Tag: residential sector

Fadesa’s Former Owner Returns to Real Estate

24 August 2018 – Eje Prime

Manuel Jove has returned to the Spanish real estate sector. The Spanish businessman, once the owner of the ill-fated real estate giant Fadesa, is determined to generate a profit from the land worth €540 million that he owns through his holding company Inveravante.

The executive from A Coruña, one of the 15 wealthiest people in Spain, is starting to move away from his businesses relating to renewable energy to return to the fold of real estate development, according to reports in El País.

Jove has worked in this vein for the last five years and in 2017, he managed to sell the vast majority of the 264 homes that he brought onto the market. So far in 2018, the businessman has already started work on new urbanisations in Madrid, Andalucía, the Canary Islands and his native Galicia. Jove still has a lot of work to do, thanks to the plots of land that he owns all over the country.

In addition to the residential market, the executive has a considerable presence in the hotel sector. His chain, Attica 21, improved its turnover last year, whilst the residential complex that Jove owns in Tánger (Morocco) comprising 800 homes has recently incorporated the operation of a five star Hilton hotel. As a result, the real estate arm of Inveravante is growing at a rate of 35% and now accounts for 34% of sales.

In 2017, boosted by the wind farms, which accounted for 57% of turnover, as well as a small wine and food products division, Inveravante recorded revenues of €184 million, up by 22% compared to the previous year.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake

Juan Pepa: “The Recovery of the RE Sector Has Solid Foundations”

29 June 2018 – Eje Prime

Spain is doing well. At least that is according to the heads of the domestic and international funds that participated in the Square forum, a business meeting that is being held at the moment in Ibiza and which has brought together the leaders of the Spanish real estate sector to discuss new concepts and disruptive models.

Under the slogan “money never stops”, Javier Faus, founder and CEO of Meridia Capital, said at Square that “money will continue to be invested in the Spanish real estate sector for at least the next ten years”.

For the Catalan businessman, real estate is “growing” and he pointed out in a debate about investments at the meeting, moderated by Stephen Newman, the CEO of Savills Aguirre Newman, that “Spain has always been unique: despite the economic crises or threat of Cataluñan independence, and now the change of Government, large funds have always come here to invest”.

Of the same opinion is Juan Pepa, another of the guests at the roundtable organised by Square. Perhaps, the main driver behind the IPO of the property developer Neinor Homes, in his capacity as the former senior director of the fund Lone Star in Spain, Pepa highlighted that “the recovery of the real estate sector has solid foundations”. “You just have to look at the way in which the banks are now lending money in the residential sector: they are being very cautious”, said the now co-Managing Partner of Stoneshield.

In this regard, Faus added that in the market where his corporation dominates the most, the office segment, “we are not going to see rents return to their 2007 levels for another five years”. Therefore, according to the director, there is still scope for growth in a sector that in Barcelona and Madrid is looking very strong, taking advantage of the pull of the economic recovery and the arrival of international companies to the country.

Logistics and alternative assets, the great desires

“Now, everyone wants to invest in logistics”. That is how one international heavyweight committed to Spain summed up the target of the funds. Evan Carruthers, Managing Director of Castlelake, recognises that for his opportunistic fund, those types of assets are not attractive, given that “there is too much money looking for logistics assets”, he said.

His investment firm, which, amongst others, controls the listed property developer Aedas Homes, remains faithful to the residential market, in contrast to the other experts around the table.

For Juan Pepa and his fund, student halls, one of the most sought-after alternative assets at the moment, are very attractive “and so too are logistics assets, but we don’t touch them because we are small”.

In the appeal of halls of residence, the Argentinian business agrees with Brookfield, “the largest real estate company in the world”, according to the Spanish leader Ismael Clemente, CEO at Merlin and one of the promoters behind Square’s debut this year. The Director of Investments in Europe at the US giant, Brad Hyler, added that the problem on the continent is political instability but he did not assess in any detail the Spanish market, where his firm does not yet have a presence.

Those who are investing a lot of capital in Spain, and it seems that they will continue on this path over the coming years, are Latin American property companies and family offices. Pepa said in his intervention that “we will see much more money from Latin Americans investing in the country”.

In his closing comments on the second of three days, Clemente wanted to point out that in a real estate world in which the fashionable term is “to create experiences”, real estate “is, without doubt, the most human productive sector: we create employment and there is a healthy atmosphere between us”.

