Tag: Quirón

Solvia Sells 3 Hospitals Leased to Quirón for c. €200M

31 October 2018 – Eje Prime

Solvia is making cash with its real estate portfolio. The servicer of Banco Sabadell has sold three buildings in Barcelona, Bilbao and San Sebastián, which are all leased to the hospital group Quirón. The operation has been signed with a domestic investor, whose name has not been revealed. Moreover, the consideration paid for the assets has not been disclosed either.

Owned by the German giant Fresenius, Quirón has long-term rental contracts for these three properties. Solvia said that there has been a lot of interest in the operation from players both at home and overseas.

Hospital Quirón Barcelona is located just five kilometres from the centre of the Catalan capital. The property, constructed in 2006, was renovated in 2017 and contains 187 beds in total.

Hospital Quirón Vizcaya, meanwhile, is located in the town of Erandio, ten kilometres from the centre of Bilbao. That building is home to 110 beds.

Finally, Hospital Quirón San Sebastián (pictured above) forms part of a former palace dating back to 1936 and, subsequently, was converted into a hospital comprising a complex of three buildings. That hospital is located just two kilometres from the centre of the city and has 60 beds in total.

Original story: Eje Prime 

Translation: Carmel Drake

Caleido’s Makers to Create a Brand New Neighbourhood Around the Cuatro Torres

24 February 2018 – El Economista

The plans involve the creation of a street that will link the area surrounding the La Paz Hospital with Plaza de Castilla and which will have retail units, squares and terraces along it.

In two years time, the barren concourse that currently welcomes the employees that work in Madrid’s Cuatro Torres will be converted into the antechamber of a new retail and leisure space, which is going to be built in the north of Madrid with the arrival of the fifth tower, known as Caleido.

This project from Inmobiliaria Espacio and the Philippine firm Megaworld Corporation will result in the construction of a fifth iconic tower.  The latest addition to Madrid’s skyline will not for known for its height, given that at 160 m2 tall, it will be the shortest of its neighbours, but it will be recognised for the services and life that it is going to bring to the area.

The designs involve the creation of a high street, which will run from the La Paz Hospital area towards Plaza de Castilla, passing through the Madrid Business Area complex, where the Cuatro Torres are located, generating a neighbourhood vibe with several squares and terraces, as well as restaurants and areas for events. In this way, Caleido will not contain a shopping centre, but rather will offer different retail units, which will be opened opposite the new building and which will represent an addition to the businesses integrated into the property.

Specifically, the retail area, which is going to occupy a space of around 13,000 m2, will be distributed over the first level of the four-storey rectangular base on which the tower is going to be built.

The design of this project has been carried out by the architecture firm Fenwick Iribarren and represents that studio’s second piece of work in this office complex, given that it was also the brains behind Torre Espacio, which was also built by the Villar Mir Group (Espacio) back in the day (…).

According to Mark Fenwick, who founded the firm with Javier Iribarren in 1990, “Our objective with this project was to create a service area for the 24,000 people who work in the Cuatro Torres and whereby create urban spaces and meetings areas, such as squares and terraces, which are going to occupy around 7,000 m2, and which will join together the office complex with the neighbourhoods that surround it, to extend the use of this space to the whole community”, said the architect.

The construction of this project also includes the creation of a public park spanning more than 3 hectares, which is going to be located on the adjoining plot and which is also going to be managed by the property developer behind the tower. That space will house facilities for sports, culture and open-air concerts.

Madrid as a destination

In the academic year 2020-2021, Caleido is going to become the first vertical campus in Madrid, given that its main tenant is the Instituto de Empresa (IE), which will occupy all of the 36-storey tower and half of the horizontal building, leasing 50,000 m2 of space in total. The other part of the lower building is going to house an advanced medical centre to be operated by the Quirón-Salud Group (…).

The complex, whose development is expected to involve an investment of around €300 million, will also have a 1,250 space parking lot, 630 of which will be for public use. (…).

Espacio Caleido has already started to market the project, which hopes to attract trendy brands in fashion, technology, sports and restaurants. It is targeting international firms that do not have a presence yet in Spain and the plan is to start signing agreements after the summer. The complex is also considering the creation of leisure area that may house a cinema with an exclusivity concept, as well as a Gaming (videogames) and eSports (electronic sports) area.

Original story: El Economista (by Alba Brualla)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Torre Caleido: Construction Begins of Madrid’s Fifth Tower

1 February 2018 – Expansión

After five months of preparations underground, the construction phase of the 35-storey skyscraper has finally begun. The 180 m tall tower is going to house the IE campus, as well as a horizontal building that will be home to sports facilities, a shopping centre and parking areas.

