Tag: property developer

Insur Delays the Scheduled Delivery of 650 Homes by 2 Years

3 June 2019 -Eje Prime

Insur has announced that it is delaying the scheduled delivery of more than 650 homes by two years. However, the real estate group claims that the delays “are not significant” and are due to external factors, such as the entry into force of the mortgage law, the strategy replanning of the company and “the redesign of plans to reflect the demands of clients”.

Nevertheless, the news follows the announcement of similar delays, and profit warnings, by rivals such as Neinor, Metrovacesa and Quabit, and so the market is understandably nervous about this latest news.

In the case of Insur, the company is delaying the delivery of more than 650 homes in 11 different promotions, including the BA-2 and BA-3 developments in Entrenúcleos, located in the municipal district of Dos Hermanas in Sevilla.

Nevertheless, the property developer claims that the delay in the scheduled delivery of its homes has nothing to do with Neinor’s profit warning and assures that the company’s analysts are not worried.

Currently, Insur has 275 homes under construction and 1,625 properties in developments through joint businesses. It also owns a portfolio of land spanning 95,000 m2 on which to build another 880 homes and has long-term purchase options over twelve plots with a buildability of 208,000 m2.

Original story: Eje Prime (by Marta Casado Pla)

Translation/Summary: Carmel Drake

Orion Becomes Neinor’s 2nd Largest Shareholder with an 11.1% Stake

29 May 2019 – Eje Prime

The French fund Orion European Real Estate has doubled its stake in Neinor Homes in just two months to 11.1%, despite the profit warning issued by the property developer in April.

As such, Orion is now Neinor’s second-largest shareholder, after the Israeli fund Adar Capital, which owns 28.7% of the shares. Other shareholders include Bank of Montreal (5.2%), Julius Baer (6.2%) and King Street Capital (4.1%).

Based on the current share price, Orion’s package of 8.8 million shares in Neinor is worth €95 million.

Original story: Eje Prime 

Translation/Summary: Carmel Drake

Sabadell’s Board Evaluates 3 Offers Amounting to c. €850M For its Property Developer

28 May 2019 – El Confidencial

On Monday, Banco Sabadell received three binding offers for its property developer, Sabadell Desarrollos Inmobiliarios, from the funds Cerberus, Oaktree and a third unknown candidate, amounting to between €800 million and €900 million.

The board of directors of the Catalan entity chaired by Josep Oliu now needs to decide whether to accept one of them and thereby pave the way for the creation of a new major player in the Spanish property developer sector to compete alongside the likes of Neinor, Metrovacesa, Vía Célere and Aedas.

Oaktree has been the favourite in the bidding for the last few months given its good relationship with Sabadell and with the property developer itself, with which it already operates at least one joint venture. It would represent the US investor’s first operation of its kind in Spain, where it currently has a small platform with just 20 employees.

Nevertheless, Cerberus has been gaining ground. Unlike Oaktree, the US giant already has a property development platform in Spain, Inmoglacier, to which it wants to supply new land (which SDin owns). Cerberus could also benefit from synergies between the two firms.

Meanwhile, the identity of the third candidate remains confidential, but possible contenders include Habitat (Bain Capital), Aedas and the Canadian fund CPPIB, which were all reported to be evaluating the purchase during the preliminary phase.

Initially, Sabadell was hoping to receive more than €1 billion for its property developer, but following uncertainty in the sector in recent months and the sale of several assets, it will have to accept a more modest price if a sale is to be agreed.

Original story: El Confidencial (by Jorge Zuloaga)

Translation/Summary: Carmel Drake

Spain’s Property Developers Glimpse the First Signs of a Moderation in Prices

29 May 2019 – Expansión

Yesterday, several of the largest property developers in Spain met for a Medcap roundtable event moderated by Deloitte to discuss the outlook for the residential market.

Specifically, representatives from Metrovacesa, Aedas, Quabit, Insur and Lar participated in the discussions, during which they observed that house prices in Spain are starting to moderate in some of the more mature markets, although they acknowledged that there are still many secondary cities where the new (growth) cycle is just beginning.

In this context, the representatives identified a number of focuses and challenges facing the sector, namely:

Licences: All of the property developers are pushing for great agility from the public administrations when it comes to the granting of construction permits.

Construction: The labour shortage in the construction sector is pushing up prices and leading to delays in project finishes.

Concentration: Property developers are larger and more professionalised now than before the crisis; they require critical mass to be resilient to real estate cycles.

Industrialisation: Prefabricated homes allow construction periods to be shortened and for greater control over the processes.

Access: Young people are finding it increasingly difficult to afford to buy a home.

Overall, the experts consider that the residential sector is still immersed in the early stages of the new cycle, but only time will tell whether they are right.

Original story: Expansión (by Rebeca Arroyo)

Translation/Summary: Carmel Drake

AENA Activates its RE Plan in Palma, Málaga, Valencia & Sevilla

23 May 2019 -. ABC 

AENA is going to become the largest property developer in Spain over the next few years, having launched four real estate mega-projects at its airports in Palma de Mallorca, Málaga, Valencia and Sevilla, in addition to those already underway in Madrid and Barcelona. The airport manager is now looking to engage a consultant to help it decide the uses that will be assigned to the land that it owns in the vicinity of the four airports.

According to sources, AENA and the private partner will identify which plots are “potentially marketable” and will plan their development together. This process will take around a year, with AENA planning to dedicate the first six months to the development of the airports in Palma de Mallorca and Málaga-Costa del Sol, and the second six months to the airports in Sevilla-San Pablo and Valencia.

