Quabit Buys Land in Menorca for €24.6M to Build Homes and a Hotel

3 July 2018 – Eje Prime

Quabit is preparing to bring more new homes onto the market. The company chaired by Félix Abánades (pictured below) is taking positions in the residential market in Menorca. The company has acquired a portfolio of buildable residential land on the island for €24.6 million.

The plots are located in Son Parc, on the north coast of Menorca, and form part of the municipality of Es Mercadal, according to explanations provided by the company in a statement. The plots have a buildability of 69,350 m2 for the construction of 277 new homes and 264 hotel beds.

The payment of 70% of the transaction price has been made through the company in which Quabit holds a majority stake and in which the global investment firm Avenue Capital holds almost 10%, with financial support from the funds advised by Avenue. The remaining 30% has been funded by using shares in the company with a value of €2 per share through a non-monetary capital increase.

“Quabit is going to start the pre-launch marketing campaign immediately, before the month of August”, explained the company. The deal in Menorca represents the company’s fourth major land transaction so far this year, after its acquisition of buildable residential plots during the first quarter in Madrid, Guadalajara and Corredor del Henares.

Following these operations, Quabit now has 1.1 million m2 of buildable land on which to build around 8,800 homes. In 2018, Quabit’s commercial portfolio comprises 45 developments with almost 3,300 homes in different phases of construction in Madrid, Málaga and the Costa del Sol, Guadalajara, Corredor del Henares and the Balearic Islands. The company is maintaining its objective of handing over 7,900 homes by 2022.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake

Spain’s Large Property Developers Own Land to Build 100,000 Homes

5 February 2018 – Expansión

Metrovacesa, Aedas, Neinor, Vía Célere, Aelca, Quabit, Realia and Insur own land spanning more than 15 million m2, which they want to use to take advantage of the new real estate cycle.

The upturn in the residential sector is consolidating and the large property developers want to take advantage of the new cycle to obtain returns from the portfolio of land they have accumulated in recent years. The new generation of property developers Metrovacesa, Aedas, Neinor, Vía Célere and Aelca, and some of the listed survivors of the crisis, such as Quabit, Realia and Insur, now own land spanning more than 15 million m2 with the capacity to build more than 100,000 homes over the next few years.

Metrovacesa, controlled by Santander and BBVA is the property developer with the largest portfolio of land on its books. Following a capital increase amounting to €1.108 billion last June, undertaken through the transfer of assets from its main shareholders, the firm owns 6 million m2 of land, with the capacity to build 37,500 homes. As at 30 September, the firm owned a portfolio of residential land with a gross value of €1.9 billion, of which €1.3 billion corresponded to developable land.

Currently, the company has 51 projects under development to build 2,263 homes and it plans to reach cruising speed in 2021, with the delivery of between 4,500 and 5,000 units per year.

Stock market debuts

Metrovacesa, which plans to debut on the Madrilenian stock market tomorrow (Monday) with a market capitalisation of €2.5 billion, says in its IPO brochure that it does not need to acquire additional land to fulfil its annual house building objectives for the next eight years.

The next firm by volume of land is Aedas. That company, in which the US fund Castlelake holds a stake, owns land spanning 1.5 million m2 with capacity for 13,270 homes. The property developer, which started to trade on the main stock market in October, invested €124 million in land purchases in 2017 alone for the construction of 3,159 homes.

The strategy of the firm led by David Martínez involves reaching its cruising speed in 2022, when it expects to record revenues of more than €1.0 billion and handover more than 3,000 homes per year.

The other listed property developer, Neinor, which was the first to make its debut on the stock market in March 2017, owns land spanning 1.3 million m2, worth €1.3 billion and with the capacity for more than 12,000 homes, according to the most recent public information as at 30 September.

Specifically, during the first nine months of last year, that property developer acquired 24 developable plots for the construction of more than 3,000 homes for €275 million.

The firm led by Juan Velayos will launch 2,500 homes during 2018, will begin construction on another 5,000 units and will hand over more than 1,000 homes this year. In 2020, Neinor expects to reach its cruising speed and hand over between 3,500 and 4,000 homes per year.

