Tag: purchase option

Criteria Raises the Price of the Plots for Hard Rock Café Complex in Tarragona

8 October 2018 – El Confidencial

Criteria, the holding company of the investment companies owned by La Caixa, has increased the price of the plots on which Hard Rock Café Entertainment World is set to be built. The new leisure and casino complex is due to be constructed in Tarragona, next to Port Aventura. That is according to explanations provided by sources in the real estate sector to justify the delay in the project, formerly BCN World, which constitutes the largest foreign investment pending in Cataluña and which will involve the disbursement of €2 billion in total.

Criteria had closed an option to sell the land worth €110 million. But that was in December 2014. Now that Hard Rock Café, a multinational from the United States of America specialising in hotel and restaurant complexes linked to casinos, wants to exercise the option, Criteria is claiming that the real estate market has recovered in the last four years and so the price needs to be updated.

Sources at Criteria declined to comment but other sources in the real estate sector explained that a new due diligence process is being carried out to determine the magnitude of the price increase. The new price is expected to amount to around €140 million, a claim that has been rejected wholeheartedly by the Hard Rock Café, which alleges, and rightly so, that the delays incurred by the project (…) which now amount to more than three years, cannot be attributed to the company.

According to the original plan, the project should have been ready by 2015. But, partly due to the withdrawal of investments, and partly due to the political instability in Cataluña, the complex has suffered various delays.

Hard Rock Café is the only company that survived the bidding process for the gambling licences and is now the main party responsible for developing the complex. The forecast investment in Tarragona amounts to €2 billion for the construction of Hard Rock Entertainment World, which will have two hotels and 1,100 rooms, a shopping area with 75 shops – which will be operated by the British giant Value Retail, owner of Las Rozas and La Roca – and a 10,000 m2 casino. The project is expected to create more than 11,000 jobs and will be carried out in phases: the first amounting to €600 million.

When the initial investor withdrew, which was led by the businessman Enrique Bañuelos, La Generalitat subrogated the option to purchase the land, as a way of ensuring the continuity of the project. But that operation is neutral. La Generalitat would only perform a transfer and the final investor would have to pay the price of the plots. The Administration does not want to assume the surcharge that the new valuation would now result in.

Different positions

Each party defends its position. For Hard Rock Café, it cannot make its company or the other investors responsible for the delays incurred and therefore, does not want to assume the additional cost.

Meanwhile, Criteria has renewed the sale option, which had a term of 18 months, on up to four occasions to ensure that the investment would not go to waste, and considers that its efforts should also be rewarded.

An agreement must be reached between the parties soon (…). This project is key for Cataluña and will only serve to turn around the foreign investment figures that have been negative for the Catalan Administration since the independence process entered its critical phase.

Licence in May

In May 2018, Hard Rock Café obtained the licence for the project, which includes the gambling licence for the casino, granted by La Generalitat. That administrative permit arrived a year late due to the political instability in Cataluña. Now, Hard Rock Café, which is owned by a tribe of Seminole Indians (Florida) has three years to submit its plans. La Generalitat expects the building work to begin in 2019. The negotiations with Criteria could mean more delays if the positions fester, warn sources in the real estate sector.

Original story: El Confidencial (by Marcos Lamelas)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Corpfin Agrees Sale Option for Gran Vía 55 in 2021

14 September 2018 – Eje Prime

Corpfin has placed one of its assets in Madrid. The real estate manager has agreed the sale in 2021 of a retail property located at number 55 Gran Vía, in Madrid. The company has signed a purchase option agreement, which the buyer of the property is expected to execute in 2021.

According to a statement filed by the company with the Alternative Investment Market (MAB), the agreement includes a payment by the buyer, whose identity has not been revealed, amounting to €2.64 million as an option premium.

The asset currently belongs to Corpfin Capital Prime Retail Assets II, which is owned by Corpfin Capital Prime Retail III Socimi (40%) and Corpfin Capital Prime Retail II Socimi (60%).

In July, the real estate manager sold thirteen retail premises to Swiss Life for €83 million, and in July, it purchased a centre operated by Makro in Madrid for €8 million. In April, Corpfin created a Socimi with €400 million to invest in high street premises.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake

Barcino Acquires c. 20 Assets in Barcelona for €2.15M

16 May 2018 – Eje Prime

The Socimis are continuing to party in Spain. Although the experts said that 2018 would be a year for portfolio management, the fact is that many of these companies are continuing to add new assets to their portfolios. The latest is Barcino Properties, which is continuing to specialise in the residential sector with the purchase of a package of 20 assets in Barcelona for more than €2 million, according to a statement issued by the group.

Barcino, which signed the purchased deed on 14 May, has acquired the property at number 18 Calle Olivera for €2.15 million. The asset comprises two commercial premises and 14 homes, and the current occupancy rate stands at 79%. To finance this purchase, the company has signed a mortgage loan with Bankinter for €1 million.

