Tag: puerto banús

Swedish Firm Quartiers Finalises the Opening of a Luxury Hotel in Marbella

16 April 2019 -Idealista

The Swedish property developer Quartiers Properties is developing a luxury hotel in Marbella. The company, which is listed on the Nasdaq First North stock market in Stockholm, purchased the hotel complex, which is located 200m from the beach, very close to Puerto Banús, in 2017.

Quartiers is going to invest around €8.6 million in the renovation and development of the 5-star hotel, which will be called Boho Club and which will have 50 rooms as well as a restaurant led by the Michelin-starred chef Diego del Río. The restaurant will be inaugurated this summer, whilst the hotel will open its doors at the end of the year.

This is not the only asset that Quartiers Properties owns in Spain. It also has the Hacienda del Señorío de Cifuentes, a complex located in Benahavís (also in Málaga), which comprises 99 rental apartments for vacation and residential use. Nearby it has built another 22 apartments (22 by Quartiers) and next door to that, it owns land for the development of another 60 homes. It is also working on the construction of two luxury villas, both on the Costa del Sol.

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

Translation/Summary: Carmel Drake

Optima Retail Buys Store in Marbella for €3M as part of €60M Investment Plan

12 September 2018 – Eje Prime

The retail sector in Marbella is attracting attention from investors. Optima Retail, one of the funds owned by the Spanish real estate and energy consultancy Optima Global Services, has acquired a retail outlet in Puerto Banús for €3 million. The operation forms part of the fund’s investment plan, through which it intends to disburse €60 million between now and 2019, according to explanations from Javier Alcalde, CEO of the group, speaking to Eje Prime. The objective will involve the firm spending €30 million in 2018 and another €30 million in 2019.

Launched in 2017, Optima Retail has just signed the purchase of the store located at number 17 Muelle de Benabolá in Puerto Banús from a family office. The asset, which has a surface area of 100 m2, is, and will continue to be occupied; it is let to the multi-brand footwear firm RKS. The operation has been advised by the real estate consultancy Catella.

The store displays the characteristics that the fund Optima Retail seeks for its portfolio: located in a prime area or provincial capital, as well as prices that do not exceed €4.5 million. The fund currently owns six units, located in cities such as Segovia, Vigo, Marbella and León.

Founded in 2004, and headquartered in Madrid, Optima Global Services comprises a group of companies dedicated to the real estate and energy sectors. One of the company’s areas of operation is the creation and management of real estate funds, both for external clients and on its own behalf. The company operates in a number of sectors, from retail to residential, to industrial, to hotel and including alternative assets such as hospitals and student halls.

Besides Optima Retail (its youngest vehicle), the company also operates through the fund Vastned, based in Amsterdam. In that case, Vastned focuses on assets located on prime streets of European cities, with Madrid and Barcelona amongst its targets in Spain. For example, Vastned’s assets in the Spanish capital include the properties at number 15 c/Ortega y Gasset and number 37 c/Fuencarral.

Optima Global Services also manages a portfolio of six shopping centres in Spain, located in Madrid (La Dehesa), Valencia (Mercado de Campanar), Zaragoza (Plaza Imperial), Córdoba (Connecta), Ciudad Real (Puerta del Ave) and Vigo (Travesía de Vigo). The company manages assets worth €600 million.

Original story: Eje Prime (by P. Riaño)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Savills Advises Sale Of Retail Outlet Portfolio In Puerto Banús

13 July 2016 – Mis Locales

Savills has advised the sale of a portfolio of five retail outlets in Puerto Banús.

The purchaser is a vehicle owned by domestic private investors, managed by N+1 Real Estate, and the consideration paid has not been disclosed.

Located on the waters edge in the marina, the five retail outlets have a combined gross leasable area of 578 sqm in an area that has the highest concentration of luxury brands per square metre in Spain and one of the highest footfalls of high end consumers in the country, with more than 5 million visitors per year. The five retail outlets are currently leased to fashion companies, including brands such as Guess and La Martina, restaurants and other services.

Alejandro Sánchez-Marco, Director of Private Wealth at Savills, explained that “Puerto Banús is a market that is very much in demand by the main operators in the luxury segment in the country. The high number of people that visit the marina in Puerto Banús each year and in particular the average expenditure profile in this area, mean that it has an occupancy rate of almost 100% and a confluence of the main operators in this segment, which attracts investor interest from the main domestic and international groups”.

