Tag: payment

Sareb Sells Former Barracks in Es Castell to the Local Government for €2.4M

25 October 2018 – Menorca Info

The Govern, Consell and Town Hall of Es Castell have closed an agreement to purchase the barracks in Plaça Esplanada de Es Castell, Duque de Crillón and Conde Cifuentes. According to reports on Thursday, the payment will be made during the first quarter of next year.

On Tuesday, Sareb, the owner of the properties, confirmed that it was going to accept the economic offer from the Govern, which amounts to €2.4 million. Of that amount, €420,000 will be contributed by the Town Hall of Es Castell, €1 million by the Consell of Menorca, and the remaining €1 million by the Govern.

The agreement specifies that the barracks will be intended for public use given their high historical, heritage and landscape value. The initial plan is for the Govern to carry out the purchase of the warehouses directly from Sareb, to avoid them being used for other purposes.

The executive has already made a provision in the budget for 2019 for the acquisition of this infrastructure.

Ownership of Duque de Crillon will pass to the Town Hall of Es Castell, whilst Conde Cifuentes will be jointly owned by the Govern and the Consell.

Both barracks will be used for public facilities and administrative uses.

Moreover, the agreement provides for the creation of a Monitoring Committee to monitor and control the execution of the commitments made by each institution.

In November, a document will be formalised to sign the agreement and it will be signed before the end of the year. During the first quarter of 2019, the purchase file will be executed and the acquisition will be formalised.

Original story: Menorca Info

Translation: Carmel Drake

Hispania Completes Purchase of Barceló’s Remaining Stake in Bay for €172.4M

27 December 2017 – El Economista

Hispania has acquired the 19.5% stake that the Barceló Group still held in the Socimi Bay Hotels & Leisure (BAY) for a total amount of €172.4 million, according to a report filed by the company on Wednesday with Spain’s National Securities and Exchange Commission (CNMV).

As such, the Socimi in which George Soros holds a stake now owns 100% of BAY, given that in October 2015, it acquired 80.5% of the company from Barceló.

As a result of the transaction, the parties have agreed to extinguish the contract between the shareholders relating to BAY and to novate certain terms of the investment contract signed when Hispania first entered BAY’s share capital.

The amount of the transaction also includes: the settlement of an incentive detailed in the contract between the shareholders for an approximate amount of €155 million; the expected dividend to be paid by BAY for 2017 amounting to €10.7 million; as well as certain compensation and/or liquidation payments resulting from the termination of the shareholder contract and the novation of the investment contract.

The total price of the operation shall be made in two payments: a first payment amounting to €80 million, which was paid at the same time as the shares were transferred to Hispania; and a second payment, amounting to €92.4 million, which will be paid on 28 February 2018.

The Socimi has specified that the sale and purchase contract anticipates certain upwards movements in the price, agreed in the case of the subsequent resale by Hispania of the acquired stake and only provided certain circumstances arise.

At the same time, the Barceló Group has notified BAY that it is exercising the sale option that it holds over the Hotel Barceló Marbella for €19 million. That transaction is expected to be executed before 28 February 2018.

Original story: El Economista

Translation: Carmel Drake

Intu Wants To Open Europe’s Largest Shopping Centre In Alcobendas

23 February 2017 – Mis Locales

The Spanish capital could soon become home to the largest shopping centre in Europe. The company Intu is working on a new mega-project.

The goal of the British company is to construct the largest shopping centre in Europe. The exact location will be in the Escobares I sector of Alcobendas and it will cover a surface area of 500,000 m2. It will be larger than all of the shopping and leisure centres constructed to date and will take over from Puerto Venecia (located in Zaragoza) as the largest shopping centre on the continent (it has a surface area of 206,000 m2).

Intu is currently engaged in tough negotiations with the owners of the land, including Sareb, and in turn, with the property developer, Levitt-Bosch Aymerich. The multi-national is demanding that ownership of the site be transferred, but it is only intending to make the payment once the property has been constructed. This proposal is causing problems and no agreement has yet been reached regarding the form of payment or the sales price.

Intu is one of the largest shopping centre managers in Europe. In Spain, besides Puerto Venecia, it also operates Intu Asturia in Oviedo and four others, in conjunction with Eurofunds.