The Socimi debuted on the MAB last December with a share price of €1.33 and a market value of €19.1 million. Specialising in real estate investment and management, the Catalan entity has eight properties in its portfolio, all of which are located in the Barcelona metropolitan area. Most of its assets are rental homes, although it also owns some office buildings and commercial premises. Currently, the Socimi is controlled by Barcino Management (50.01%) and managed by a related party company Vistalegre Property Management.

The company’s most recent purchases include a residential building in Barcelona, which it bought just 48 hours after making its stock market debut. In that case, the company executed a €1.2 million purchase option that it had signed over the property, located at number 92 Calle Girona, after paying €493,000 euros in November for the rights to acquire the asset.

That building contains two commercial premises and seven homes in total, all of which are currently occupied. For the operation, the company made use of its own available funds, without having to resort to additional leverage.

Created in 2015 

Barcino defines itself as a company whose main activity is the “acquisition and renovation of urban assets for their subsequent rental”. The company primarily invests in central locations in the Barcelona metropolitan area. In terms of the characteristics of its desirable assets, the company must be able to purchase the entire building and subject it to a comprehensive renovation.

The group was constituted in January 2015 and since February 2016 it has been registered as a Socimi. The company is chaired by Mateu Turró, who is also an honorary director of the European Investment Bank (EIB), where he worked from 1988 until 2009 (…).

Turró is accompanied in the management of Barcino by Francesc Ventura, an architect who has held roles as director and secretary of the management board and executive committee of APCE (Association of Property Developers of Barcelona) and as CEO of La Caixa de Pensions de Barcelona.

Moreover, the company is also led by Ralph Weichelt, Investment Director at Triple Point Social Housing, a public company listed on the main London Stock Exchange, which operates in the social housing sector in the United Kingdom. The executive has also served as the director of several companies including BNP Paribas Real Estate and JLL.

Original story: Eje Prime (by C. Pareja)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Barcino Buys Building in Barcelona for €1.6M

29 December 2017 – Eje Prime

Barcino is already going on shopping sprees as a listed company. Just 48 hours after making its debut on the Alternative Investment Market (MAB), the Catalan Socimi has purchased a building in the centre of Barcelona for €1.6 million.

The company, which specialises in the management of rental homes, has executed a purchase option, amounting to €1,227,000, which it signed over this property located at number 92 Calle Girona in November, after paying €493,000 for the transfer of the rights to acquire the asset, according to a statement made by the Socimi to the MAB.

The building comprises two commercial premises and seven homes in total, all of which are currently occupied. For the operation, the company has made use of its available own funds, without having to resort to additional financing.

Barcino, whose assets are concentrated in the Metropolitan area of Barcelona, made its debut on the stock market last Wednesday with a share price of €1.33 and a portfolio value of €19.1 million.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake

The Luksic Family Buys Hotel Adler In Madrid

22 December 2016 – El Confidencial

It is located on one of the most important corners in Spain. The intersection of Calles Velázquez and Goya has been home to the Hotel Adler for decades. It is one of the most ancestral establishments in Madrid, renowned for its restaurant, Nimú Bistró, and for its maximum discretion, a virtue that led it to host some of the most important business people and politicians in the country.

Reigned over by the Vázquez family, one of the most important entrepreneurial dynasties from Castilla y León, the property said goodbye to its last client this week and on Sunday, according to sources in the know, it will finish making all of the staff redundant; the employment contracts are more than a decade old in many cases.

This drastic decision is the result of the sale of the building, in an operation that began to take shape, with the discretion that characterises the Adler, four years ago, and which has been finalised this month, with the closure of the establishment.

In December 2012, the Luksic family, the wealthiest fortune in Chile and one of the most important in the world, acquired the hotel’s presidential suite by purchasing the property that houses it for almost €27 million. Nevertheless, the Vázquez family reserved the right to purchase it for five years and manage the hotel for the same period, which means that, initially, it will only receive a profit of €8.4 million from this operation.

Over the next two years, a special plan was processed to change the use of the property to retail and offices, work that was performed by Ruiz Barbarin Arquitectos (…).

In December 2015, the Vázquez family declined to exercise its call option, two years early, and sold the property for €19 million “by virtue of a contract signed with Topland Investments”, according to a statement in the audit report for the company Iova, through which the family used to control Hotel Adler.

Behind Topland Investments is Sandypoint, one of the many entities that comprises the Luksic’s emporium, whose fortune amounts to $12,100 million (€11,600 million), according to Forbes and whose flagship company is Antofagasta, the copper mining giant, which is listed on the London Stock Exchange.

