Tag: plot of land

Ministry Of Defence Puts Former ‘Hospital Del Aire’ Land Up For Auction

4 October 2017 – Eje Prime

The plot of land (…) is located in the Arturo Soria neighbourhood of Madrid, one of the most expensive areas of the capital (…). 

The Ministry of Defence is looking to shed weight. The government department has received authorisation from the Council of Ministers to put up for auction the land on which the former Hospital del Aire used to be located. The block is in disuse and has been vacant since 2011 when the old hospital building was demolished.

The asking price for the ownership of the land has been set at €25.1 million, for a plot spanning 28,341 m2. The former hospital has been included in the Ministry of Defence’s portfolio of buildings since 1945, when the former Ministry of Air acquired it, through a normal purchase and sale transaction.

In 2010, the Ministry of Defence managed to reach a pre-agreement with the Fundación Universidad Empresa to sell the building, but just six months later, the protocol that had been signed in that regard expired.

The express authorisation of the Council of Ministers to launch the auction was mandatory in this case, given that the sales value of the site exceeds €20 million.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake

Neinor Homes Acquires 3 Plots In Valencia & Tarragona for €22.6m

7 September 2017 – Press Release

Yesterday, Neinor Homes completed the purchase of one plot of land in Valencia, which together with the acquisition of two other plots in Tarragona on Tuesday, means that the company has expanded its fully permitted land bank by c. 34,000 m2 in a matter of days.

The company plans to build 300 units on the newly acquired plots, taking the capacity of its fully permitted land bank to c. 12,000 units.

These latest acquisitions have a projected gross margin of c. 28%, which is well above the company’s targets. They were funded using the JP Morgan bridge financing announced last week.

Neinor’s total acquisitions since January now amount to €248 million, whereby fulfilling 100% of the company’s target for 2017 and 27% of its target for 2018.

The acquisitions are another indicator of Neinor Homes’ ability to anticipate the recovery in new regions, whereby strengthening its land bank in the City of Valencia and entering a new area in Cataluña: Tarragona.

Original story: Press Release

Edited by: Carmel Drake

Segro Acquires 5.3ha Plot In San Fernando De Henares

2 August 2017 – Press Release

Segro, the British investment fund that specialises in the logistics sector, has acquired a plot of land in San Fernando de Henares, Madrid. The plot has a surface area of 5.3 hectares and is located 17km away from Madrid, at the intersection of the A-2 and M-50 motorways, to the south east of Barajas airport.

The plot acquired by Segro is currently leased to a group that plans to operate the site as a logistics service centre for automobiles until 2022. This operation forms part of Segro’s strategy in Spain, which involves developing modern logistics facilities and urban buildings to support high-quality and sustainable distribution.

With this new acquisition, Segro is strengthening its presence in the Spanish market, where it is positioning itself as one of the major investors and developers in the logistics sector.

“San Fernando de Henares has become a key location, with several projects due to be launched over the short to medium term. This acquisition strengthens our position in Spain, in a strategic place that is just 17km from Madrid and it will allow us to build a logistics centre in a few years”, said David Alcázar, Director of Segro España (…).

Segro launched its activity in Spain in 2015 and since then has built up a portfolio containing five assets, covering a combined surface area of 120,000 m2 (constructed or under development) in strategic locations on the outskirts of Barcelona and Madrid.

Original story: Press Release

Translation: Carmel Drake

ECI Prepares To Sell Its 2 Stores In Parquesur (Madrid)

13 July 2017 – Voz Pópuli

El Corte Inglés is preparing to sell its stores in the Parquesur shopping centre, in Leganés (Madrid), according to financial sources consulted by this newspaper, under the framework of its asset sale policy to reduce debt. The group chaired by Dimas Gimeno occupies two spaces in Parquesur – which is owned by Unibail Rodamco – one for fashion and accessories, and the other for sports and leisure goods and the supermarket. El Corte Inglés assured this newspaper that no operations are currently active and that, in any case, it has remained as the tenant of other real estate assets despite divesting them.

According to real estate sources, the retail leader in Spain plans to sell various assets worth up to €150 million. Its portfolio of assets for sale includes not only the stores in Parquesur, but also others located in Burgos, Valencia and Madrid.

