The Polanco Family to Structure New Socimi to Invest in Rental Properties

11 December 2019 – Qualitas Equity Partners, the Polanco family’s asset management firm, will begin investing in the acquisition and rental of residential properties through a new socimi.

Home Capital Rentals Socimi, which a subsidiary of Qualitas, Q-Prime, will look to develop and acquire urban real estate for use in the rental market. The socimi intends to focus on the prime and semi-prime residential market in Spain’s main cities.

Borja Pérez Arauna, a former director of Prisa, founding partner of Q-Prime and the vice president of the Timón Group, will lead the new firm.

Original Story: El Diário – Antonio M. Vélez

Adaptation/Translation: Richard D. K. Turner

HI Partners Acquires Remaining 50.1% of Hotel Abama in Tenerife

12 March 2018 – Expansión

HI Partners has been making its first acquisitions since being taken over by Blackstone Real Estate. Banco Sabadell’s former hotel holding company has taken ownership of 100% of Hotel Abama Golf & Spa de Tenerife after acquiring the 50.1% share capital that it did not yet control from the Polanco family.

The company led by Alejandro Hernández Puértolas already purchased 49.9% of the luxury Canarian tourist resort from Tropical Hoteles – a subsidiary of the Polanco’s investment group, Timón – a year ago, and has now become its sole owner.

Luxurious five-star resort

Ritz Carlton is going to continue managing the establishment, which has a luxury five-star rating and 461 rooms, of which 148 are villas. Located in the town of Guía de Isora, the resort was designed by Melvin Villarroel. It spans a surface area of 90,000 m2 and has a two-starred Michelin restaurant run by the chef Martín Berasategui.

HI Partners, which Blackstone acquired last year for €630 million, owns 16 hotels comprising 4,684 rooms, which are operated by chains such as Ritz-Carlton, AC by Marriot, Lopesan and Meliá.

Original story: Expansión (by S. Saborit)

Translation: Carmel Drake

The Polanco Family Sells Ritz-Carlton Tenerife To HI Partners

21 April 2017 – El Confidencial

The Polanco family has resorted to selling the jewel in the crown of its personal wealth, the luxury Ritz-Carlton Abama resort in Tenerife, to obtain some financial breathing space in order to try and balance out its complicated economic situation.

According to real estate sources, the former majority shareholder of Grupo Prisa has reached an agreement with the hotel group HI Partners (HIP) to sell 49.99% of the listed establishment for almost €50 million, a quantity to which another €25 million of investment will have to be added to expand the hotel’s facilities with its residential complex. Sources at Timón, the holding company of the editorial giant, have acknowledged the transfer, but have not revealed details of any amounts or commitments.

As El Confidencial revealed several weeks ago, the problems of Prisa, whose shares are trading at their lowest value for a year and a half, have been transferred to the Polanco family, who has requested help from its creditor banks in light of the difficulties it is facing to meet its loan obligations. Its request has been answered by Santander and CaixaBank, its two primary lenders.

To this SOS, a new loan amounting to €60 million has just been agreed, which forms part of the sales operation to HIP. According to sources familiar with the deal, Sabadell, the owner of HIP, has granted this 18-month loan, with the aim of enabling the Polanco family to put its accounts in order.

Once that period has elapsed, and provided the loan has been repaid or transferred to another entity, HIP will acquire 49.99% of the luxury resort, an operation that, between the sales value and the money to be allocated to new investments, would mean that Prisa’s shareholders will obtain another €75 million.

In the event that the Polanco family breaches that obligation during the 18 month period, the hotel chain will not become a shareholder of Ritz-Carlton Abama and the financial problems of the giant will get worse, given that Sabadell would increase its list of creditors to include the aforementioned €60 million. (…).

With losses of €7.5 million at the end of 2015, the most recent period for which figures are available, and sales of €55.25 million, this luxury tourist resort comprises the five-star Ritz-Carlton Abama hotel, a residential development where 148 villas are planned and Abama Golf, a 72-hole golf course. (…).

HI Partners owns 31 establishments and manages €850 million of hotel debt on behalf of Banco Sabadell. Moreover, a year ago, the firm signed an alliance with the giant Starwood Capital Group, to create a joint venture aimed at investing €500 million over the next three years.

Original story: El Confidencial (by Ruth Ugalde)

Translation: Carmel Drake

HI Partners Buys Hotel In Tenerife From The Polanco Family

26 July 2016 – Expansión

The founding family of Prisa will use the funds (received from the sale) to reduce its debt with the banks and repay a loan from Banco Santander.

HI Partners is pushing ahead in its offsensive to become one of the largest owners of hotel assets in Spain. The subsidiary of Banco Sabadell has acquired the Hotel Jardín Tropical, located in Costa de Adeje, in the south of Tenerife, from the Polanco family, founder of Prisa.

This is a complex operation that, on the one hand, will allow the repayment of a €20 million loan that the hotel holds with Banco Santander. In parallel, the Polanco family will reduce the bank debt that it holds with several financial institutions, according to sources close to the transaction. This is HI Partners’ second acquisition in the Canary Islands, after it purchased Hotel IFA Catarina in Gran Canaria a few days ago, from the Lopeson group.

Through the investor holding company Timón, the Polanco family controls several hotels, which it operates through My Way. This company will continue to manage Hotel Jardín Tropical, which has 419 rooms and has a 4-star rating. The hotel, constructed around thirty years ago and located on the beach front, was designed by the architect Melvin Villarroel, known for integrating architecture with nature. Thus, the hotel has 12,000 sqm of sub-tropical vegetation and a saltwater swimming pool.

The aim of HI Partners is to renew all of the rooms to modernise the tourist complex, located in Spain’s fourth most important destination by RevPar, the indicator used to measure the profitability of hotel assets. The company led by Alejandro Hernández-Puértolas now has 26 hotels in its portfolio and manages €850 million of Banco Sabadell’s hotel debt.

Original story: Expansión (by S. Saborit)

Translation: Carmel Drake