Some of the most active property developers in the purchase of land and launch of new developments also include Vía Célere and Aelca, both of which have plans to debut on the stock market soon. Vía Célere owns land spanning 1.43 million m2, with capacity for 12,200 homes. The company chaired by Juan Antonio Gómez-Pintado invested €227 million in land last year.

The other property developer controlled by Värde, Aelca, owns a portfolio of developable land spanning 1.28 million m2 for 12,566 homes. The firm expects to launch 49 new developments in 2018 and will have 86 residential projects underway at different stages of completion.

Meanwhile, the listed property developers that survived the crisis, Quabit and Insur, own land with the capacity for 6,720 and 4,691 homes, respectively. Quabit plans to invest €670 million in the purchase of land until 2022, when it will reach cruising speed with the hand over of 3,000 homes per year, whilst Insur will invest €80 million in purchases until 2020 in order to hand over 600 homes per year.

In terms of the residential business of Realia, the firm controlled by Carlos Slim owns a land portfolio spanning 1.85 million m2, of which 25% is developable (…).

Original story: Expansión (by Rebeca Arroyo)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Amenabar Will Complete 4,000 Homes In 3 Years

12 June 2017 – Expansión

With more than three decades of experience under its belt, the Basque property developer Amenabar is now immersed in a new growth phase, which includes a review of its strategic plan to update it with more ambitious numbers. “At the moment, we have more than 2,500 homes under construction, at various stages. Furthermore, we have made a commitment to our clients to sell 4,117 units between 2017 and 2020”, explained Enaut Saiz, CEO of Amenabar Promociones (pictured above) in an interview with Expansión.

Headquartered in San Sebastián, Amenabar is currently focusing the majority of its development efforts in Madrid, where it owns land to build 2,000 homes, and Euskadi, where it is working on around 1,700 units across several developments. “Since 1981, we have developed and built more than 223,000 homes (…)”.

Over the last 18 months, the Donosti-based property developer has spent more than €200 million buying up land. “(…). These investments have taken place in Madrid, País Vasco, Cataluña, Navarra and the Costa del Sol, but we are now also looking at investment opportunities in other provincial capitals”, said the CEO, who added that the firm is likely to continue to invest over the next few months.

Objectives

“We have exceeded the objectives set in our strategic plan, and so we are currently reviewing it since it is likely that our objectives will increase in line with our new investments. In any case, we are very prudent in terms of our investment policy and we prioritise land in good locations with buildable status”, explained the CEO. According to the company, its portfolio of land, which spans 570,000 m2, is worth €900 million.

Last year (2016), Amenabar recorded turnover of more than €380.34 million, up by 13% compared to the previous year and that figure will only rise with the completion of all of the homes it now has under development. (…).

The property developer’s commitment to build 4,117 homes between 2017 and 2020….represents a figure that exceeds the plans even of Neinor Homes, owned by the US fund Lone Star, which debuted on the stock market at the end of March and which is currently building 4,000 homes. (…).

Amenabar’s ambitious growth plan coincides with the emergence of several new property developers that are not being led by Spanish families and businesspeople, like during the previous cycle, but rather by overseas funds.

“Nowadays, there are new real estate operators, in particular, property developers owned by international investment funds or managers who finance one-off projects through this type of entity. Although we cannot generalise (about our competitors), we are committed to a totally different kind of model. Our focus is on the construction of homes using our own means and with our commitment to the concept of customised housing, which we have been developing for more than 30 years”, said Saiz.

Unlike its competitors, Amenabar is not planning to debut on the stock market to raise more funds. “A stock market debut is not on the cards for us. We are in an excellent financial position to fulfil our annual investment budget and we don’t need to go down that route. Moreover, we are fortunate that our shareholders are committed to a long-standing tradition of reinvesting profits in the development of the business itself”, he said.

Original story: Expansión (by Rocío Ruiz)

Translation: Carmel Drake