Tag: platform

Goodman to Develop 130,000m2+ of Logisics Space in Spain in 2018

14 December 2017 – Eje Prime

Goodman Group, one of the leading specialists in the development and management of logistics space in the world, is strengthening its commitment to Spain. Taking advantage of the improvement in the sector, which is growing at a rate of 20% p.a., driven by the strong performance of the country’s economy, the company plans to develop more than 130,000 m2 of logistics space in Madrid and Barcelona in 2018, according to a statement issued by the firm.

“Currently, the occupancy rate of Goodman’s assets in Spain is 100% of its portfolio, approximately 3% higher than the average recorded in Madrid and Barcelona, the two regions with the highest demand for logistics facilities”, says the group.

This year, the logistics company has developed more than 41,000 m2 of new logistics space and has signed lease contracts for more than 25,000 m2.

One of the locations where the manager has worked the most is Can Margarit Logistics Center, in Sant Esteve Sesrovires (Barcelona), where, in the last two years alone, it has completed the development of more than 85,000 m2 of logistics space. The site is home to the French sports equipment retail chain Decathlon, amongst others.

Next year, Goodman will develop 19,850 m2 of new land for the sector in the Zona Franca area of the Port of Barcelona, of which 9,500 m2 will be available from June onwards.

Meanwhile, in Madrid, the company plans to launch the construction of a logistics plant measuring 34,000 m2 in Vicálvaro at the beginning of 2018, as well as the development of a 75,000 m2 platform in Alcalá de Henares.

Currently, the Goodman Group is present in Continental Europe, the UK, the Asia-Pacific region, North America and Brazil and has a portfolio of assets under management worth €22.6 billion.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake

GSA Wants to Invest €0.5bn in Student Halls in Spain

7 December 2017 – Expansión

The British firm Global Student Accommodation (GSA), which specialises in student accommodation, arrived in Spain in June with the purchase of Nexo Residencias from Oaktree Capital Management. This move, which allowed it to add a portfolio of 2,300 beds in the country, was just the beginning, given that the company plans to reach 10,000 beds by 2025 and invest approximately €0.5 billion in the country. In this way, Spain would account for between 20% and 25% of the firm’s portfolio in Europe, which in turn is expected to account for 45% of the total worldwide.

“To date, we have invested €0.2 billion and we expect to invest approximately €0.5 billion in total”, explained the founder and CEO of GSA, Nicholas Porter, in an interview with Expansión.

Spain represents one of the company’s priority markets, although the firm also plans to expand its presence to other countries in Europe and Latin America, to reach 250,000 beds around the world by 2025. GSA is present in eight countries and thirty cities in two regions: EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) and Asia-Pacific.

“Over there next ten years, there are going to be 100 million more students in university education. That trend is going to be driven by the growth of the middle class in China, India and other regions in Asia. The globalisation of university higher education and educational institutions exporting their brands will allow us to reach more markets than ever”, he states.

Porter explains that, of the company’s objective of reaching 250,000 beds around the world by 2025, “right now, we have achieved 10% of that figure”.

GSA promotes, manages and invests in student halls in locations close to the most important universities in the world.

Specifically, the company currently has projects underway with forecast investment of USD 1 billion around the world and a portfolio under development of around 21,000 beds. Moreover, to achieve its objective, the firm plans to leverage its brand through franchises in other markets, such as, for example, Latin America.

New markets

The company operates its halls of residence through the brands Uninest Student Residences, The Student Housing Company and Nexo Residencias, which it acquired in June 2017, representing its debut in Spain. “We see Nexo as an expansion platform, not only in Spain, but also in the south of Europe and Latin America”.

Currently, GSA has 1,500 operational beds in Spain and 900 beds under construction in Barcelona, which it plans to open in September 2019. Specifically, the operating portfolio is located in the centre of Madrid and includes: Galdós, with 370 beds, in Ramiro de Maeztu; El Faro, inaugurated in September 2016 and located in Moncloa with 358 beds; and Claraval, on c/ San Bernardo, with 186 beds. It also owns the Lope de Vega hall of residence in Alcalá de Henares, which it recently opened and which houses 468 students, both from Spain and overseas.

Moreover, it has two additional development plans underway in Barcelona, which will be ready for use in 2019 with 900 more beds (…).