Original story: Eje Prime (by Jabier Izquierdo)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Teleno Real Estate Buys a Residential Building in Madrid for €16M

12 June 2018 – Idealista

The real estate consultancy firm BNP Paribas Real Estate has advised on the sale of a residential building in the north of Madrid, worth €16 million. The property comprises 59 homes, 42 storerooms and 96 parking spaces. Teleno Real Estate is the company that has acquired the asset; it has been advised by Jesús Segado and Javier Escudero, partners of Smart Invest.

The asset is located in the north of Madrid. The firm that has undertaken the purchase, the former Tauro Real Estate, invests in the purchase of real estate assets and is led by José María Xercavins. Tauro Real Estate was acquired in April by the Israeli millionaire, Teddy Sagi (pictured above), who paid €180 million for the company. Currently, it owns 600 flats in Madrid and Barcelona.

David Forteza del Rey, Head of Residential Investment at BNP Paribas Real Estate, explains that “these types of operations confirm the continued dynamism of the residential market, which is still offering attractive returns for investors in a low-interest rate environment”.

Last month, the consultancy firm also advised the investment fund Eurostone on the purchase of two real estate assets, in that case in the upper area of Barcelona, on Calle Tuset and Calle Aribau. Those properties have surface areas of 4,786 m2 and 7,461 m2, respectively. The first is a residential asset with a commercial premise on the ground floor. The property on Calle Aribau contains homes for residential use and tourist rental (…).

Original story: Idealista 

Translation: Carmel Drake

Renta’s Socimi Makes its in Debut in Barcelona with a Residential Complex in Teià

9 June 2018 – Expansión

In addition to investing in El Maresme, Vivenio has also purchased buildings in Madrid and Valencia. In total, the investment vehicle has spent €31 million on the acquisition of 212 homes.

Vivenio, the Socimi owned by Renta Corporación and the Dutch pension fund APG, is making its debut in Cataluña. Since its creation, in April last year, this real estate investment vehicle has invested €180 million in the residential sector, but until now it had limited itself to Madrid and its surrounding area.

The latest development in Teià comprises 42 homes in total and common areas with three swimming pools.

Original story: Expansión (by Marisa Anglés)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Ministry of Development: Spain Signed 60,000 New Home Permits in 2017

5 June 2018 – Eje Prime

Spain is still a long way from the dizzy heights of 2006, but its stock of housing is gradually recovering the colour it lost during the decade when the sun shone very little over the new build sector. Last year, 60,888 municipal licences were signed for the construction of new homes, which represents almost twice as many as the 31,213 permits that were granted five years ago, according to data from the Ministry of Development.

Moreover, in YoY terms, the increase in the number of licences for the construction of residential buildings was 6.5%, with even greater rises in certain autonomous regions, such as Cataluña, where the increase to November exceeded 50%.

Nevertheless, the region where most new homes are being built, Madrid, recorded a slight decline in 2017. Following a significant increase in the number of licences during the beginning of the new economic cycle, last year, that market for the construction of new homes lost speed with a decrease of 4.4%.

In total, in the Spanish capital and its surrounding area, 14,018 licences were signed last year for residential construction, a figure that doubles the number recorded in 2016, but which represents a decrease of more than 650 homes at a time when there is great demand from Spanish and international investors.

The recovery of the Madrilenian residential market is clearly understood in the increase in the number of licences for the construction of new homes experienced first between 2013 and 2015, and, more importantly, during 2016. Five years ago, 6,134 permits were signed in the central region, in an annus horribilis that followed a 2012 in which Madrid approved 17,000 licences. After that, 24 months of stabilisation in the segment with the registration of between 7,000 and 8,000 licences (in total) for new homes, proceeded a 2016 that doubled the figures with 7,500 administrative signings of contracts for residential development.

The shortage of land and the obstacles imposed by Town Halls such as Madrid’s (…) have led to a fall that is heating up the market and generating problems for the whole sector. Other autonomous regions, such as  Navarra, Aragón, Asturias and Murcia also recorded decreases in 2017, going against the tide (…) and once again showing signs that Spain is moving at two speeds in the residential sector.

Significant increases on the Mediterranean Coast 

The Mediterranean coast is proving to be the engine for new housing in Spain. Regions such as Cataluña, the Community of Valencia, the Balearic Islands and the Málagan section of the Costa del Sol are registering significant growth figures in terms of the number of licences granted for the construction of housing.

Cataluña is on a roll with the construction of homes, with an increase of 50% during the first ten months of last year. To November, 9,815 licences were signed and sources in the sector have said to Eje Prime that the forecast for the end of the year was 12,100 permits, up by 35% compared to 2016 (…).