Although that is the main business, the Luksic family has also been building up its hotel emporium over the last two decades, focusing above all on Croatia, where it has become the largest operator in the country through three companies: Adriatic Luxury Hotels, Plava Laguna and Istraturist.

In Madrid, by contrast, it seems to have other ideas and after obtaining approval for the special plan to change the use of the property, it is expected that the sought-after corner of Goya and Velázquez will become home to a major fashion firm, although the option of turning the building into offices has not been ruled out.

Hotel linked to a family

In 1998, the late Antonio Vázquez Cardeñosa acquired the property at number 31 on Calle Goya, with the idea of converting it into a luxury hotel, with an investment, to cover the purchase price and the renovation, of 2,000 million pesetas at the time (equivalent to €12 million at current prices).

Two decades later, the property has changed hands and use, although the Vázquez family plans to open another establishment in a new location in the capital. (…).

Original story: El Confidencial (by Ruth Ugalde)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Ortega Acquires Torre Cepsa For €490M

3 October 2016 – La Opinión A Coruña

On Friday, the founder of Inditex, Amancio Ortega, completed the acquisition of Torre Cepsa in Madrid, for around €490 million, according to sources close to the operation. Ortega submitted his offer through his real estate company Pontegadea to IPIC, the Abu Dhabi state fund, owner of the oil and gas company Cepsa, which has leased the property, owned until now by Bankia, since 2013.

The building, one of the four towers in the north of Paseo de la Castellana, has a surface area measuring more than 109,000 sqm, including offices covering a gross leasable area of 56,250 sqm and a five-storey car park measuring 37,500 sqm.

The operation was completed in two phases. In the first phase, Khadem Al Qubaisi, the former director general of IPIC, exercised his purchase option, worth around €400 million to acquire the building. He then immediately sold the property onto Pontegadea for €490 million.

In October 2013, Bankia signed an agreement to lease the tower, designed by Norman Foster, which houses the corporate headquarters of Cepsa. The contract had an eight-year term, extendable for another seven years on a year by year basis. But it included a future purchase option, which the tenant had the right to exercise for a price to be determined at the time of the operation, on the basis of objective criteria agreed in advance.

As such, Amancio Ortega has acquired his second skyscraper on La Castellana, following his purchase of Torre Picasso, in 2011, for €400 million. The richest man in Spain and the second wealthiest man in the world also owns number 32 on Madrid’s Gran Vía, which makes him the landlord of some of Zara’s key rival brands such as Mango, H&M and Primark.

This purchase expands Ortega’s property portfolio, which used to be worth around €6,000 million – and is now worth more, if only because of the significant income that will result in terms of rental payments -. And the buildings that Pontegadea buys have a clear profile: iconic, historical buildings, dedicated to commercial and office use that can be rented to companies and institutions that are significant because of their size or solvency. The firm has a genuine real estate empire in Madrid, Barcelona and the main capital cities of Europe and the USA, but in recent months, it has also started to set its sights on Asia. (…).

Pontegadea’s bid was most favoured by IPIC even though it was not the highest – it had received others for €530 million – but the fund ruled those out because it preferred the liquidity and seriousness of Ortega’s offer.

Original story: La Opinión A Coruña

Translation: Carmel Drake

Amancio Ortega Offers €490M For Torre Cepsa

28 June 2016 – El Confidencial

Amancio Ortega has entered the bidding, through Pontegadea, to acquire Cepsa’s skyscraper, by placing an offer on the table worth €490 million, according to sources familiar with the operation.

The owner of Inditex is thereby setting himself up to undertake his largest operation in the country to date, in a deal that would rank well above the figure of €400 million that he paid for the iconic Torre Picasso, the building he acquired from Esther Koplowitz almost five years ago.

Then, like now, the businessman approached the operation without the need to request financing from the banks – he has a wealth that differentiates him from the other candidates and enables him to bid slightly below the other interested parties.

In addition to Pontegadea, two other funds have expressed their interest in putting €530 million on the table, according to sources. Clearly, those bids are higher than Ortega’s, but they are linked to certain financial and payment structures that are a long way from offering the guarantees that Pontegadea provides to all vendors.

The hunt

Thanks to his dividend from Inditex, the businessman receives an annual cheque amounting to €1,100 million, which he uses, almost entirely, to acquire properties. This policy has converted Pontegadea into one of the largest real estate owners in Spain, comparable only with the newly created Merlin-Metrovacesa and Colonial.

Nevertheless, the dimensions of this remuneration mean that it is becoming increasingly difficult for the second richest man in the world to find opportunities in Spain. His interests focus on operations with at least eight zeros in the price, and as a result he has multiplied the number of operations undertaken overseas in recent years. (…)

Despite his financial prowess and the increasing challenge of finding desirable properties, Pontegadea remains faithful to its conservative policy and avoids processes that involve increasing the price in the final stretch.