The starting gun has been fired for the above-ground work on what will become the fifth tower in Madrid. The future skyscraper, measuring 180 m2 tall and comprising 35 storeys, is going to house the new vertical IE campus, which will emerge from a second building, with a base that is going to be 280 m long and 60 m wide, which will form an inverted T-shaped complex, known as Project Caleido.

Inmobiliaria Espacio, the subsidiary of Grupo Villar Mir and Megaworld Corporation, the business conglomerate owned by the Philippine multimillionaire Andrew Tan, are the owners of the company responsible for the construction and operation of the project, with a planned investment of €300 million and which will result in the generation of more than 5,000 jobs during the construction and operation phases (…).

Caleido –designed by the architecture studios Fenwick & Iribarren and Serrano Suñer Arquitectos– will be located in the epicentre of the new financial district in Madrid and will serve to eliminate a blot on the landscape in the north of the capital by connecting Paseo de la Castellana and Avenida de Monforte de Lemos, as well as to revitalise the existing business complex, explains Fernando Serrano-Suñer, one of the architects behind the project (…).

“To date, we have completed the first two phases, involving the demolition work and the construction of the foundations, which are now complete. This week, we will award the construction work, which has been tendered for through a very transparent process, audited by Dypsa”, says José Antonio Fernández Gallar, Director General of Inmobiliaria Espacio.

Third phase

Now, the third phase of construction is going to be launched, involving the building of the tower and the base (…), where the campus sports facilities, a 600-seater auditorium, an indoor swimming pool, libraries, a dining room, a complete shopping floor and a hospital centre specialising in sports medicine run by Quirón will all live alongside 7,000 m2 of green space (…).

Leisure will also play an important role in the complex, with sports areas and events spaces. “We are studying the possibility of including a cinema of some kind, but it would not conform with the traditional style, it would include an e-gaming and e-sport element, something that doesn’t exist in Spain at the moment”.

Moreover, the base will include parking for students and professors, as well as parking for the retail space and another public parking lot, with a total surface area of 42,100 m2 spread over several floors and with capacity for 1,900 parking spaces (…).

In terms of the skyscraper, the 180 m tall building will house 70 classrooms, work and rest areas, as well as double-height spaces to replicate meeting places in traditional campuses (…).

“The project is progressing at a good pace. We have completed the first phase and we are moving forward with the idea that the work will be finished by 2020”, he said.

Original story: Expansión (by R. Arroyo and R. Ruiz)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Villar Mir Redesigns Fifth Tower & Delays Award of Construction Contract

20 November 2017 – Eje Prime

Grupo Villar Mir has listened to its partners and the Town Hall, and is going to redesign Torre Caleido, the fifth tower in Madrid. The skyscraper, which is going to be built next to the Cuatro Torres, will be adapted to the requests of Megaworld Corporation, its Philippine partner, and the local government led by Manuela Carmena. Amongst other features, the project is now going to include a supermarket and a cinema, as well as more lifts than initially planned, as requested by the Town Hall.

This redesign of the building will result in a delay in the award of the construction contract, which is now expected to take place during the final month of the year. Nevertheless, OHL, the construction company that forms part of Grupo Villar Mir, is currently positioned as the favourite to build the skyscraper, since to date, it has carried out the demolition and the work to prepare the land, which spans a surface area of 33,326 m2, according to El Economista.

An investment of approximately €160 million is estimated for the main construction work to build the skyscraper, out of a total projected budget of €300 million. Moreover, Torre Caleido already knows who its most important tenants are going to be, namely: IE and Quirón. The business school has acquired 50,000 m2 of the skyscraper in its move to become the first high-rise campus in Spain, whilst the healthcare group will turn its section of the building into a state-of-the-art medical centre.

On the outside, Villar Mir has redesigned the plans to include a shopping area, which will contain a supermarket and two cinema screens, an express wish of Megaworld, the company that controls 49% of the project’s capital. The tower will have 36 storeys as well as a four-floor base, which will be 20m tall.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake

Alternative Assets: Investors In Spain Get More Adventurous

16 March 2017 – Expansión

Over the last two and a half years, investors’ appetite for real estate assets and the lack of investment alternatives have resulted in a compression in yields in Spain. Parking lots, storerooms, gas stations, student halls and nursing homes/hospitals have sparked interest from investors specialising in alternative assets.