Original story: Expansión (by Rebeca Arroyo)

Translation: Carmel Drake

 

Blackstone & Apollo Vie For BBVA’s Remaining RE

18 October 2017 – Expansión

BBVA’s real estate portfolio is sparking a lot of interest in the market. The bank is holding exclusive negotiations with Cerberus to sell its real estate manager Anida along with around €4,000 million in foreclosed assets and non-performing real estate loans. But, other investment funds do not want to miss out on the assets that they consider to be juicy and so are setting their sights on the rest of the portfolio.

Financial sources indicate that other funds, such as Apollo and Blackstone, have expressed their interest in the loans and assets linked to the property that do not end up being included in the perimeter of the portfolio sold to Cerberus. BBVA has a gross exposure to the real estate sector in Spain of €20,190 million, and so Cerberus will be acquiring around 20% of the total. The entity currently has a coverage ratio of 57% over its real estate exposure after recognising provisions amounting to €11,431 million in total, according to data as at June, the date of the most recent audited accounts. Moreover, according to sources familiar with the deal, during the negotiations, Cerberus has communicated to BBVA its intention to purchase more than the aforementioned €4,000 million in doubtful loans and foreclosed assets.

Advanced phase

The conversations with Cerberus began before the summer and are now in a very advanced phase. The operation is expected to close before the end of the year, explain sources in the sector.

BBVA’s real estate activity is grouped around Anida. The bank is one of the few entities that retained full control over its real estate business. During the crisis, several banks sold their managers to specialist funds to accelerate the divestment of their problem assets. BBVA’s plans now involve the deconsolidation of its real estate risk.

Some of the sources indicate that Cerberus decided to bid aggressively to acquire Anida after failing to get past the first round of the bidding for Popular’s toxic real estate. Its desire is so great that even the most senior figure at the firm, John Snow, met with the President of BBVA, Francisco González, to make their interest clear. In fact, Cerberus is hoping to acquire 100% of Anida, according to sources in the sector.

More than a dozen large international funds are currently buying real estate assets and loans in Spain. They include Blackstone, which reached an agreement with Santander to acquire 51% of the company created for shelving Popular’s problem assets. Meanwhile, Bain Capital is holding exclusive negotiations with Liberbank to purchase a portfolio of property worth €700 million.

Original story: Expansión (by R. Ruiz and R. Sampedro)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Fortress Unwinds Its Final Positions In Spain

7 September 2017 – Voz Pópuli

Fortress has definitively closed a chapter in its history in Spain. The US vulture fund, regarded as one of the most aggressive in the world, has launched two operations in the market through which it is looking to offload its final positions in the Spanish financial sector.

The two deals in question are Project San Siro and Project Baresi. In total, they comprise paid and unpaid loans worth around €300 million, according to financial sources consulted by Vozpópuli. The candidates to buy these loan packages include other opportunistic funds.

The two projects essentially comprise the final dregs of the portfolio that Fortress holds in the Spanish banking sector: loans from Santander, Barclays España (now part of CaixaBank) and Lico Leasing, the former finance company of the savings banks that Fortress purchased at the height of the crisis.

The US fund, led in Spain by the banker José María Cava, was one of the first to enter the financial sector at a time when the lack of trust at the international level was at its peak. It was between 2010 and 2011, when the first interventions of the savings banks began and several cold mergers were carried out, which gave rise to groups such as Bankia.

Critical time

Fortress completed its acquisition of a portfolio from Santander in 2012, just before the rescue of the finance sector. In that deal, Fortress purchased €1,000 million in consumer credits from the group chaired by Ana Botín.

A year later, the US fund announced the purchase of Lico Leasing. That was Fortress’ last major operation in Spain, which broke down just two years later. The fund took a long time to obtain authorisation from the Bank of Spain to approve that acquisition, and so by the time it did receive it, the credit tap had been reopened and so Lico arrived late to the recoveries sector.

For that reason, Fortress decided to close this business and its other financial commitments in Spain. First, it sold one of its recoveries platforms (Paratus) to Elliott and Cabot. Next, it sold Geslico to Axactor. And in terms of the other portfolios (Lico, Santander, and Barclays), it let some of them mature and the remainder is what is now being put up for sale.

It also leaves behind other possible opportunities that the fund considered, such as its failed entry into the share capital of Sareb and of other savings banks, with which it was unable to reach an agreement due to the significant price differences. Fortress is now more focused on other business niches in Spain and most notably in the Italian market, where it purchased, together with Pimco, the largest portfolio of loans, worth €17,000 million, from Unicredit last year. Given its profile, the Spanish banking sector will become the focus of Fortress once again when the next crisis hits.

