Insur Teams Up with Wealthy Andalucían Families to Grow its Property Business in Madrid

18 April 2019 – El Confidencial

Wealthy Andalucían families are teaming up with the real estate group Insur to work on projects in the housing, office and commercial sectors. That is according to various sources in the property sector speaking to El Confidencial. The company itself has declined to comment.

Having previously joined forces with the Moya Yoldi (Persán) and Cosentino families, the company is now looking to expand beyond Andalucía in partnership with other family offices. Possible candidates include the Domínguez de la Maza family, owner of Mayoral and the Guillén family (owner of Acesur-Coosur), with which it has already invested in Sevilla.

Insur is keen to diversify its geographical market (75% of its assets are currently located in Andalucía) and Madrid is an obvious option, thanks to the liquidity of the market. The firm is already building 250 homes there in the towns of Valdemoro, Boadilla and Villaviciosa.

The aim of the company chaired by Ricardo Pumar is to generate stable annual revenues of €20 million from rental income, up from the €12 million recorded last year.

Original story: El Confidencial (by Carlos Pizá)

Translation/Summary: Carmel Drake

Renta Corporación’s Profits Rose by 14% to €11.7M in September

24 October 2018 – Eje Prime

Renta Corporación closed September with good results. The Spanish real estate group recorded a profit of €11.7 million to September, up by 13.6% compared to the same period in 2017, according to a statement filed by the company with Spain’s National Securities and Exchange Commission (CNMV).

Similarly, the company recorded total revenues of €49.1 million during the first nine months of the year, exceeding its turnover between January and September 2017 by 46%. Meanwhile, Renta Corporación’s EBITDA amounted to €12 million, up by €3 million compared to the previous year.

The sale of several properties in Barcelona and Madrid means that Renta Corporación closed September with an increase in its turnover. Currently, the group’s business portfolio amounts to €179 million. Moreover, the company manages assets for sale in partnership with several real estate funds, with an estimated investment amount of €35 million.

In terms of the purchases made by the group between January and September, highlights include the acquisition of fifteen residential-use properties comprising 1,095 turnkey homes, through its Socimi Vivenio. Those assets are located in Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Palma and Málaga and involved the disbursement of €533 million for the company.

Renta Corporación is currently in a process of growth. At the beginning of October, the company announced that it is going to build homes on the site of Esteve’s former headquarters in Barcelona, an asset that it has just purchased from Iberdrola Inmobiliaria.

Orignal story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake

German Fund Manager Aquila Capital Launches its own Property Developer in Spain

1 August 2018 – El Economista

The German fund manager, Aquila Capital, is demonstrating its commitment to Spanish property by launching a new property developer called AQ Acentor.

Until now, the firm has worked in Spain by delegating its development activities and in partnership with other real estate companies such as Inmoglacier, with which it has undertaken several projects. “The strategic partnership with the property developer has been positive and has resulted in the construction of three successful real estate developments, which have contributed to Aquila Capital’s expansion plans in the Spanish market under its own brand, AQ Acentor”, explains Sven Schoel, CEO of the German manager in Spain.

Aquila has been operating in Spain since 2014, focusing its business on the real estate sector, with projects worth more than €800 million. With the creation of this new brand, the firm has incorporated a management team to boost growth through in-house development.

AQ Acentor has been created with more than 3,000 new homes under construction, of which around 500 will be handed over during the course of this year. Currently, the firm is working on residential projects in metropolitan areas, primarily in Madrid, Barcelona, Málaga and Valencia.

“The company has a multidisciplinary team comprising more than 40 professionals located in offices in Madrid, Barcelona and Málaga”, explain sources at the firm.

“The creation of AQ Acentor responds to our firm commitment to the Spanish market and is backed by a pipeline amounting to €1 billion over the next five years”, specifies Schoel.

The manager is also present in the logistics market in Spain, one of the other real estate segments that is experiencing a boom, besides the residential segment. In that case, it has launched an investment plan amounting to between €350 million and €400 million for the Iberian Peninsula and Italy.

