Tag: real estate broker

Mission Accomplished For 2017: DonPiso Opens Its 100th Branch In Spain

7 November 2017 – Eje Prime

Mission accomplished for DonPiso in 2017. The Spanish real estate agent has fulfilled the plans it set out for this year to have 100 branches and to sign 3,000 operations.

The company’s new delegation in Barberà del Vallès (Barcelona), plus the three franchises it signed recently in Madrid, Pamplona and Badalona, take the number of branches operating under the DonPiso brand into the three digits.

Of DonPiso’s establishments, 76 are franchises and 24 are owned premises. The real estate broker has increased its number of branches in Spain by 24, which has allowed it to grow its transactions statistics by 20%.

“Our objective this year was to grow in a sustained way and in line with the market. The real estate sector has shown itself to be very strong over the course of the year”, said the Deputy Director General of DonPiso, Emiliano Bermúdez.

Similarly, the company has explained that its most recent commitments respond to the “high dynamism” of the Madrilenian, Catalan and Navarran markets. In the first two cases, the investment is justified since the regions are the motors of the Spanish real estate market, whilst in the case of Pamplona, the supply and demand for housing in the city makes it one of the most stable markets in the country.

Founded in 1984, DonPiso is currently in the process of investing €22 million in the residential segment, to build fifteen developments and extend its network of branches to 120 in 2018.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake

Savills Finalises Purchase Of Aguirre Newman

14 June 2016 – Cinco Días

The large Spanish real estate consultancy firm par excellence, Aguirre Newman, is going to be acquired by its British rival Savills. The two companies are finalising a purchase agreement, according to sources in the market, which could be closed before the summer. The acquisition price amounts to around €80 million.

The Spanish consultancy firm launched a sale process two months ago, in search of an alliance with an international partner. The company, which was founded in 1988 by Santiago Aguirre (pictured above) and Stephen Newman, the current Presidents, employs around 460 people and recorded revenues of €96 million last year.

If the sale is completed, the co-Presidents Aguirre and Newman will remain at the helm for between four and five years. The rest of the management team will also continue to lead the business, according to sources familiar with the process. The Spanish company operates a real estate broker business in the office, hotel and residential segments; it also performs appraisals, town planning activities and corporate operations.

Besides Savills, the owners of Aguirre Newman have received offers from Cushman & Wakefield and Colliers, in a process that has been advised by the financial group Atlas Capital. But only the British consultancy firm has passed through to the final stage, where the finishing touches still need to be agreed.

Savills, which has declined to comment on the operation, is a real estate broker that recorded turnover of €1,645 million last year, up by 13% YoY. It has a market capitalisation of €1,400 million. Despite being one of the largest consultancy firms in the world, it only has limited operations in Spain, falling behind JLL, CBRE and Aguirre Newman itself. Its business in Spain, where Rafael Merry del Val is President, is strong in operations known as off-market deals.

With this acquisition, Savills will become one of the leading players in the domestic market. The company records revenues of around €11 million in Spain, almost nine times less than the Spanish company. Moreover, it is likely that the British consultancy will retain both brands for a period of time, so as to be more recognisable to its customers.

Experts familiar with the operation indicate that Aguirre Newman brings a strong presence and knowledge of the domestic market, compared to Savills, located in London, which will provide its Spanish subsidiary with strong international links.

Original story: Cinco Días (by Alfonso Simón Ruiz)

Translation: Carmel Drake

RE Broker Aguirre Newman Goes Up For Sale

20 February 2017 – El Confidencial

Spain is experiencing a real estate boom once again and brokers want to take advantage of the situation to make money.

Whilst last year, the private equity fund Cinven acquired Tinsa, the largest appraisal company in the country, and in 2015, Apax Partners took control of Idealista, this year, Santiago Aguirre Gil de Biedma, the brother of Esperanza Aguirre, has decided to put Aguirre Newman, the largest real estate broker in the sector, up for sale.