Original story: Voz Pópuli (by Jorge Zuloaga)

Translation: Carmel Drake

KKR & Cabot Compete To Acquire Hipoges

31 August 2017 – Voz Pópuli

KKR and Cabot Financial are competing in one of the processes that has generated the most excitement amongst overseas funds in recent months. The two Anglo-Saxon investors are the finalists in the bid to acquire Hipoges, a platform created at the end of 2008 by former directors of Lehman Brothers, the investment bank that went bankrupt in September of that year.

The platform is controlled by Cerberus, with a 40% stake, and by its CEO, Juan Francisco Vizcaíno, who owns 18.3%. It is not clear how much of the company is up for sale, although the various sources consulted by this newspaper explained that the initiative to launch the sales process has been taken by the directors. The final price of the transaction could amount to €25 million.

The bid is being led by Alantra as an advisor and funds such as Bain Capital have participated in it, in addition to Cabot and KKR.

Hipoges has a presence in four countries, although most of its business is concentrated in Spain. In total, it administers almost €8,000 million for 22 clients, above all overseas opportunistic funds and financial institutions.

Intense competition

The platform advises investors regarding the acquisition of portfolios and the subsequent management of the assets acquired. Hipoges is responsible for administrating debt, filing claims to recover it, going to court and in the event that a property is repossessed, managing and selling it. It also competes with the major real estate companies, such as Haya Real Estate, Altamira, Servihabitat, Aktua, Aliseda, Solvia and with other independent firms such as TDX, Finsolutia and Copernicus.

Of the €8,000 million that it administers, 72% are unpaid loans granted to property developers and mortgages. The remainder are loans to SMEs (14%), consumers (12%) and invoices (2%).

By entering this process, KKR wants to take another step forward in its real estate strategy in Spain. After purchasing a portfolio of mortgages from Abanca – formerly NCG Banco – the North American fund is negotiating the acquisition of a platform that will allow it to continue gaining experience in the property sector.

Meanwhile, Cabot is another of the foreign groups that is most committed to the purchase of banking assets. It arrived in Spain in 2015 with the acquisition of Gesif and is hoping to enter the real estate business with Hipoges.

Original story: Voz Pópuli (by Jorge Zuloaga)

Translation: Carmel Drake

GSA Buys Oaktree’s Student Halls In Madrid & Barcelona

21 June 2017 – Expansión

GSA (Global Student Accommodation) has reached an agreement with Oaktree Capital to purchase its student halls of residence in Spain (which are owned and operated by an entity called Nexo). This operation, whose financial details have not been revealed, comes less than a year after GSA purchased Oaktree’s platform of halls of residence in the United Kingdom, comprising 7,100 beds, back in September 2016.

Both operations have been advised by the real estate consultancy firm JLL.

Nexo is one of the largest developers and operators of student halls of residence in Spain and currently owns a portfolio of approximately 2,300 beds located in Madrid and Barcelona – split between operational assets and those under construction.

The firm has three operational halls of residence in Madrid – Galdós, with 370 beds; El Faro, with 358 beds; and Claraval, with 186 beds – as well as the Lope de Vega University Residence, also located in the Spanish capital, which will open its doors in September 2017 and which will house 468 students, from both Spain and overseas.

The operation also includes two additional projects under development in Barcelona, which will be ready for use in 2019 and which increase the total number of beds to 2,234. The first centre, Barcelona Sants, will have 348 beds and the second, Campus Sur Diagonal, will have 504 beds.

Nicholas Porter, founder and President of GSA, said that the firm is continuing to fulfil its plans for rapid expansion in Europe with its focus on higher education markets.

Interest from funds in this segment has increased in recent months. In order to benefit from this situation, Azora and Grupo March have put RESA up for sale – it is the largest student residence management platform in Spain, with 9,000 beds – and interest has already been expressed by Axa, Round Hill, the Canadian pension fund CPPIB, CBRE Global Investment and Partners Group, amongst others.

Original story: Expansión (by R. Arroyo)

Translation: Carmel Drake

The CNMV Approves Housers As A RE Platform

9 May 2017 – Cinco Días

Housers markets itself as “the leading real estate investment platform”, which allows users to invest in property in the best areas of large cities for as little as €50. It pays rental income to its users and allows them to benefit from the appreciation in real estate prices when the property they invest in ends up being sold.

It is the largest platform in the sector, with more than 42,000 users, of which around 40% have already invested. Since it began life in April 2015, its users have invested more than €22 million. And, following extensive negotiations with the CNMV, the platform has now received approval from the supervisor chaired by Sebastián Albella. (…).