The yield on commercial premises in luxury High Street areas with high footfalls in Spain, amounts to around 3.75% on average in Madrid and Barcelona, however, those yields can contract even more in the best locations. The main provincial capitals represent a good alternative for those investors seeking a product profile of this kind with a more attractive yield.

Original story: Mis Locales

Translation: Carmel Drake

The Puerto Banús Sale Runs Into Difficulties

4 May 2016 – El Confidencial

Puerto Banús (Marbella) has always been a clear object of desire. Its name is associated with glamour, parties and luxury. And it has been up for sale for several months now. The company behind this leisure and port complex in Marbella wants to generate cash. But the death of Alberto Vidiella, the Chairman of Puerto Banús, in February is making the sales process more complicated. The death of Vidiella and the harsh conditions imposed by the Andalucían Government are making the sale of the company to a Swiss/Chinese consortium, led by Credit Suisse, more difficult and theirs is the only firm offer that the company has received to date.

Several auditors analysed the balance sheet of Puerto Banús at the end of 2015. No price has been set yet, but experts in the sector calculate that the cost of the company will not exceed €100 million. (…). Is the Wanda Group behind the Swiss/Chinese consortium? The owners deny any conversations with the Asian corporate giant. (…). But according to real estate sources in Madrid, Wanda would be willing to pay up to €250 million for the company. (…).

Meanwhile, Wanda could be behind the purchase of the iconic Marbella Club Hotel, according to the ABC newspaper in Sevilla. However, an official spokesman for the luxury tourist complex denied that claim to this newspaper. “There is nothing in it. We have invested a lot of money in the hotel in recent years and there are always rumours. But we are not for sale”, said Rudolf Graf von Schönburg, advisor to the complex. (…).

The Andalucían Government is aware of the offer from the Swiss group. The Public Agency for Ports in Andalucía, led by Alfonso Rodrígeuz Gómez de Celis, confirmed to this newspaper that it received a letter on 29 January, from an international consortium interested in finding out more about the conditions for a possible expansion (of the marina) into the open sea and extensions of the concession term. The regional government is not responsible for either matter; the State is. (…).

For the time being, no other offers have been received for Puerto Banús, although conversations and interest from other overseas investors, above all high profile British and German funds, are continuing in a steady trickle (…).

One of the main problems facing all of the parties interested in buying Puerto Banús are the intentions of the Regional Government to not allow the construction of any hotels or shopping centres on the site in the future. The plans only include an increase in the number of berths, by 450, worth at least €75 million. (…).

Original story: El Confidencial (by Agustín Rivera)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Versace Returns To Madrid’s Golden Mile

8 June 2015 – Expansión

Opening on Serrano / The luxury brand returns to the capital’s most exclusive shopping district, after closing its first store there a decade ago.

One of the leaders in the luxury fashion industry is returning to Madrid. The Italian firm Versace has just signed the lease for a store on Madrid’s exclusive Calle Serrano. The opening of the shop means the return of the firm, which closed its first stores in Madrid and Barcelona in 2005.

The company led by Donatella Versace has already taken the first steps in its return to the Spanish market with the opening of a store in Puerto Banús (Marbella) and on Paseo de Gracia, 85 in Barcelona.

Now, it has just signed the lease for a shop located on Calle Serrano, 16, where its neighbours will include other luxury brands such as Longchamp, Michael Kors, Louis Vuitton and Loewe. (…)

The store is currently being refurbished following the departure of its previous tenant, the Catalan firm Custo. Prior to that, it was occupied by another Spanish fashion group, Hoss Intropia. Following the refurbishment, which has been commissioned by the family office that owns the building, Versace will have a store with more than 500 m2 of space in the most exclusive shopping district of Madrid. As such, experts forecast that the firm will pay a rent of around €1 million per year.

The arrival of Versace is not the only big move happening on the city’s Golden Mile over the next few months. The firm Macson, which specialises in menswear, will take over from Massimo Dutti at Serrano, 17. Macson, which is headquartered in Madrid, will become the tenant of the store measuring 550 m2, after Inditex’s high-end brand moved to number 46. The change at that address (Serrano, 46) will be from one brand of Amancio Ortega’s group to another, since Zara used to lease the property, until it opened its flagship store at number 23, Calle Serrano. The opening of that property, a year ago, marked the launch of Zara’s first flagship store in Spain, following the opening of several flagship stores around the world, including in New York, Milan and Shanghai. Another Spanish firm, Mango, is also preparing to open its own flagship store on one of Spain’s most expensive retail streets.