Original story: El Economista (by Alba Brualla)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Mapfre & GLL Launch New €300M Office Fund

8 March 2018 – Iberian Property

The insurance company Mapfre and GLL have just formed a new partnership for the launch of a new investment fund amounting to €300 million.

The vehicle will focus on the purchase of offices in some of the major European markets, such as Germany, France, the Netherlands, Italy and Luxembourg, according to the Spanish real estate firm. The idea is to achieve returns of 4%-6% per year, diversifying the portfolio of the entities.

In Spain, Mapfre already owns a portfolio of buildings including Plaza de la Independencia, 6 in Madrid and Torre Mapfre in Barcelona.

Original story: Iberian Property

Edited by: Carmel Drake

Azora Group Explores its Own Stock Market Debut

15 February 2018 – La Información

The Azora Group, the manager of the moment in the Spanish real estate sector, following the successful launch of its Socimi Hispania, which managed to attract well-known international investors such as George Soros, is now considering its own debut on the stock market, according to financial sources familiar with the situation, speaking to La Información. In parallel, it is continuing to work on the assignment to debut Sareb’s Socimi, Témpore Properties, on the stock market.

According to the sources, the investor group controlled by Concha Osácar (pictured above, third from left) and Fernando Gumuzio (pictured above, far left), through the parent company Azora Altus, has already taken the first steps towards processing its debut on the stock market, a move that the company declined to comment on when consulted in this regard. According to the definition that is available on the website of one of the other Socimis that it has debuted on the market and which it now manages exclusively following Hispania’s model, Colón Viviendas, the Azora Group “is made up of independent private equity managers specialising in the real estate sector”. Founded in 2003, the group employs 400 professionals and, according to its own estimates, manages an asset portfolio worth more than €4.1 billion. In addition to Hispania and Colón Viviendas, the group manages another collective investment instrument: Lazora.

Two well-known bankers are behind the Azora Group, both former members of Banco Santander’s private banking team: Concha Osácar and Fernando Gumuzio, who control the group’s parent company through two holding companies, Baztán Consultores and Hermanos Bécquer 10, respectively. They would be the major beneficiaries of this latest planned move (…).

Change of strategy

The Azora Group’s decision to direct its steps towards the stock market comes just a few months after Hispania’s General Shareholders’ Meeting took the decision to liquidate that Socimi in 2020. The possibility was included in the initial business plan set out at the time by Azora, but the subsequent remarkable performance of the company has opened up the possibility of that project becoming a reality. Not in vain, the firm had climbed to the status of being the largest owner in the domestic hotel sector, with 39 hotels and 11,200 rooms in its portfolio, and a flow of profits significantly higher than forecast: €308 million in 2016 and €185 million in H1 2017, up by 35% YoY.

Having established Hispania’s expiry date, the Azora Group unleashed a series of decisions in the following months. In May, it decided to liquidate Azora Europa 1, another real estate investment fund in which it managed to involve Sabadell Patrimonio, Abanca, Kutxabank, Caixabank, Bankia and investors such as Manuel Jové. The next step was to begin the process to debut a new Socimi on the MAB, Colón Viviendas, whose assets comprise 300 public rental apartments acquired from the Consell Comarcal del Barcelonés back in the day.

Almost in parallel, Azora placed another Socimi on the MAB, through Hispania and in partnership with Barceló. In that case, the assets were linked to the hotel sector, in the form of Bay Hotels & Leisure, with a portfolio worth €790 million, according to the prospectus. That adventure looks set to be coming to an end after Hispania first took over Barceló’s stake and then notified the CNMV, a few days ago, of its intention to exclude the entity from trading on the MAB due to the lack of appetite from minority shareholders and the reduced liquidity of its shares.

Original story: La Información (by Bruno Pérez)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Aquila Capital & Momentum Reim Join Forces To Build Homes In Barcelona

20 September 2017 – El Mundo

The investment fund Aquila Capital and the property developer Momentum Reim have reached an agreement to jointly develop residential projects in Barcelona. The first investment as a result of this partnership has involved the acquisition of 13,000 m2 of buildable land in an area known as La Catalana, in Sant Adrià de Besòs, for the construction of 120 homes.