Although in some European countries, such as the UK, these business segments are already well established, the markets are not very mature in Spain. Nevertheless, they have potential for growth, according to the experts. “In Europe, total real estate investment volume amounted to around €254,000 million in 2016, of which 14% related to alternative assets. In Spain, that percentage was much lower”, explained Alberto Valls, Partner in Financial Advisory at Deloitte.

Nick Wride, Director of Alternative Investments at JLL, said that these sectors are consolidating in other countries, which means that the yields that investors can achieve in those countries are not as attractive anymore due to the (high level of) competition. “European markets such as Spain are becoming interesting again”, he said.

The Director of the Corporate Finance department at Aguirre Newman, Alfonso Aramendía Peralta, said that although it is a “relatively new” segment in Spain, it is sparking a lot of interest “given that it offers more attractive returns than those generated by more established products such as offices, residential assets and shopping centres, where there is more competition”. (…).

Valls highlights the advantages of these assets, which include, the high management component, as this leads to higher returns, albeit with higher risk, and the fact that these assets are less exposed to economic cycles than traditional properties. (…).

Sources at Knight Frank explain that these kinds of assets are known for their long-term lease contracts, which tend to last more than 10 years; moreover, they offer returns of around 6% or more in some cases. (…).

Fragmented market

The alternative real estate investment market includes assets ranging from parking lots to storerooms – a very fragmented segment – to health centres, nursing homes and student halls of residence, with a very significant management component. In this sense, Aramendía points out that they are assets that suffer more wear and tear, due to their intensive use and therefore, they require tenants that are able to commit CapEx to maintain them in good condition.

Whilst the volume of transactions involving alternative assets has been relatively low in recently years, if we consider the corporate operations undertaken by industrial groups that have a strong real estate component such as Quirón, Parkia, Vitalia and SARquavitae, then we see that 2016 was, in fact, a record year.

Consolidation

Experts think that the likely consolidation of these industrial groups will allow investors demanding higher volumes to enter Spain and may even lead to a boom in specialist Socimis, like has happened in other countries.

Moreover, according to the consultancy firms, one of the ways of financing the growth of these groups now involves the sale of properties to a fund specialisation in the real estate sector. (…).

Original story: Expansión (by Rebeca Arroyo)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Villar Mir Negotiates Partial Sale Of Fifth Tower To Hispania

29 September 2016 – Expansión

According to the businessman Juan Miguel Villar Mir, the Villar Mir Group has begun negotiations with the Socimi Hispania to join forces for the development of the fifth tower, the new skyscraper in the north of Madrid, next to the Cuatro Torres Business Area complex.

It is one of the most important buildings in the capital in terms of investment, given that the developers will need around €500 million to cover the construction and rental costs – an initial lease has been granted for a period of 75 years.

Sources at the family holding company have confirmed that preliminary conversations have begun, aimed at Hispania’s entry into the project “as a minority shareholder”. Other sources state that the Socimi, managed by the Azora group and in which George Soros holds a stake, may be interested in acquiring 100% of the building, which will be leased in its entirety. Nevertheless, the Villar Mir Group assures that it will maintain the majority stake.

The fifth tower project, which Villar Mir won at the end of 2014 in a tender organised by the Town Hall of Madrid, has already selected its tenants. Earlier this year, the IE Business School agreed to lease 50,000 sqm of the building for its campus. The bottom part of the complex, measuring 12,000 sqm, will house leisure areas, a shopping arcade and a health centre, which will, in theory, be operated by the Quirón Group. The project, promoted by the Villar Mir family, still needs to obtain the definitive permits from the mayoress of Madrid, Manuela Carmena.

Partners

In September 2015, the Swiss investment fund Corestate announced that it had agreed to form a joint venture with the Villar Mir Group to jointly develop the fifth tower. Six months later, in March 2016, Juan Miguel Villar Mir qualified that announcement by stating that the agreement with Corestate had not been signed yet. With or without Corestate, the negotiations with Hispania are happening at a time of peak activity for Spain’s listed Socimis. Hispania reached the final round of the tender to acquire the building, after it partnered up with Ferrovial, but Villar Mir won the 75-year lease by offering to pay an annual fee of €4 million, equivalent to twice the bid price. (…).

Divestments

The search for partners forms part of the strategy being pursued by the Villar Mir’s holding company to finance its multi-million investment commitments through Espacio and OHL, without increasing its debt, which amounts to €14,000 million. The other source of extraordinary income comes from the sale of its assets. (…).

The group needs funds to tackle its three major real estate projects (the fifth tower, the Canalejas Complex and the War Office in London), as well as several toll roads in Latin America.

Original story: Expansión (by C. Morán and R. Ruiz)

Translation: Carmel Drake