito will pay around €3.5 million in cash, using its own funds. Another €4.8 million will be financed through a mortgage subrogation and the payment of the remaining €3.4 million will be deferred, although that sum must be paid before the end of this year. Experts calculate that the building generates annual rental income of around €820,000. According to José Luis Rodríguez, Director General of Montebalito: “We are growing as a company. The purchase of this new property strengthens our asset portfolio with stable rental income of almost €1 million per year” (…).

Original story: Bolsa Mania

Translation: Carmel Drake

South African Fund Vukile Acquires 9 Retail Assets For €198M

4 July 2017 – Expansión

A new institutional investor has arrived in Spain. And it comes from an unusual place for large investors in the Spanish real estate market: South Africa.

The South African real estate investment fund (REIT) Vukile Properties has completed its first operation in Spain by purchasing nine commercial assets located all over the country. The South African firm has disbursed €198 million for the properties, which have a combined surface area of 117,700 m2.

Of that amount, €193 million will be paid to the owner until now, the company Redevco Iberian Ventures, a joint venture created in 2015 by the groups Ares and Redevco to invest in the Iberian Peninsula.

Vukile has completed its purchase through the Spanish company Castellana Properties. This company, previously known as Vinemont Investments, changed its corporate structure last summer, to become a Socimi, after completing a capital increase of €12.6 million.

The first properties acquired by this Socimi form part of the portfolio that the Dutch company Redevco has been creating in the Iberian Peninsula over the last few years. The assets include five stores in the Parque Principado de Asturias complex and Parque Oeste, in Alcorcón (Madrid), spanning a surface area of 13,600 m2. The largest property is the Kinepolis complex, in Pulianas (Granada), measuring 25,900 m2 distributed over six stores.

97% of these retail spaces are leased to operators such as Mercadona, Día, Media Markt and fashion labels such as C&A and Kiabi.

For its first operation in Spain (and Europe), the South African REIT, which is listed on the Johannesburg and Namibia stock exchanges, has joined forces with the brothers Lee and Chad Morze, who it defines as “well-known and successful businessman living in Spain”. According to the commercial registry, Chad Morze is the administrator of Diversified Real Estate Asset Management, a company whose primary activity is the provision of tax, audit and accounting advice. Created at the end of 2015, the company has not filed any annual accounts yet. Lee Morze is also registered as an administrator of the same company.

Of the total amount disbursed (€198 million), Vukile has announced that it will contribute own funds amounting to €103 million, whilst the other almost €95 million will be obtained through a bank loan to Castellana Properties from the entities Santander, CaixaBank and Bankia, amongst others.

Original story: Expansión (by Rocío Ruiz)

Translation: Carmel Drake

TH Real Estate Negotiates With Intu To Buy 50% Of Xanadú

21 April 2017 – Expansión

Intu has found a partner for its mega-investment in the Madrilenian shopping centre Xanadú, which it purchased from Ivanhoé Cambridge in March for €530 million. Specifically, the British fund is holding advanced negotiations with TH Real Estate to transfer it 50% of the shopping centre.

According to sources in the market, TH Real Estate, which bid for the asset by itself in the tender, has engaged Cushman & Wakefield to advise it in this operation. The fund manager declined to make any comment about the deal.

The purchase of Xanadú by Intu was partially funded through a five-year loan from Santander, BBVA, Credit Agricole and CaixaBank, amounting to €263 million. Intu contributed the rest of the investment using its own funds.

The shopping centre, excluding the management company and the Snowzone, was valued in February this year at €526 million, which represents an initial net return of 4.4%.

The asset, located in the Madrilenian municipality of Arroyomolinos, sparked interest amongst several investors, although only Intu and TH Real Estate reached the final round, and the latter may now become an ally in the deal anyway.

The purchase of Xanadú represented the largest operation involving a shopping centre in the history of the market in Spain, ahead of the €495 million that Deutsche Bank paid for Diagonal Mar (in Barcelona) in August, the €451 million that Intu paid for Puerto Venecia (Zaragoza) and the €375 million that Klépierre paid for Plenilunio (Madrid).

Xanadú, constructed in 2003, is currently home to more than 220 establishments. It has a surface area of 153,000 m2 and 8,000 parking spaces. The shopping centre – one of the largest in Spain – receives almost 13 million visitors per year and generated sales of around €230 million last year.

Original story: Expansión (by R. Arroyo and R. Casado)

Translation: Carmel Drake