Sources familiar with the situation say that, since the beginning, Housers has been in contact with the supervisor, chaired in theory by Elvira Rodríguez, and then its conversations intensified with Sebastián Albella. In this way, the problem with Housers was that it joined together fund-raising activity with the promotion of that activity, and that was not permitted by law.

Sources close to the entity explain that the platform has spun off both activities. (…).

As such, Housers Global Properties will now be called Housers Global Properties PFP SL. In an email sent out to its users, the firm explained that since it began operations in April 2015, it has managed to finance 92 properties: 73 in Madrid, 9 in Barcelona, 7 in Valencia, 1 in Marbella and 2 in Palma de Mallorca.

Housers generates a return, known as a dividend, which varies by project, but the historical average amounts to around 3.6%. On the firm’s website, it advertises a return of 6.6% from investing in Zurbano. In addition to the rental income, investors benefit from rises in property prices, amounting to more than 12%, on average.

Sources close to the platform highlight that its mantra is to obtain certainty around its investments, which is why it has to buy homes in central areas, as a way of saving. Its core cities are Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia and Palma de Mallorca. Housers mainly invests in housing and retail premises for rent, as well as in properties for renovation and subsequent sale. (…).

How does the platform earn money? Housers charges a 10% commission on the dividends it pays out, as well as on the proceeds from its property sales. (…).

Original story: Cinco Días

Translation: Carmel Drake

Stoneweg Will Invest €750M+ In RE Assets In Spain

26 April 2017 – El Mundo

Stoneweg, the real estate platform created in Switzerland by Jaume Sabater and Joaquín Castellví – specialists in Real Estate following their time at the bank Edmond de Rothschild – has announced the opening of its first two offices in Spain, in Barcelona and Madrid.

In this way, Stoneweg is consolidating its position in the Spanish market, where it has been investing in numerous and diverse real estate developments since 2015. The company has also announced that, over the next few years, it will allocate more than €750 million to investments in Spain, of which €450 million has already been committed to various projects. Specifically, the developments that Stoneweg is already constructing, managing and marketing in Spain – which are due to be delivered between 2017 and 2020 – are located in the urban nuclei of Madrid and Barcelona, the metropolitan rings of both cities and the Mediterranean Coast (Costa Brava, Costa Blanca and Costa del Sol).

In total, the manager is working on more than 1,300 homes across 30 developments, on residential land spanning 200,000 m2 and retail premises, as well as three developments measuring more than 22,000 m2 above ground in several office buildings. The platform has created this sizeable investment portfolio by purchasing properties from the banks, Sareb and private owners.

“We place our trust in Spain due to its power for constant economic growth and its high capacity to attract tourists in search of a second home, as well as for the strengthening of mortgages and the rapid access to them”, explained Joaquín Castellví, Director of Acquisitions at Stoneweg and CEO of Stoneweg Spain. (…).

The manager has signed agreements with some of the main financial entities (Banco Santander, BBVA, La Caixa, Banco Sabadell, Abanca) and strategic partners (Grupo Sorigue, Ferrocarril, Grupo Castellví) with the aim of constituting one of the most robust real estate groups in Europe.

In addition to Spain and Switzerland, the manager led by Sabater and Castellví also has a presence in Italy and the USA, and has an investment capacity of more than €1,400 million in real estate assets across all of its markets (50% of which will be invested in Spain). (…).

Stoneweg’s new offices in Spain, located on Paseo de la Castellana in Madrid, one of the capital’s main thoroughfares, and on Calle Mestre Nicolau, in the heart of Barcelona’s financial district, will employ personnel with an average age of around 32 years old, which means that Stoneweg will be the real estate manager with one of the youngest workforces in the country.

Next month, the platform will participate in Sima (Salón Inmobiliario de Madrid) for the first time, with the aim of promoting, amongst others, the projects that it already has underway in the Spanish capital, especially the developments at the Fresno Norte urbanisation, and on Calles Alfonso X and Mateo Inurria, which are scheduled to be completed by the end of 2017 and/or the beginning of 2018.

Original story: El Mundo

Translation: Carmel Drake

Lone Star Sells c.1,000 NPLs & 600 Foreclosed Homes To Cabot

3 April 2017 – Idealista

The loan management firm Cabot has purchased Project McLaren from the US fund Lone Star. The portfolio contains more than 1,000 non-performing mortgages worth €102 million and more than 600 homes with a combined appraisal value of €51 million, according to financial sources consulted by Idealista. The properties that secure the mortgages and the homes are primarily located in Madrid, Andalucía, Cataluña and the Community of Valencia.