This residential project is located 600m from Port Forum beach and one kilometre away from Diagonal Mar, in a very good location thanks to La Ronda and public transport links (Tranvía and Metro).

The future development (www.jardinsdelforum.com) will contain two-, three- and four-bedroom homes, with double orientation for better ventilation and large terraces. The master bedroom in each home will have a dressing room and ensuite bathroom, and there will be a communal area with a solarium and pool on the roof.

Aquila Capital is headquartered in Hamburg and currently manages investments amounting to more than €6,000 million around the world. It is one of the most active institutional investors in the real estate sector in Spain, where it is currently constructing more than 1,500 homes, as well as several hotels, in Madrid and Barcelona, with various local partners.

Meanwhile, Momentum Reim is currently building more than 1,200 homes, worth more than €500 million, from its offices in Madrid, Málaga and Barcelona.

Original story: El Mundo 

Translation: Carmel Drake

Heron International Engages CBRE To Sell All Its Assets In Spain

11 September 2017 – El Confidencial

The group that revolutionised the concept of shopping centres in Spain has completed its cycle in our country. The British firm Heron International, the developer of the Heron City retail and leisure spaces, has decided to divest all of its establishments in Spain. To this end, it has just engaged CBRE to organise a restricted sales process, in which only a limited number of investors, who have already been selected, are going to be invited to participate.

Sources at the real estate consultancy acknowledge that they have been awarded the exclusive mandate for this process, but they declined to comment further. Nevertheless, sources familiar with the process say that all of the potential buyers on the closed list (which includes major investors, Socimis and institutional funds)have now been contacted and that the portfolio is worth between €230 million and €250 million.

Specifically, the portfolio comprises the Heron City Las Rozas centre (Madrid), the Heron City Paterna centre (Valencia) and Heron Diversia Alcobendas (Madrid), which have a combined gross leasable area of 84,000 m2, along with 6,100 parking spaces and more than 12 million visitors per year. Those figures make this transaction one of the most important in the retail segment at the moment.

The operation includes the right to use the Heron City brand, which will allow the new owner to continue to fly the flag of a concept that arrived in our country almost three decades ago. It represents more than just a shopping centre, since it also encompasses leisure, restaurants and experiences, and is committed to outdoor spaces and partnerships with iconic brands.

For example, in terms of cinemas, Heron always works with Kinépolis and Cinesa to develop large, high-end cinema complexes; whilst Virgin is its typical travelling companion for gyms; moreover, the gastronomic offering always includes some premium concepts, steering clear of classic fast food.

History in Spain

Since it first arrived in Spain, Heron International has only starred in one sale operation involving a retail centre, that of Heron City Barcelona, which it sold at the end of 2006 to Babcock & Brown and GPT for €138 million. Almost a decade later, that complex was acquired by ASG, the Spanish subsidiary of Activum, in that firm’s first operation in the Catalan capital.

Both the Catalan centre as well as those in Las Rozas and Paterna were constructed by the British company, whereas Diversia was purchased in 2003 in a 50:50 alliance with Realia; a decade ago, Heron took over all of the share capital, after it acquired the 50% stake from FCC’s subsidiary.

Nevertheless, although the property developer is known for its retail centres, its history in Spain goes well behind that concept and is directly linked to the turbulent times of the 1980s and the purchase that it made then of the real estate division of Rumasa, as well as of Las Torres de Colón.

Following those acquisitions, it made a commitment to the Government to undertake investments in our country amounting to 30,000 million pesetas (equivalent to €180 million), an agreement it more than fulfilled with the development of its shopping centres. Moreover, its good work in our country also includes the construction of several hotels that, subsequently, have been sold.