Original story: Mis Locales

Translation: Carmel Drake

Baraka Teams Up With Riu To Promote Edificio España Hotel

13 January 2017 – Cinco Días

The Baraka group has taken a giant step forward in its acquisition of Edificio España from the Chinese holding company Wanda. The company, through which the Murcian businessman Trinitario Casanova is handling the operation, has announced the launch of a joint venture with the hotel chain Riu.

Through this joint company, Rui will hold a stake in the property amounting to between 25% and 30%. Sources close to the agreement indicate that the hotel chain will participate as an investor through the joint venture for the acquisition and renovation of the building, which is actually still owned by the Chinese group Wanda.

The Mallorcan hotel chain, founded by the Riu family, in which the tour operator giant Tui owns a 49% stake, will also manage the future five-star hotel in Edificio España, which will operate under its Riu Plaza brand under a long-term lease contract. It will be the first property to operate under the brand in Spain, which was created in 2010 and which specialises in urban destinations, such as New York and Miami in the USA, Guadalajara in Mexico and Berlin in Germany.

The future establishment, which may open its doors at the end of 2018, will have almost 700 rooms, spread over 22 floors and will have a surface area of just under 70,000 m2. It will join six other properties operated under the same brand across Europe and America. (…).

Riu operates more than 100 hotels across 18 counties and each year receives more than 4 million clients, which means that the future hotel in Edificio España will have a very international profile.

Meanwhile, Baraka also made a second payment for the historical building yesterday, amounting to €14 million….the final operation must be signed before 31 March 2017, at which point the Murcian businessman will have to pay the remaining balance to make up the figure of €272 million agreed with the Chinese group.

Casanova reached an agreement with Dalian Wanda to purchase the property in July. The Chinese investor Wang Jianlin had purchased the building from Santander in 2014 for €265 million, but his plans to demolish the building and reconstruct it were never approved by the Town Hall ruled by Manuela Carmena.

Casanova had been looking for a partner to deal with the renovation of the property, which will have an additional cost of around €200 million. The businessman was looking for an operator for the hotel with which he could sign a fixed lease contract, which caused the major international chains to withdraw their interest. And that, despite the fact that Baraka managed to negotiate a 30 year contract with the US group Hard Rock. (…).

Original story: Cinco Días (by A.S. and L.S.)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Baraka Wants To Double Edificio España’s Value In 3 Years

19 December 2016 – El País

The Murcian group Baraka, led by the businessman Trinitario Casanova, has completed its purchase of Edificio España from the Chinese group Wanda. The historical property, located in Plaza de España in Madrid, will be sold for €272 million, which is €7 million more than the Asian firm paid Banco Santander for the property back in 2014. Nevertheless, following the renovation work, the building is expected to be worth €532 million, according to a report by JLL filed with the Hong Kong stock exchange.

The owner of Baraka, Trinitario Casanova, will hand over a cheque amounting to €272 million, within the next three months (before 31 March) for the building, which the Chinese group Wanda is selling for almost the same price at which it purchased it from Banco Santander (€265 million). (…).

The President of the Chinese group, Wang Jianlin, who is the richest man in China, decided to sell the building to Baraka because the Murcian holding company promised that it would make a fast and secure payment to ensure the quick sale of the building, according to several sources.

Under the terms of the operation, Baraka has now paid Wanda €6 million by way of deposit and has made the commitment to pay another €14 million by way of guarantee when the public deed is signed before the notary. It will then pay the remaining €252 million.

Meanwhile, the consultancy firm Jones Lang Lasalle (JLL), which led the negotiations between the two companies, submitted a technical report to Wanda, which the Chinese Group has sent to the Hong Kong stock exchange. The report explains that, following the renovation work, the building will be worth €532.5 million. If this is the case, Baraka will earn almost twice as much as it spent to acquire the building in just three years, which will represent a profit of almost 100% of the capital employed for the purchase.

The Murcian businessman Casanova, who has been investigated for an alleged fraud of €6 million against the Tax Authorities and who was sentenced to one year in prison in 2008 for altering the value of shares in Banco Popular, is keen to renovate both the outside and inside of the building. Its architects have been working on the plans for months and the construction work will begin at the beginning of January, said Casanova in October.