Leading this process is a stalwart of the Spanish company, Carlos Muñóz Gordobil, whom the sources consulted define as “a tough nut” and “old school operator”. The real estate sources argue that the prices that El Corte Inglés is asking for these buildings, which it considers to be non-essential, are too high.

The same sources indicate that El Corte Inglés’ real estate business is still weighed down by the purchase it agreed in 2014 to buy a plot on Paseo de la Castellana, adjacent to the centre that the group has in the area, which Adif sold through an auction. According to these sources, who are experts in the real estate sector, the figure paid by El Corte Inglés, €136 million, was “over the top”, as it exceeded the second highest offer submitted by more than €40 million. According to El Corte Inglés, the purpose of that purchase was to create its largest shopping centre in Spain, exceeding the one located in El Bercial (Getafe), which has a surface area of 180,000 m2.

In 2015, El Corte Inglés recorded profits of €158.13 million, up by 33.9% compared to the previous year and its turnover grew by 4.3%, to reach €15,219.84 million. Although the company has improved its revenues and has significantly decreased its debt, it still has to make some changes to facilitate negotiations with its creditor banks and secure better financing conditions, explained the financial sources consulted.

Four years ago, the retail group held debt amounting to €5,000 million, which put its business model in danger, and which essentially force it into a restructuring process in 2013. The sale of 10% of its capital to a sheik in Qatar, agreed in 2015, for €1,000 million; the sale of 51% of its financing arm to Santander in 2013; and the issue of promissory notes amounting to €300 million at the end of 2015, and of bonds through Hipercor, are just some of the measures taken by El Corte Inglés to reduce its debt to below €4,000 million.

Original story: Voz Pópuli (by Alberto Ortín)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Large Overseas RE Funds Are Building Homes In Spain

10 April 2017 – Expansión

Large international funds such as Invesco, Harbert, Activum SG and Stoneweg are developing residential projects in Spain in search of high returns.

Following their arrival in Spain at the end of 2013, the international investment funds have become the players to watch in the Spanish real estate market. Attracted by the decrease in prices following the burst of the bubble, the funds entered the market looking for opportunities in the tertiary sector (primarily, in the office and commercial segments). Nevertheless, the price rises of these properties and the improvement in the macroeconomic situation in the country have led them to place their focus on a new type of investment: residential assets.

“The main advantage of investing in residential assets is the return. Currently, the returns on residential investments is greater – by between 13% and 20% – than those generated by other assets (be they commercial, logistics, etc.), which have been cut recently, as the upwards trends have been reduced by increasingly higher competition, due to the shortage of products in good locations and the rise in land prices”, said Gonzalo Gallego, Partner in Financial Advisory at Deloitte.

“We have seen many international funds and players investing in the residential sector: Kennedy Wilson, Lone Star, Greenoak, Grosvenor, Autonomy Capital, Invesco, as well as family offices and representatives of large equity firms such as Shaftesbury, the Capriles family, Stoneweg and Dazia, amongst others. In general, they promote to sell, but we are also awaiting the imminent arrival of international giants such as Greystar and Round Hill and Allianz, in the residential rental business, where they see an important niche for the professionalisation and institutionalisation of this sector”, explains Humphrey White, CEO at Knight Frank in Spain.

One of the most active funds is the German fund Activum SG Capital Management. Currently, that investor, through its Spanish subsidiary ASG Iberia, is working on the construction of 2,000 homes in six developments, such as in San Juan (Alicante), Alcalá de Henares (Madrid) and Málaga.

Another international fund that has decided to back the residential sector in Spain is Invesco. “We are trying to avoid or assume urban planning risk in our residential investments, with the aim of not exceeding our investment schedule. For this reason, we only invest in buildable land and in properties that do not need special urban planning procedures to change their use or buildability”, explain sources from the fund’s residential department in Spain. Its projects include the development of 30 homes on Paseo de la Habana in Madrid, another one on c/Serrano, also in the capital, and the transformation of an office building into 58 homes close to Calle Colón in Valencia.