Original story: El Confidencial (by Ruth Ugalde)

Translation: Carmel Drake

The New Kings Of The Residential Market

17 November 2016 – Expansión

The crisis in the real estate sector not only led to the disappearance of some of the historical giants, such as Martinsa Fadesa, Reyal Urbis and Nozar, it has also resulted in a structural change in the residential landscape, with the emergence of new players, including several international investment funds, which have revived the market by injecting their capital. (…).

“Traditionally, the residential sector has been a very polarised market, with lots of local developers playing key roles. Nevertheless, the residential business model has changed following the crisis. In 2014, we began to see new players emerging in the form of partnerships between local property developers and international investment funds, with the funds providing the capital and the developers the local knowledge and ability to manage the market”, explains Ernesto Tarazona, Partner-Director of Residential and Land at Knight Frank.

Meanwhile, the National Director of Residential at CBRE, Samuel Población, explains that the partnerships created by the international funds and local developers bring together the local developers’ capacity to manage and know the local market, and the funds’ capacity to invest and provide solvency levels (…). “Grupo Lar and Pimco; Renta Corporación and Kennedy Wilson; Momentum Real Estate and HMC; Aquila Capital and Inmoglacier; Mina Inmobiliaria and Eurostone; Aelca and Värde; and Q21 Real Estate and Baupost, are just some of the partnerships that have been formed in recent months”, he says.

In this way, we are seeing “the professionalisation of the sector with institutional money that wants to enter this market”, says Borja Ortega, Director of Capital Markets at JLL. (…).

Enrique Isla, Partner at King & Wood Mallesons (KWM), explains that, in addition, some of the funds have burst into the market by purchasing real estate companies in order to access their portfolios of land as well as their management teams. “That was the case with Lone Star’s purchase from Kutxabank of its real estate subsidiary Neinor; and Värde’s acquisition of Sanjosé’s real estate subsidiary to create Dospuntos; it also explains Castlelake’s interest in Aedas, the property developer that has emerged from the ashes of Vallehermoso”, he adds.

Isla thinks that the investment funds see great potential for growth and profitability in the residential sector, given the improvement in the Spanish economy and employment, as well as the favourable financing conditions.

In this sense, Población points out that the new developments in Spain will have to respond to the depletion in the stock of new housing that we are seeing. “Given the high number of housing permits granted in 2015, we expect between 60,000 and 65,000 new homes to be ready in 2016”. (…).

In addition to the funds, Spain’s banks, through their servicers – companies created during the crisis to streamline the administration and sale of portfolios of properties and loans by financial institutions – are becoming increasingly involved in property development.

In this sense, Anida, one of the few large platforms that is still completely owned by its parent company, BBVA, has just signed an agreement with Inveravante, a holding company owned by Manuel Jove. During the first phase, the new company, in which Jove holds a 70% stake and BBVA the remaining 30% stake, will develop 850 homes in Málaga, Madrid and Las Palmas.

The experts think that other movements of this kind may well take place in the real estate market, given that many of the banks are still major land owners.

Meanwhile, Sareb is continuing to be a major player in the residential market, with its stock of almost 100,000 units as at June last year.

Original story: Expansión (by Rebeca Arroyo)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Manuel Jove Joins Forces With BBVA To Construct New Homes

8 November 2016 – La Opinión A Coruña

Inveravante, the corporation owned by the A Coruñan businessman Manuel Jove, has joined forces with Anida, the real estate arm of BBVA, to create a new firm, Avantespacia Inmobiliaria, which will focus on building new homes in Spain, according to a statement made today by the two companies.

During the initial phase, the partnership will build 850 new homes in the centre of several cities such as Madrid, Málaga and Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and, in a second phase, it will take on other new developments, also in large capital cities.

With this initiative, the Galician businessman makes a return to the residential property development business in Spain, given that it is the first project that he has undertaken in the sector in the last decade, following the sale of Fadesa to Martinsa in 2006. Nevertheless, during the intervening years, through Avantespacia, the real estate division of Inveravante, Jove has developed housing complexes in cities in the north of Africa, specifically in Casablanca and Tanger, and is considering embarking on projects in Mexico and Brazil.