According to financial sources, Santiago Aguirre has engaged Atlas Capital to sell his majority stake in the consultancy firm. The firm will target both individual and institutional investors, as well as public and private corporations. Aguirre Newman caters for all real estate investment-related matters and offers a complete set of services including valuations, feasibility studies, appraisals, attending compensation boards, leases, property management and technical architectural services.

The company generates annual revenue of around €80 million, with an operating profit of EBITDA of almost €12 million. As such, the financial sources consulted consider that Aguirre Newman could be sold for between €80 million and €100 million. Other sources consider that some of the parties that may be interested in purchasing this real estate broker include the private equity funds Cinven and Apax Partners, which could enlarge the businesses of Tinsa and Idealista, respectively, with this acquisition.

However, the same sources also consider that this could be a good opportunity for some of the main domestic competitors, which would result in a certain degree of concentration in what is a very fragmented sector. In addition to Aguirre Newman, the other large consultancy firms include CBRE, Knight Frank, JLL, BNP Paribas Real Estate, Cushman & Wakefield and Savills. These seven firms account for 90% of the sector’s revenues in Spain and employ 2,200 professionals in total. Almost 400 people work for Santiago Aguirre and his minority shareholder partners.

Low interest rates, the collapse in prices following the crash, the enormous volume of liquidity and the recovery of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in Spain have created a cocktail that has led to investment figures not seen since the era of the bubble. According to a report from JLL, non-residential real estate investment (offices, retail, logistics and hotels) amounted to €8,707 million in 2016. That figure represents a decrease of 8% compared to 2015, when operations worth €9,407 million were closed. Nevertheless, the figure recorded in 2016 was still higher than the maximum recorded in 2006 (€7,800 million).

Golden years

Last year, the most active market in terms of investment volume was the retail premises and shopping centre segment (retail), with €2,977 million, down by 3% compared to 2015. (…). Moreover, Aguirre Newman highlights that this figure exceeded the €2,000 million threshold for the third year in a row, which is clear proof of the boom in the real estate sector, especially in retail, which accounts for 35% of all tertiary investment.

Original story: El Confidencial (by Agustín Marco)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Donpiso Will Open 50 New Offices In 2017

30 January 2017 – Expansión

The real estate broker Donpiso will open between 40 and 50 new offices this year, with the aim of strengthening its commercial network in the Spanish market. The company opened 30 new offices last year and brokered operations worth €375 million in total, up by 76% compared with the previous year (€213.4 million). In 2014, its brokered volumes amounted to €139.4 million. The company brokered 2,503 operations last year, almost twice as many as during the previous year.

Donpiso’s plans include having 120 offices in its network by the end of the year. Most of the new offices will be opened in the Community of Madrid, the Community of Valencia, País Vasco, Andalucía and the Canary Islands.

Last year, the most significant increase in terms of office numbers was seen in Cataluña, where the firm’s central headquarters are located.

The company’s expansion is based on a mixed model. Of the new offices opened in 2016, eight were owned offices and 22 were franchises. This year, the firm wants to maintain the same proportion, and whereby exert full control over c. 25% of its offices.

Donpiso, which recorded turnover of €7.5 million last year, will invest €2.5 million on its expansion plans, of which €500,000 will be allocated to opening its own offices and the remainder to its franchises. The company will recruit 120 workers during this process.

The company is also constructing 13 urban developments, all of which are in different phases of progress. Its developments are mainly located in Barcelona, as well as in towns in the Catalan capital’s metropolitan area, such as Badalona, Sabadell and Cornellà.

Recovery

The firm has enjoyed a progressive recovery since 2009, when the current Director General, Luis Pérez, acquired the Donpiso brand for €1 million.

The company, which was owned by Ferrovial until 2006 and by Habitat for the next three years, had a network of almost 400 offices across the Spanish market before the crisis hit.

Original story: Expansión (by E. Galián)

Translation: Carmel Drake