Hispania’s Manager, Azora, Prepares Hotel Vehicle For Portugal

23 October 2017 – El Confidencial

The largest hotel Socimi in Spain may soon have a replica in Portugal. Azora, the manager of Hispania, is working on the creation of a new vehicle to enter the Portuguese market, on the basis that, over the next few years, it expects to see a repeat there of the recovery that the Spanish real estate market is experiencing at the moment.

The Director-General of Hispania, Cristina García-Peri, revealed Azora’s plans at the Barcelona Meeting Point conference, which was held in the Catalan capital last week. “We are looking at the Portuguese holiday market”, said the director, who also highlighted the opportunities that the country’s two major cities, Lisbon and Porto, have to offer.

Sources consulted by El Confidencial confirm that Azora’s strategy is aimed at constituting a new vehicle, given that Hispania’s mandate focuses solely on the Spanish market. As such, the firm is currently making contact with several funds to define the terms of the project.

The example of what Azora has done with Hispania is the best endorsement that the manager can show investors to attract them towards this new proposal, given that the firm founded by Concha Osácar and Fernando Gumuzio considers that the Portuguese market is very similar to the Spanish market and therefore, they already have a wealth of knowledge in terms of both the product and the environment.

Following in Hispania’s footsteps

Created three and a half years ago, Hispania has become the largest owner of hotels in the country in that short space of time, with 36 establishments and more than 10,350 beds. Most of its properties are located in the Canary and Balearic Islands.

Moreover, in the summer, the Socimi acquired a plot of land in Teguise (Lanzarote), where it is going to build a new five-star establishment with 225 rooms, which it will integrate with the existing Occidental Playa and Barceló Lanzarote hotels, to create a mega-resort with 1,033 rooms, the largest in Hispania’s whole portfolio.

Despite the success achieved with its tourist business, in the spring, Azora made a proposal to the Socimi’s shareholders, led by George Soros, to activate the divestment period for the vehicle and whereby renounce the option of converting it into a permanent entity.

This decision has meant that the company has activated a formal process to sell its entire office portfolio. To this end, it has been holding exclusive negotiations with the insurance company Swiss Life for several months now and it has also started to divest its 754 residential properties, one by one.

In terms of Hispania’s hotels, which account for the bulk of its portfolio, it has until December 2020. Until then, the Socimi will focus on continuing to acquire assets, as well as improving and actively managing the ones it already owns to allow it to increase its rate of return on these investments from 10% to 12%.

Original story: El Confidencial (by Ruth Ugalde)

Translation: Carmel Drake

The Ruggieri Family Buys Eurosic’s Spanish Socimi

18 October 2017 – El Confidencial

One of the wealthiest families in France has set its sights on Spain’s tourism market. The Ruggieri family, owner of the Batipart Group, reached an agreement in August with the also French firm Eurosic to purchase the Socimi that that firm had created in Spain, and has now renamed the entity Elaia Investment Spain.

After taking over 66% of the vehicle, Batipart has put all of the wheels in motion to enable the company to make its debut on the stock market before the end of the year, just like its previous owner had planned.

In this new business venture, Ruggieri is accompanied by Euler Hermès, owner of 13.81% of the Socimi; Allianz Invest Pierra, owner of another 9.21%; and around twenty individual investors who own the remainder of the share capital.

Elaia owns twelve real estate assets in Spain, primarily hotels and tourist apartments, although it also owns two residential properties in Madrid, on the centric streets Bailén and Atocha.

The Socimi focuses on three-and four-star category hotels and on taking advantage of the boom in tourist apartments. It owns two assets of each type in Mallorca and a hotel and two apartment blocks in Málaga, whilst, in Cataluña, it owns a hotel in Roses (Gerona), one tourist rental building in Barcelona and another in Estartir (Gerona).

In total, the Socimi has invested €145 million so far acquiring its portfolio, although its objective is to reach €280 million. To that end, it is currently holding talks with various investors, whose contributions will range between €10 million and €30 million.

When it debuts on the MAB, Elaia expects to have a market capitalisation of €120 million, a figure that will make it one of the largest Socimis on the market. The company will be managed by Elaia Management Spain, a subsidiary of Batipart, and the plan is to undertake some of its expansion together with Pierre & Vacances, its main partner in Spain.

The Socimi’s roadmap foresees it continuing with its intense asset acquisition policy for the next year or so, before spending the following two years repositioning those assets. The divestment phase is expected to be activated from 2021 onwards and that strategy is expected to be carried out on an asset by asset basis, culminating in 2024, with a forecast rate of return (IRR) of 15%.

Eurosic-Gecina’s heritage

The Batipart Group was founded in 1988 by Charles Ruggieri, who was born in Italy but who settled in France many years ago, where he is one of the top 100 wealthiest people in the country, with a net worth of around €900 million. A historical shareholder of Eurosic, in June, he agreed to sell his 24% in the real estate company to Gecina, in exchange for taking ownership of all of the leisure, health and hotel assets in the portfolio, including Elaia, worth €463 million in total.

That agreement was signed on 29 August, which is when Batipart took control of the Spanish Socimi. Moreover, the group owned by the Ruggieri family also has a presence in the nursing home sector, through the Korian Group, and it owns six hotels in Africa.

Original story: El Confidencial (by Ruth Ugalde)

Translation: Carmel Drake