The façades of Edificio España will remain in tact, as required by the Town Hall of Madrid, whilst the changes to the interior will serve to accommodate a large luxury hotel from 2019 onwards (probably operated by the Hard Rock Café chain). This hotel will have 600 rooms and a lease contract of 30 years. Those are Baraka’s intentions at least.

The first three floors and the basement (a space measuring up to 15,000 m2, of the building’s total surface area of 71,000 m2) will be let to retail groups.

Few changes

“The building will remain practically the same as it used to be. It will be cleaner, more beautiful and restored, but aesthetically it will be the same”, said the businessman in his most recent official appearance before the press. (…).

Original story: El País (by Luca Constantini)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Baraka Makes A Second Payment To Wanda For Edificio España

3 November 2016 – Expansión

The Baraka Group, owned by the businessman Trinitario Casanova, has made another payment to the Chinese group Wanda for Edificio España. With this payment, which will be added to the amount that the Murcian group handed over in July, another step is taken in the negotiations. The transaction is expected to close at the end of 2016 or during the first few months of next year.

Wanda, which acquired Edificio España from Banco Santander for €265 million in July 2014, decided to abandon the project following disagreements with the Town Hall of Madrid regarding the conservation of the exterior façade. It signed an agreement in principle with the Baraka Group in July 2016 to sell the property for €272 million.

In July, Baraka paid a deposit of €1 million and so Wanda promised to not negotiate the sale of the property with any other candidate at least until the middle of October. Casanova’s offer for Edificio España specifies that the acquisition will be made using the group’s own funds, although Baraka is now looking for financing in order to undertake the subsequent renovation of the property.

In parallel, the Baraka Group’s holding company is making progress in its conversations with the Hard Rock hotel group, which has expressed interest in operating the hotel that will occupy most of the building. Specifically, the Baraka Group’s plans involve opening a retail space on the first few floors of the building, and using the rest of the property to house a luxury hotel with 600 rooms, which will open its doors between the end of 2018 and the middle of 2019.

The property has a surface area of 71,000 m2, of which 15,000 m2 will be used for the retail space between the first basement floor and the third floor, and the rest will converted into the five star hotel.

Casanova has promised to conserve the main façade and the rest of the building’s external structure and whereby comply with the demands imposed by Madrid’s Urban Development team.

Original story: Expansión (by Rebeca Arroyo)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Colonial Completes €600M 8-Year Bond Issue

24 October 2016 – Expansión

The real estate company Colonial has completed a bond issue amounting to €600 million with a maturity of eight years and an annual coupon of 1.45%, according to a statement made by the group to the CNMV.

The company will allocate some of the amount raised from this operation to the repayment of bonds issued in May amounting to €750 million; they have a maturity of four years and an annual coupon of 1.863%.

The subscription and payment of the latest issue will likely take place on 28 October. For this operation, Colonial has engaged Deutsche Bank – London Branch, BNP Paribas, Crédit Agricole, JPMorgan, Mediobanca, Merrill Lynch and Natixis.

The company’s return to the debt market comes just days after it announced the acquisition of a stake in Axiare. Specifically, Colonial purchased 15.1% of the Socimi for €135.6 million.

Original story: Expansión (by R.Arroyo)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Merlin To Pay Its S/Hs Dividend Of €35M

7 April 2016 – Expansión

Merlin’s General Shareholders’ Meeting has approved the distribution of a dividend on 27 April amounting to €0.1083 per share, of which €0.1026 will be charged to the issue premium and €0.0056 will be the dividend for the year. In total, the shareholders will receive €34.98 million.

Original story: Expansión

Translation: Carmel Drake

Axiare’s Profits Quadrupled To €85.3M In 2015

25 February 2016 – Expansión

The Socimi Axiare generated a net profit of €85.3 million in 2015, whereby quadrupling its result from 2014, the year in which it was constituted and first listed on the stock exchange. Axiare will propose the distribution of a dividend amounting to €0.04 per share at its general shareholders’ meeting and will set aside €3 million for the payment.

Original story: Expansión

Translation: Carmel Drake