Heading south, the Community of Valencia has developed in a similar way to the Catalan market over the last five years. It doubled its annual figures between 2013 and 2017, from 3,142 permits to 6,588, but the greatest increase came in 2016. In just twelve months, the Mediterranean region increased the number of licences from 4,712 to 6,540, up by 39%.

The markets in the Balearic Islands and Andalucía, where the Costa del Sol plays a prominent role, have also shown clear signs of improvement in recent years. On the islands, permits for new build almost tripled between 2015 and 2017 from 826 to 2,391 (…).

Meanwhile, in Andalucía, although the growth percentage was similar, the increase was calculated on a larger volume of homes. As one of the areas with the highest demand for new home permits, the region (…) closed 2017 with 12,363 licences. Just five years earlier, that figure barely exceeded 5,000 (…).

Original story: Eje Prime (by J. Izquierdo)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Núñez i Navarro Builds a Prime Residential Development on Paseo de Gracia

30 May 2018 – Eje Prime

The industry stalwart Núñez i Navarro wants to generate returns from some of its old investments. The company has started work on the renovation of one of the buildings that it acquired in Barcelona before the crisis to convert it into a residential property. The asset is located at number 125 Paseo de Gracia, one of the most prime areas of the Catalan capital for the residential sector, as sources at the company explained to Eje Prime. Moreover, Núñez i Navarro has more than a dozen new developments under construction and on the market.

The group, founded more than 65 years ago, expects to begin handing over the new homes at the end of this year. The building, which used to house offices, will comprise around twenty apartments with between one and three bedrooms. These homes, whose average price has not been revealed, will be mainly targeted at international clients and will be available for rent.

Núñez i Navarro acquired this property during the process to buy a batch of assets at the end of the 1990s. The company purchased a portfolio of four buildings in Barcelona from the insurance company Eagle Star for €26.6 million. That lot contained three buildings on Paseo de Gracia, at numbers 125, 127 and 129, as well as the property at number 641 Gran Vía de les Corts Catalanes (…).

“This project on Paseo de Gracia joins the twenty or so other renovation jobs that Núñez i Navarro has carried out in Barcelona, highlights of which include the Andreu Tower, also known as La Rotonda, the Torre Enric Cera, the Casa Lleó i Morera, Hotel 1898 on la Rambla, the only colonial style hotel in Barcelona, Hotel Gran Vía, and the Can Trías de Bes farmhouse in Sant Joan Despí, amongst others”, explain sources at the group (…).

Diversification 

Although the group’s main business is residential, the company has diversified somewhat over the years in order to generate new revenue streams. The company has a major presence in the office sector in Cataluña, with a particular concentration in the city of Barcelona. For example, its portfolio contains assets such as number 35 Paseo de Gracia (Casa Lleó Morera) and number 20 Plaza Cataluña.

The group is also strong in other businesses such as industrial warehouses, car parks and hotels (…).

Financial information 

The company, the largest unlisted real estate firm in Cataluña, saw its profits soar in 2016 to €33.1 million, compared with €12.9 million in the previous year. In this way, the group returned to positive growth, coming close to its best ever result, recorded in 2007, when it generated profits of €48.6 million (…).

By contrast, Núñez i Navarro’s turnover worsened in 2016. The company generated revenues of €110 million, down by 5.1% compared to the same period a year earlier, when its sales amounted to €116 million. The company’s consolidated own funds amount to €595 million.

Original story: Eje Prime (by C. Pareja)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Dazia Capital Creates a Property Developer JV with French Fund Eurazeo

25 May 2018 – Expansión

The real estate group Dazia Capital and the French private equity fund Eurazeo Patrimoine have joined forces to tackle the residential sector in Spain. This alliance is being manifested in the launch of the joint venture Dazeo.

With a time horizon of three years, Dazeo will have an investment fund from Eurzaeo amounting to €70 million to undertake acquisitions in Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, the Costa del Sol and other urban nuclei in Spain. The joint venture, controlled by Eurazeo, will achieve a business volume of up to €250 million, according to the forecasts. The agreement has been advised by Montalbán, Cuatrecasas and Uría Menéndez.

Dazeo has been created with a portfolio comprising three buildings in Madrid on Calles Alcalá, Santa Engracia and Santa Isabel. The entity is going to begin a new build project soon in the capital’s Salamanca neighbourhood, which will comprise 23 luxury homes with gardens, a garage and a gym.