Now, “given the strong outlook for the real estate sector in Spain”, Jove’s firm and the subsidiary of BBVA have decided to unite some parts of their respective buildable land portfolios in a return to house construction.

Inveravante will control 70% of the partnership, called Avantespacia Inmobiliaria, whilst Anida will own the remaining 30% stake.

The two partners have already launched their first project in Malaga, involving the development of 135 homes, which will be constructed on a plot of land formerly owned by Tabacalera, in one of the areas “with most potential” in the city, next to the new Paseo Marítimo.

The next initiatives, which have already been put on the market, will be undertaken in Madrid, on Calle Francisco Silvela and in the neighbourhood of Las Rosas.

Avantespacia will be in charge of the architecture and construction aspects of the properties, as well as the marketing, although the homes will be included on BBVA’s specific websites. Manuel Jove used to be a shareholder of Spain’s second largest bank.

Original story: La Opinión A Coruña

Translation: Carmel Drake

The New RE Kings: Professional & Discreet

7 November 2016 – El País

The property sector still suffers from its soiled reputation as the cause of the bubble that led to the ruin of so many real estate companies, savings banks and families, ultimately bringing down the Spanish economy. But in a very discrete way, the sector is recovering its strength and real estate companies are becoming involved in major corporate operations once again, from purchases to mergers to stock exchange IPOs. The large corporations have also turned their business models on their heads. Whilst previously they undertook all kinds of activity (from property development to rental), we are now seeing specialist companies, many of whom are controlled by overseas investment funds.

The kings of property have also lost the glamour that those self-made businessman, such as Enrique Bañuelos (Astroc), Luis Portillo (Colonial) and Fernando Martín (Martinsa) enjoyed as their fortunes shined on the Forbes rich list (…). Nowadays, the new real estate companies do not have a visible face but rather are professional undertakings, and in many cases the managers are anonymous. The Socimis have taken up their place alongside the private equity funds and the large international investors such as the US businessman George Soros; Wang Jianlin, the richest man in China; and the Mexican magnate Carlos Slim.

Real estate stalwarts, such as Martinsa-Fadesa, Metrovacesa and Astroc, whose names used to feature on property developments, were left for dust, devoured by the black whole of gigantic debt. Their place has been occupied by the Socimis Merlin, Hispania, Lar and Axiare, whose names are barely known by the majority of the general public; by property developers such as Vía Célere and Neinor Homes, some of which have been created by overseas capital either investing directly in their capital or through partnerships for specific projects; and even by the former real estate arms of the banks, most of which are now owned by international funds.

One of the few exceptions to the empires from the last decade that has managed to survive is Colonial, which has cleaned up and transformed into a company that specialises in rental properties, and which is back with new investment plans. Last month, the company chaired by Juan José Brugera acquired 15.1% of the Socimi Axiare for €135 million. “Most of the companies that are left are a selection of the most professional enterprises”, said the Professor of Applied Economics at the Pompeu Fabra University, José García Montalvo. (…).

“The new managers of the real estate companies are more professional”, argues García Montalvo. In addition, the companies are more specialised and some even focus only on specific segments. One example is Lar España, a Socimi that specialises in shopping centre management (although it does also own a few office buildings), which has launched a €240 million investment plan for next year, supported by the major funds that comprise its shareholders, such as Franklin Templeton, Blackrock and Pimco.

Another example is Hispania, in which the US multimillionaires and fund managers George Soros and John Paulson hold stakes. It has also grown rapidly since it debuted on the stock market in 2014 and now manages assets amounting to almost €1,500 million. Its strategy is clear: to grow in size. Although it failed in its purchase of Realia, the company led by Concha Osácar and Fernando Gumuzio has absorbed the hotel Socimi Bay and all of the experts in the sector have tipped it to play an important role in upcoming operations. (…).

Original story: El País (by Ramón Muñoz and Lluís Pellicer)

Translation: Carmel Drake