Cabot, together with Link Finanzas, were the two firms that initially expressed interest in this portfolio, but in the end, the former has acquired the project for an amount that has not been disclosed.

On the basis of their appraisal values, the properties that secure the mortgages are located primarily in Andalucía (21%), Cataluña (21%), Madrid (15%), the Community of Valencia (12%) and the Canary Islands (10%). In terms of the portfolio of homes, they are primarily located in Andalucía (26%), Cataluña (21%), Madrid (12%) and the Community of Valencia (11%).

Lone Star has become one of the most active funds in the Spanish real estate market. Following its purchase of the real estate company Neinor from Kutxabank for €930 million, the fund now wants to become the largest property developer in the country. Neinor Homes debuted on the stock market last month.

Another important operation was Cabot’s purchase, together with JP Morgan, of a package of real estate loans from Commerzbank worth €4,400 million. That portfolio contained loans secured by high-quality assets such as the Zielo Shopping Centre in Pozuelo de Alarcón (Madrid) and the MN4 Shopping Centre in Valencia, as well as the Ritz and Gran Meliá Fénix hotels.

Meanwhile, Cabot Credit Management is the largest manager of unpaid debt in the United Kingdom and Ireland. In 2015, together with the fund Elliot Asesores, it acquired the platform Paratus, which specialises in the management of problem assets. Since last year, it has also owned Gesif, another platform specialising in debt management and investments in portfolios of problem loans in Spain. (…).

Original story: Idealista (by P. Martínez-Almeida)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Santander & Apollo Call Off Altamira Negotiations

30 December 2016 – Vozpópuli

Santander’s repurchase of Altamira has run into trouble.

After months of to-ing and fro-ing, Banco Santander and Apollo have decided to call off their negotiations regarding the possible sale of the 85% stake that the US fund owns in the real estate company. And the reason is price, given that Ana Botín is not willing to meet the expectations of the asset manager chaired by Leon Black. Apollo will not drop its asking price below €1,000 million, whilst Santander’s informal offer amounts to around €800 million, according to several financial sources.

Unless there is a last minute change of heart, all indications are that Altamira’s share capital structure will continue as it is now: with 85% in the hands of Apollo and 15% controlled by Santander. The Spanish bank sold the controlling stake in the real estate company in 2013 for €664 million.

Santander’s intention was to repurchase its stake to create a world-leading property management firm, to administrate its assets in other countries where the default rate is rising, such as in Brazil. Santander engaged Citi to complete this operation. The possible repurchase has been on the table since Ana Botín (pictured above) took over as President of the bank, given that this sale was one of the things that she liked the least from her father’s inheritance.

Botín sees it as a much more expensive way of raising capital than would have been possible to obtain by other means. But unless she can afford a price that will allow Apollo to close this deal at a profit, it is unlikely to go ahead. This change in strategy comes at a time when Apollo is raising a new fund, amounting to more than €4,000 million, to invest in the south of Europe. Given that it has new ammunition to spend from now on, it will value a platform such as Altamira very highly

New strategy

Following this turnaround in negotiations, Apollo has decided to strengthen the future of Altamira be making acquisitions. Santander’s property management firm is well placed in two current acquisition processes: firstly for Unicaja’s real estate arm, GIA, where it is competing with Haya Real Estate; and secondly, for the first bad bank created by the Portuguese State, Oitante, which manages Banif’s problem assets – other players such as Servihabitat (owned by TPG and CaixaBank), Hipoges and Värde Partners (Banco Popular’s real estate shareholder) are also bidding in that tender.

If the latter operation bears fruit, it would be Altamira’s first international venture, and the ideal way for Apollo to generate value from this investment, and obtain more from its sale when it eventually decides to exit.

The fund chaired by Black (one of the 150 wealthiest people in the USA and owner of the painting The Scream) is putting all of its meat back on the grill in Spain after a couple of less active years. In 2013, it closed its largest two acquisitions in the country: Altamira and Evo Banco. Since then, its activity has been limited to the purchase of a small portfolio of homes from BMN and GE Capital’s mortgage portfolio in Spain. Moreover, Altamira was awarded one of the four management contracts by Sareb.

In recent months, Apollo has purchased one of the largest banking portfolios on the market, Project Sun from CaixaBank, containing hotel debt, and it is expected to soon close the acquisition of one of the aforementioned real estate platforms (Oitante or Unicaja).

Original story: Vozpópuli (by Jorge Zuloaga)

Translation: Carmel Drake