Dazia Capital will be responsible for managing the projects from the acquisition through to the development and subsequent sale of the homes with Dayra Homes, its promoter brand.

It is not the first time that Dazia has reached a such an agreement to grow and boost its business, focusing on the residential market in urban nuclei, where last year it accumulated an investment of €185 million.

In 2017, it signed an agreement with the British fund Chenavari. Over the last four years, it has acquired buildings and land with a surface area of 86,000 m2 and 500 homes in Madrid and Costa del Sol.

Daniel Mazín (pictured above) is the CEO of Dazia Capital.

Original story: Expansión (by Elisa Del Pozo)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Metrovacesa Negotiates with Funds to Build New Offices

23 May 2018 – Expansión

Metrovacesa, the property developer in which Santander and BBVA hold stakes, wrote a new chapter in its history on 6 February with its return to the stock market after five years away and with an ambitious growth plan in its sights. Following a lacklustre debut on the stock market and with a land portfolio worth €2.6 billion, the company is now preparing to show the market that it is capable of fulfilling its planned targets for the hand over of homes and generation of returns from its portfolio of non-residential land.

In this sense, Metrovacesa is holding negotiations with international funds in order to create joint ventures to promote offices. “We are holding advanced conversations and we hope to close several joint ventures before the end of the year”, explains the CEO, Jorge Pérez de Leza (pictured above), in an interview with Expansión.

The proposed model involves creating joint ventures in which the financial partner will control 75%, whilst the remaining 25% will remain in the hands of Metrovacesa: “That would allow us to sell land at prices close to the GAV (gross asset value) or higher and to retain a stake in each project”.

Metrovacesa currently owns tertiary land spanning more than 1.3 million m2, which has an approximate value of €684 million.

In addition to the joint ventures with financial partners, the company is planning to sign more turnkey projects, like the one sealed last year with Axiare for the sale of a building under construction located at number 40 Calle Josefa Valcárcel in Madrid, which will be handed over at the end of 2018, for €30 million.

“The aim of the company was to launch 36,000 m2 through turnkey projects and joint ventures in 2018, and we are going to exceed that figure”, said the CEO. In parallel, the firm is continuing to sell tertiary land. In April, it reached an agreement with the property developer La Llave de Oro to sell a plot in the 22@ district of Barcelona for €22 million and it is negotiating other operations worth €14 million, which will allow it to exceed the objective for 2018. With these operations, the company is generating cash, whilst it prepares the launch of its primary business: the development of homes.

Advantage

Pérez de Leza reveals that the company will launch between 3,500 and 4,000 units in 2018, which will allow it to advance in its goal of reaching cruising speed in 2021. According to its initial plans, it will hand over 520 units in 2018 and then 700 and 3,500 units in 2019 and 2020, respectively: “That will allow us to be on track to break even by the end of the year and follow a positive path next year”.

In the opinion of the director, one of the property developer’s competitive advantages is its land portfolio, which has capacity for the construction of 37,500 homes. “We can fulfil our delivery objectives for the next eight years without having to buy any land. That means we can take things calmly compared to our competitors”, he said.

Pérez de Leza also defends the group’s commitment to diversify its portfolio: “There is no buildable land left in Madrid, Barcelona and Costa del Sol. If you want to carry out significant deliveries (of new homes), you need to open yourself up to other markets”. And he also reveals that the firm has received offers to sell non-developable land that it has ruled out until the urban planning permits have been obtained. “Land management is an added-value strategy, we have a team ready to do it and we can obtain higher margins. Selling now would mean losing euros along the way”, he said.

Original story: Expansión (by Rebeca Arroyo)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Israeli Fund Galil Capital Injects Funds into its Spanish Socimi

17 May 2018 – Eje Prime

Galil Capital wants to grow in Spain and, to that end, is giving a boost to its Socimi with a capital increase amounting to €200,000. The Socimi, controlled by the Israeli businessman Jerry Mandal, former director of Merril Lynch, has included this matter on the agenda for its next General Shareholders’ Meeting, convened for 21 and 22 June, according to a statement filed by the listed company with the Alternative Investment Market (MAB).

Created in 2015, the Socimi invests in residential properties in Madrid and Barcelona. Its assets, which, in many cases, also include commercial premises, mean that the company had a valuation of €20.5 million on the day it made its stock market debut. Galil Capital rang the bell on the MAB on 28 February with a portfolio comprising four entire buildings in Barcelona and a fifth in Madrid.