Availability

“The completion of the refurbishment work has given way to frenetic change, with 24 new store openings in 2014 alone, and with very limited levels of availability, which has caused rents to increase, to reach €220/m2/month”, explain sources at Ascana.

There are currently three stores in the same building (Calle Serrano, 7) that are awaiting tenants. In total, the three premises have a surface area of 10,000 m2, which will undoubtedly be snapped up soon given the furore currently surrounding Madrid’s Golden Mile.

Original story: Expansión (by Rocío Ruiz)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Foreign Investment Fund Offers €16.1m For Guadalpín Hotels

19 February 2015 – Diario Sur

The transaction could amount to almost €60 million in total, since Caixabank would cancel most of the sizeable debt that Aifos has with the entity.

The turbulent history of Guadalpín hotels is beginning a new chapter. Whilst the property developer Aifos, which constructed these luxury facilities, is immersed in a process to approve its liquidation plan to proceed to bankruptcy, a foreign investment fund is looking to take advantage of the opportunity by placing €16.1 million on the table to purchase the majority of the two properties, but without taking on their management. The administrators have already agreed the deal with the fund, in principle, but the transaction must be authorised by Commercial Court number 1 in Malaga, which is conducting the bankruptcy proceedings.

The offer has been presented by Lumitran System, a company controlled by foreign investors, mainly Swiss and Central European, which has set its sights on the hotels. The offer for the property in Marbella, which is located on the Golden Mile (Milla de Oro) has been made for the common areas of the building, which belong to Aifos, as well as other spaces, such as the ground floor, which houses the swimming pool, reception and garage; the apartments (in the property) are owned by another party.

In terms of the facilities in Guadalpín Banús, the investors are looking to purchase the apartments and other spaces, such as the reception, kitchen and the shops in the building. Despite this, the proposal does not provide for the operation of the hotels, which depend on other companies.

In exchange for the specified consideration, Lumitran System, would also take ownership of other items. One of the most symbolic would be the Guadalpín brand. And another, with more financial opportunities, is a plot of land known as the Village, which is situated just behind the hotel in Puerto Banús, which was reserved at the time for a potential future expansion. These are the targets of a transaction that, although require a pay-out of €16.1 million (by the investors), would generate significantly more profit for a company that does not find itself in the same situation as Aifos, which would see its debt of €59.1 million eliminated in a stroke.

The offer explains that the developer holds debt with the entity Caixabank amounting to €51.6 million, in the form of mortgages over the hotels Guadalpín Banús and Marbella. Nevertheless, the entity would forgive this amount entirely in exchange for a cash payment of €9.4 million and its complete dissociation from Aifos, which Lumitran has committed to.

In addition to this payment to the banking entity for the facilities, Aifos would also receive a cash payment itself. Specifically, Lumitran would pay €2.5 million directly to the developer. Another party that would benefit from this transaction is the Town Hall of Marbella. In their offer, the investors commit to taking over the obligations that Aifos holds with the Town Hall regarding the administrative normalisation of the urban situation of the Guadalpín complexes in Banús and Marbella. According to recent estimates, that would amount to €3.6 million in the case of the Village plot alone. Moreover, the municipal’s coffers would also receive funds from the investors in the form of tax revenues, such as property tax (impuestos de bienes inmuebles or IBI) and garbage tax, which have not been paid in recent times. These payments by Lumitran System would exceed €600,000.

Agreement with the bank

This proposal, which has already been agreed between the investors and Caixabank, is now in the hands of the Commercial Court number 1 in Malaga, which is conducting Aifos’ bankruptcy proceedings. The bankruptcy administrators processed the offer a few days ago and now the period has begun for its assessment, as well as for the presentation of new offers in the event that other parties are interested in acquiring the assets from the developer, which filed for liquidation in October last year.

In a letter, the bankruptcy administrators ask the court to authorise the proposal so that the sale of the aforementioned facilities in the Guadalpín hotels may go ahead. They assure that this transaction would result in “enormous benefits” for the parties affected by Aifos’ bankruptcy. And that the deal would amount to almost €60 million in total. There would be some direct revenues,  €16.1 million (€2.5m for Aifos, €9.4m for Caixabank and another €4.2m for the Town Hall of Marbella), although the most significant amount would involve the cancelation of Aifos’ debt by Caixabank.

In their request to the courts, the administrators also highlight the importance of this purchase being agreed “as soon as possible” to avoid any further accumulation of debt by both the Costa del Sol Town Hall and the bank.

Original story: Diario Sur

Translation: Carmel Drake