Meanwhile, Harbert Management Corporation (HMC) has decided to invest in the Spanish residential sector through a local partner, the management company Momentum. “In 2008, partners that have experience working with funds founded Momentum. In 2012, we started to see opportunities for those investors in the residential sector and, in 2014, we purchased our first plot of land in Aravaca from La Caixa”, explained Gabriel Fernández de Gamboa, Founding Partner at Momentum. Alongside this management company, HMC has invested in six plots of land in Madrid and another one in Málaga for the development of more than 600 homes and is searching for new opportunities in the market.

Original story: Expansión (by Rocío Ruiz)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Neinor Buys 7,000m2 Plot Of Land In Valencia

5 April 2017 – Expansión

Neinor Homes is stepping on the accelerator and strengthening its presence in Spain by entering a new region. The property developer – which debuted on the stock market on Wednesday 29 March –  has completed the purchase of its first plot of land in Valencia, with a buildable surface area of 7,000 m2, where it will construct 54 homes. This acquisition allows the company, which is controlled by the US fund Lone Star, to expand its operations to Valencia, where it is considering opening a local office.

According to the company, the market in Valencia displays the characteristics that it demands for its investments: a shortage of structural supply, a lack of competition, positive population growth and unsatisfied demand. For this reason, it is looking for “new opportunities in the city”.

Since the beginning of January, the company has invested €51.5 million in the purchase of buildable land in Sitges, Gerona, Sabadell, Mairena de Aljarafe (Sevilla), Sazares (Málaga), Madrid and Valencia. These plots will allow the developer to build more than 700 homes on almost 90,000 m2 of land.

The CEO of Neinor, Juan Velayos (pictured above), said that the purchases made during the first quarter place the company on the road to exceed its annual objective in terms of acquisitions, set at €200 million. “It is a confirmation that we are still able to buy carefully selected plots of land from non-natural landowners, such as banks and companies without any development activity”.

In this way, sources at Neinor underlined that each one of these operations exceeds the profitability objectives set by the property developer and that they were closed only after rigorous legal, technical and commercial due diligence had been completed.

The firm has 1 million m2 of land in its portfolio, with a gross value of €1,120 million, on which it plans to construct more than 9,000 homes.

At the end of February, the company had 60 active developments – already started or planned to be launched – in País Vasco, Madrid, Cataluña, Andalucía and the Community of Valencia, on which it plans to construct 4,002 homes.

The property developer plans to reach cruising speed in 2020, with the completion and delivery of between 3,500 and 4,000 homes per year.

The company, which plans to announce its results on 26 April, closed last year with revenues of €228.6 million and a gross operating profit (EBITDA) of €9.6 million.

Original story: Expansión (by Rebeca Arroyo)

Translation: Carmel Drake

UK Fund Shaftesbury Buys Plot Of Land In 22@ District

31 March 2017 – Eje Prime

The UK fund is satisfying its investment appetite in the Spanish market by making acquisitions. In this vein, it has just added a plot of land in the 22@ district of Barcelona to its portfolio of assets. The plot is located at number 66 on Calle Cristóbal de Moura, according to Frédéric Mangeant, the Director General of the fund in Spain. Following this purchase, the group plans to construct an office building on the site.

Although the company did not want to make a statement about the amount of the operation, sources close to the deal say that the fund must have paid around €10 million. According to the same sources, Shaftesbury has purchased the plot of land from “a bad bank”, and is now waiting to receive all of the necessary licences from the Town Hall of Barcelona before it starts construction of the property.

Shaftesbury is thereby committing itself to one of the areas that is expected to grow by the most in the Catalan capital. The 22@ district is attracting a large number of companies, both from within Spain as well as from overseas, wanting to open offices in Barcelona. In the same way, a large number of real estate companies are committing themselves to the construction of new office buildings to satisfy demand (…).

Shaftesbury’s purchase of this plot of land forms part of the group’s plans to grow in the Spanish market. Headquartered in Luxembourg, the fund’s leader in Spain is Frédéric Mangeant, an executive who previously served as a managing partner of the international real estate consultancy Knight Frank and who is a member of the Board of Directors of Real Valladolid Football Club.

Shaftesbury’s Spanish subsidiary began its expansion in Spain in 2014, with the purchase of a building at number 48 on Calle José Abascal in Madrid, which it acquired from Sareb for €26.5 million. The fund has converted that property into a luxury residential building. According to sources in the sector, the 17 homes cost around €8,500/m2, and are set to become a benchmark for the multiple high-end projects that are currently underway in the capital (…).