Madrid and Barcelona

These projects will join those already announced by the company led by Maurici Lucena for the vicinity of Barajas and El Prat airports in Madrid and Barcelona, respectively. There, AENA is planning to build offices, hotels and logistics hubs. In the Spanish Capital, the company is planning to develop up to 2.2 million m2 of land, whilst in the Catalan capital, that figure amounts to 1.1 million m2.

Original story: ABC (by Guillermo Ginés)

Translation/Summary: Carmel Drake

Aedas Reaches an Agreement with Castlelake to Buy Non-Finalist Plots

20 May 2019 – El Confidencial

Aedas Homes has reached an agreement with its main shareholder, the US fund Castlelake, to ensure its supply of long-term land, without having to make any major investments in the short-term.

Specifically, the property developer and the fund will create ad hoc companies for each non-finalist plot in which they decide to invest, whereby Aedas will take a 10% stake and will reserve the right to buy up to 25% of the homes built on each one of the sites.

Aedas’s team will be responsible for managing the vehicles, processing the urban planning formalities and obtaining the finalist land status. The company has already identified six plots in Madrid, Valencia and Sevilla, on which more than 9,200 homes could be built.

It will take between 4 and 5 years to transform those plots into finalist sites and the idea is that Aedas will build at least 2,500 of the homes permitted, with the remainder being sold for development to other property developers.

This strategy will ensure that Aedas has a supply of finalist land over the medium and long-term at affordable prices.

Original story: El Confidencial (by Ruth Ugalde)

Translation/Summary: Carmel Drake

Kronos Sells 111 Homes During Q1 2019

20 May 2019 – Press Release

Kronos Homes sold 111 homes in Spain and Portugal during the first quarter of 2019 and started work on the construction of a new development, Oasis 325, in Estepona (Málaga).

The company plans to take its total investment to €2.4 billion this year, of which €1 billion corresponds to the planned investment in land in both Spain and Portugal.

By the end of 2018, the property development arm of Kronos owned a portfolio of 12,000 homes across 16 developments, which it plans to increase by 4,000 units during 2019 across 24 developments.

Kronos Homes currently has eight projects under construction: Nature and General Marvà in Alicante; The Edge, Horizonte, Panorámica, La Finca and Oasis 325 on the Costa del Sol and H2O in Badalona. It is planning to start work on another 6 projects in Andalucía, Cataluña and Madrid this year.

All of the projects undertaken by Kronos Homes reflect its #Puredesign philosophy and place a special emphasis on good architecture, unique design and the special integration of the environment, whilst ensuring great finishes.

Original story: Press Release

Translation/Summary: Carmel Drake

Locare Buys a Rental Home Development from Vía Célere

15 May 2019 – El Economista

In just one year, Locare Real Estate has become one of the main drivers of affordable rental housing in Spain, with a portfolio of more than 700 homes at different stages of completion. To this end, the firm has just signed an agreement with the property developer Vía Célere to acquire one of its developments in the Madrilenian town of Valdemoro.

Locare is already working on another development in the same town and together the two estates will contain 180 homes and will involve an investment of €23 million. The homes will be adapted to Locare’s style, which means that they will be suitable for rental.

This operation represents the first step by the property developer led by Juan Antonio Gómez-Pintado into the rental market and sees the firm follow in the footsteps of Aedas Homes and Metrovacesa.

In its first year of life, Locare has already disbursed €90 million of the €120 million in funding that it raised and has launched five other developments in Móstoles, Torrelodones, Collado Villalba and Alcalá de Henares, containing almost 1,000 units in total. The firm is already working on the launch of a second fund to continue its work in this field.

Original story: El Economista (by Alba Brualla)

Translation/Summary: Carmel Drake

Habitat to Invest €120M+ in More than 20 Developments in 2019

9 May 2019 – Eje Prime

Last year, Habitat Inmobiliaria, the property developer owned by Bain Capital invested €120 million in the purchase of 27 plots across Spain. The plan is to repeat that activity in 2019 with the launch of twenty developments and the commencement of building work at 25 sites.

So far this year, the firm has already purchased six plots for €52 million, has launched eleven developments comprising 1,207 homes. It has also started building work at 9 sites comprising 800 units.

The company’s medium-term plan is to invest €500 million in land purchases between 2018 and 2021 in order to achieve a cruising speed of 2,000 new home deliveries per year from 2021 onwards.

In parallel, the company is considering industrialising two of its developments, although its CEO, José Carlos Saz, is somewhat sceptical about the industrialisation of construction.

In total in 2019, Habitat expects to hand over around 300 homes in 2019, with that figure rising slightly in 2020. Such forecasts are now under the spotlight after Neinor disappointed the market by revising downwards its expected home deliveries in April.

Original story: Eje Prime (by Marta Casado Pla)

Translation/Summary: Carmel Drake

Aedas Homes Recorded Losses of €3.4M in Q1 2019

30 April 2019 – Eje Prime

Aedas Homes recorded losses of €3.4 million during Q1 2019, up by 47.8% compared to the same period last year (-€2.3 million). Nevertheless, the property developer’s results were in line with the business plan and revenues grew by 55% YoY during the same period to reach €14 million.

This year, the property developer controlled by the investment fund Castlelake plans to launch the construction of 2,580 homes and hand over 1,055 units. The firm has already sold 83% of the homes that it expects to hand over in 2019 and 55% of those forecast for delivery in 2020 (1,986).

Original story: Eje Prime 

Translation: Carmel Drake