In the Catalan capital, the Socimi owns properties in the Eixample, Gótico and Gràcia districts. Specifically, the real estate company has two assets on the central streets of Calle Corsega and Unió, and the other two are located in the high part of the city, on Calles Bretón de los Herreros and Aulestia i Pijoan.

The only asset that the Israeli fund owns in Madrid contains 44 homes and two commercial premises. That property, located on Calle Granada, is not expected to be the last one acquired by the Socimi, which is now increasing its share capital through the issue and placement into circulation of 20,000 new shares.

The businessman who is leading Galil in Spain, Mandel, is the founder and owner of GC Nadlan, the company that manages the real estate company. An industrial engineer, the multi-millionaire Israeli is also the CEO of GC Florida Group, a company through which he invests in the second market in which he has a presence, the USA.

Nevertheless, the Israeli executive does not hold more than 14.1% of the shares in the Spanish Socimi. Mandel directs the investments with the trust of a group of primarily Israeli businessman, including Gil Avraham Shwed, who owns 56.4% of the company’s shares.

Gil’s commitment to Spain reflects the forecasts that the company itself has for the country, where it predicts that “real estate prices are going to rise by between 20% and 30% over the next few years”.

In addition to this Socimi, in recent years, Galil Capital has created up to five investment vehicles in the state of Florida in the USA to “take advantage of the recent crisis in the residential real estate market” in the region. Mandel and his team even have a line of business that is separate from real estate through which they provide financial advice to Israeli companies in the process of listing on the Nasdaq.

Original story: Eje Prime 

Translation: Carmel Drake

Emesa Segregates its Activity & Creates a Dedicated Real Estate Company

14 May 2018 – Eje Prime

Emesa is showing that it’s serious about its real estate business. The investor group owned by Emilio Cuatrecasas is immersed in a company reorganisation, which will lead him to segregate his business into two: one division will be destined to corporate investment and the other to real estate investment. The group has recently created the first company to this end, Emesa Real Estate, which will have Emesa Corporación Empresarial as its sole shareholder and Ferrán Forrellad as the administrator.

According to the Official Bulletin of the Mercantile Registry, the constitution of Emesa Real Estate is the first step being taken by the group to initiate its corporate restructuring. Although the company already operated its real estate business through the holding company Emesa Corporación Empresarial, from now on, it will channel all of its operations in the real estate sector through one specific company.

Meanwhile, the other arm of Emesa’s business, Emesa Capital, will be managed by Vanessa Llopar, who has served as the CEO of that division since March. Through that subsidiary, Emesa is investing in companies in various sectors, from healthcare companies, such as Devicare, to companies specialising in urban storage, such as Boxinfiniti.

Thus, Emesa’s new plans in the Spanish real estate sector will be conducted directly by this new division. The group is going to invest more than €100 million in Barcelona and its surrounding area, as revealed by Eje Prime, in order to launch new residential projects, office buildings and hotels.

Even so, the company’s involvement in the real estate sector dates back years. Emesa first leapt into the property development world with a building in the heart of Barcelona’s 22@ district, which is now the headquarters of the law firm Cuatrecasas in the Catalan capital.

The group, which has increased its workforce by threefold over the last three years, from seven employees to twenty-one, is now in the preliminary phase of constructing a new office building in the same area, at number 184 Calle Pallars. Designed by the architecture studio BAAS, Emesa is going to invest €25 million in that new asset, which will have an above ground surface area of 9,200 m2 and 5,000 m2 of space below ground level.

Moreover, in recent months, Emesa has starred in several high-profile operations in the Barcelona real estate market, such as the purchase of the Diagonal 444 building, the former headquarters of Cuatrecasas; and of the Diagonal 632 building, which is the headquarters of the Quirónsalud’s Ophthalmological Institute in Barcelona.

And from one side of Avenida Diagonal to the other. As Eje Prime revealed, Emesa acquired 37,000 m2 in Finestrellas, an up and coming area, which will include offices, residential properties and a commercial area. The project in which Emesa is participating involves an office development spanning 90,000 m2, in which it has invested €80 million and which is expected to be fully operational by 2023 (the construction work will begin in 2020).

Emesa also plans to make headway in the residential sector over the next few years. The company is going to build a development containing 40 homes for rent in Badalona after investing €12 million in this project.

Currently, the portfolio of Emesa Corporación spans more than 180,000 m2 and is worth more than €750 million. Emesa Corporación Empresarial generated revenues of €8.07 million last year.

Original story: Eje Prime (by C. Pareja)

Translation: Carmel Drake