In fact, its offer for Cepsa falls a long way below the €550 million asking price that the Sheik Khadem al Qubaisi hopes to obtain. The Sheik owns the purchase option over the Madrilenian skyscraper and has until September to exercise it if he wants to stop Bankia from taking over the asset once again. (…).

Nevertheless, Pontegadea is remaining firm in its valuation of the building, a figure that, if they end up closing the operation, will be significantly lower than the €558 million paid by the Philippine Group Emperador to acquire Torre Espacio. Nevertheless, according to several experts in the sector, there are important differences between the two operations, not least the higher risk of having OHL as a tenant rather than Cepsa.

The 248 metre tall skyscraper, designed by Norman Foster, has a leasable surface area of 56,000 sqm, spread over 34 floors. The sale has sparked interest from large institutional investors, such as Invesco, AEW, Deka, Hines, Patrizia, Etoile Properties and Axa.

Original story: El Confidencial (by Ruth Ugalde)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Sareb Curbs Marina d’Or Bankruptcy For 260 Homes

9 March 2016 – Economía Digital

Observers are adopting a wait-and-see policy regarding the final resolution of Comercializadora Mediterránea de Viviendas (Comervi), the development company behind Marina d’Or, owned by Jesús Ger, which filed for voluntary bankruptcy in Commercial Court 1 in Castellón in May 2014.

Everything depends on the decision to be taken by the judge regarding the purchase option submitted by Sareb, the main creditor of Comervi, for 260 homes in the holiday resort, distributed across several developments.

Only then will we know whether the negotiations will resume between the company and the two main creditors, the bad bank itself, chaired by Jaime Echegoyen and Banco Sabadell. The judge’s decision will determine the outcome of the two possible alternatives on offer: try to reach an agreement with the creditors or push ahead with the liquidation of the company.

Sareb and Banco Sabadell are the creditors

Comervi has accumulated financial debt amounting to €125 million. Most of this liability, around €80 million, relates to loans that Sareb received three years ago from Bankia, Banco de Valencia and the former Caixa Galicia.

Almost all of the debt that the construction company, owned by Jesús Ger, holds with Sabadell, around €16 million in total, comes from the loans it inherited from CAM, covered by the Asset Protection Scheme (EPA) that Sabadell received when it acquired the Alicante-based entity in December 2011. This coverage will absorb most of the losses until 2021, ten years after the date it was awarded.

The most indebted company in the Commuity of Valencia

Besides its financial debt, Comervi, the construction company responsible for building the facilities at the Marina d’Or holiday resort, took the honour of being named the Valencian firm that owed the most money to the Public Treasury – more than €46 million – according to the list that the Tax Authorities published at the end of December.

Comervi, which used to be called Construcciones Castellón 2000 and was then called Marina d’Or Loger, was constituted in 1983 by Jesús Ger, who at the time, sold electrical appliances, in order to benefit from the enormous opportunities offered by the construction of apartments on the Castellón coast.

The banks tried to avoid bankruptcy but Ger responded with a solution that was not viable for the creditors, with discounts of more than 50%, the long-term maturity of the remaining debt and even a request for liquidity to take on new projects.

Sareb and the banks said no and the businessman himself decided to file for voluntary bankruptcy for the company.

Original story: Economía Digital (by Juan Carlos Martínez)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Bankia Will Earn Rental Income Of €324M From Torre Foster

6 April 2015 – Expansión

Bankia will earn €324 million from the rental of Torre Foster, the building that the bank owns in the Cuatro Torres complex on the Paseo de la Castellana in Madrid. In October 2013, Bankia signed an agreement to lease the property to Cepsa, a company owned by Abu Dabi. BFA-Bankia inherited the building from Caja Madrid, which purchased it from Repsol for €815 million in 2007. The lease contract was established for a period of eight years and may be renewed for another seven years. According to the annual accounts of Torre Norte Castellana, a fully owned subsidiary of Bankia, whose sole activity is the lease of the building, the annual rental cost is €21.63 million.

The entity must dispose of this asset as part of its restructuring plan. The rental contract, which was signed as part of the bank’s strategic plan for the period 2012-2015, included a purchase option, which is exercisable in 2016. It will be organised through the acquisition of shares in Torre Norte, at a price that will be determined on the basis of objective criteria that have already been agreed.

At the time, Bankia thought that the best way of generating value from Torre Foster was to rent it out; the building’s value was updated following the balance sheet clean up that the BFA-Bankia group performed in 2012, after its nationalisation. Torre Foster contains office space measuring more than 109,000 square metres, including a gross leasable area of 56,250 square metres, as well as 37,500 square metres in its five-storey garage, reports Europa Press.

Original story: Expansión

Translation: Carmel Drake