The Shaftesbury Asset Management group manages more than €1,700 million of real estate assets and created the fund Shaftesbury Real Estate Partners 1 in 2015 with the objective of investing approximately €300 million.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake

Grosvenor & Amprop To Sell Luxury Homes In Madrid

20 February 2017 – Expansión

The company Grosvenor Europe, owned by the British real estate conglomerate Grosvenor, has agreed to acquire a plot of land, measuring 820 m2, on Calle Jorge Juan in Madrid, in one of the most exclusive and expensive residential areas of the city.

The operation forms part of the investment plan that Grosvenor signed last summer with the company Amprop, which is listed on the Malaysian stock exchange and which operates in the real estate, renewable energy and public construction sectors.

At that time, the real estate group, which owns more than 1,500 properties all over the world, transformed its fund Grosvenor Fund Management into Grosvenor Europe, with the aim of undertaking co-investment projects in high profile markets in Europe, such as Paris, Madrid, Milan and Stockholm.

Seven months after creating this alliance, the partners have completed their first investment, for an undisclosed sum. Grosvenor and its partner will promote an exclusive development on this plot, comprising six apartments measuring 180 m2 each, and a penthouse with views of the Retiro park. The average price per m2 of prime products in the neighbourhood of Salamanca amounts to around €8,500/m2, but some developments average more than €9,000/m2, according to the latest residential reports.

The aim is to close another two operations within the next few months. “We are studying several opportunities for residential development and value added products in the centre of Madrid. We hope to build our portfolio in a very strong way in 2017”, say sources at the group.

Original story: Expansión (by R.Ruiz)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Andalucía’s Regional Gov’t Sells 2 Residential Plots For €10.3M

20 December 2016 – Es Andalucía

The latest offer from the Ministry of Development and Housing to sell off the industrial and residential plots launched by the Andalucían Agency for Housing and Renovations on 18 October, has ended with the sale of two plots of residential land, one on in Costa Bellena, Chipiona (Cádiz); and another through a purchase option in Camas (Sevilla).

Thus, in total, residential land amounting to €10.3 million and industrial plots with a sales value of €1.2 million have been awarded in the latest offer, according to reports from the Regional Government of Andalucía in a statement.

In terms of the site in Costa Ballena, a plot of land measuring 27,243 m2 with the capacity to build 131 homes has been sold for €6,893,227; and in Camas, the other site has been sold through a purchase option for a plot of land measuring 15,188 m2 as part of the Poeta Muñoz Sanromán Partial Plan, with capacity for 227 homes and a price of €3,456,029.

In this way, most of the residential plots sold are located in the province of Cádiz, in the town of Chipiona (…) which will equip the Regional Administration with the resources it needs to construct subsidised housing in the province of Cádiz.

Therefore, the sale of residential land in this final offer of the year, the fourth in 2016 and the fifth since the decision was taken to reactivate the sale of land at the beginning of the legislature, will allow 358 homes to be built in total in the towns of Chipiona and Camas. (…).

Original story: Es Andalucía

Translation: Carmel Drake

HMC & Momentum REIM Buy Plot Of Residential Land In Málaga

14 December 2016 – Real Estate Press

HMC and Momentum REIM are redoubling their commitment to Málaga with the acquisition of a plot of land measuring 16,163 m2 in the Teatinos neighbourhood, Málaga, where it plans to construct 340 homes (known as the Teatinos Sky Garden development)

With this new investment, the firms will have 57,000 m2 of roofs under development within 6 months, making them one of the main residential investors in the city.

The alliance formed between the institutional investor HMC, which has more than €4,400 million under management, and the property developer Momentum REIM, is currently constructing six primary home residential developments in Spain, in which they are investing more than €231 million. The developments currently under construction are located in the most sought-after areas of Madrid and Málaga capital, focusing on middle-upper class families and are characterised by a differential value in terms of design, common area facilities, customisation and customer focus.

In 2017, Momentum REIM plans to expand its investments to other cities in Spain and to double its current investment volume during the course of the year. The outlook for the residential market in Spain is still positive, given the structural demand for housing, although in general terms, significant price increases are not expected.

Original story: Real Estate Press

Translation: Carmel Drake