Riu Negotiates Sale of Retail Space in Edificio España to Corpfin

22 August 2018 – Eje Prime

Riu is taking action and, after falling out with Baraka, it now has a potential buyer for the retail space in Edificio España. The hotel chain is finalising the sale of this space in the property, which spans a surface area of 15,000 m2, to the Spanish Socimi Corpfin Capital.

On Tuesday, the Baraka Group announced that it is going to file a lawsuit against Riu for the hotel chain’s refusal to recognise in the deed the 15,000 m2 of retail space that had been promised to the company Baraka Renta following the sale of the building last year. Moreover, the real estate company has demanded that the renovation work on the building, which began in the autumn of 2017, be suspended.

Following the breakdown of the agreement, Riu is now finalising the sale to Corpfin, which, in the event that it goes ahead, will acquire an asset that will be worth €200 million once the renovation of the property has been completed, according to Expansión.

Corpfin Capital has been extremely active in recent months. Just a few weeks ago, the Socimi led by Ana Granado purchased two prime stores from El Corte Inglés in Madrid and Bilbao for €100 million, as reported by Eje Prime. Moreover, in the logistics sector, the company invested €8 million in the acquisition of an asset from Makro.

On the divestment side, in July, Corpfin completed the sale to the fund Swiss Life of thirteen retail premises for €83 million. That operation was carried out through the two Socimis that the company has listed on the Alternative Investment Market (MAB): Corpfin Capital Prime Retail II Socimi (Ccpr II) and Corpfin Capital Prime Retail III Socimi (Ccpr III).

Original story: Eje Prime 

Translation: Carmel Drake

RIU Submits Bid to Acquire Buena Vista Hotel in Tenerife for €71M

26 July 2018 – Preferente

The hotel chain RIU has submitted an offer to purchase a hotel in Tenerife that has been put up for auction following the bankruptcy of its owner and which the hotel chain has been managing for the last 10 years on a rental basis, according to El Confidencial.

The hotel company headquartered in Mallorca has offered €71 million for the Hotel Riu Buena Vista, located on Playa Paraíso in Adeja, which has just been put up for auction as part of the bankruptcy process that its owner has been immersed in for the last five years.

RIU has been renting the hotel for ten years and is now trying to take ownership of it, pending the outcome of the auction, which is expected to happen within a period of fifteen days. The chain claims that, given its status as the tenant, it has the right of first refusal over the property.

The chain led by Carmen and Luis Riu has four hotels in Tenerife and 7,000 rooms in total across the Canary Islands as a whole.

Original story: Preferente (by R.P.)

Translation: Carmel Drake

RIU to Invest €2.5bn in New Hotels & Refurbishments Between Now & 2022

16 January 2018 – Expansión

RIU will spend €650 million this year on the refurbishment, construction and purchase of hotels, and will make investments of €2.5 billion in total between now and 2022, according to explanations provided yesterday by the group’s Director of Sales and Marketing, Pepe Moreno.

In this way, the Mallorcan chain is accelerating the rate of investment seen over the last five years, in which it committed to undertake investments amounting to €1.95 billion. Specifically, the company reached a record last year with investment of €600 million, which was €200 million more than forecast at the beginning of the year.

During 2017, RIU opened two new hotels – the RIU Dunamar in Costa Mujeres (México) and the expansion of the RIU República de Punta Cana– and it refurbished five hotels in their entirety. Moreover, in June, it purchased Edificio España from Grupo Baraka for €272 million.

RIU recorded revenues of €2.156 billion in 2017, up by 7%, and closed last year with 92 hotels, 43,135 rooms and 28,894 employees.

In 2018, the chain plans to open four hotels and undertake five major refurbishment projects.

In terms of the focus for growth, RIU wants to continue strengthening its urban business, which it inaugurated in 2010 with a hotel in Panama, and which nowadays includes six operational hotels. Moreno said that the company will continue to analyse opportunities in the main cities of North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia.

The RIU urban brand has two new projects underway: the first urban hotel in Spain, located in Edificio España (Madrid), which is expected to open its doors at the beginning of next summer (2019) and its second hotel in New York, on which work is underway, very close to Times Square, which will also be inaugurated in 2019.

In addition, the chain wants to grow in Asia, where it already has two projects under construction, in the Maldives and Dubai.

Moreno said that RIU will continue to bet on growing its owned hotels – the firm currently owns 84% of the hotels in its portfolio – and he said that the chain is not interested in growing inorganically or debuting on the stock market.

Original story: Expansión (by R. Arroyo)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Madrid Gets Ready for the Opening of 2,000 Luxury Hotel Rooms

7 January 2018 – Expansión

The hotel market in Madrid is enjoying a happy time. After years as the ugly ducking of Europe’s capitals, with barely any major luxury brands operating in the city, 2,000 luxury rooms are scheduled to open in the city centre over the next two years. “Spain had a very moderate number of five-star hotels in comparison with other global capital cities. Nevertheless, the Town Hall of Madrid implemented a strategic plan for tourism, which boosted the image of the city as a global destination and that attracted international companies, which are taking the city to their own tourist clients”, says Javier García-Mateo, Partner in Financial Advisory at Deloitte.

“The existing luxury hotel stock comprises around 5,000 rooms and over the next few years, another 2,000 rooms will be added, of which 1,000 will be new and the rest will be in renovated properties”, adds Félix Villaverde, Manager at Deloitte Financial Advisory.

The first hotel already opened over Christmas: the US hotel chain Hyatt Hotels has returned to Madrid, specifically, to the heart of the city with the opening of Centric Gran Vía Madrid, a five-star establishment with 159 rooms – including 16 suites (…). With an investment of €30 million, Hyatt has returned to Madrid, after leaving the management of another five-star hotel in the capital in 2009: the Villamagna.

During the first quarter of 2018, another five-star establishment is expected to open. In this case, it will be the chain VP in Plaza de España. It will contain 214 rooms, spread over 17 storeys, following an investment of €90 million (…).

Projects on the lookout for a brand

Some of the other new projects planned for this year in the luxury hotel market in Madrid have not yet been defined. They involve plans for the former Hotel Velázquez and the property owned by the fund KKH in Plaza de las Descalzas.

Last May, the Salazar family sold the Gran Hotel Velázquez for around €60 million. Now, the new owner, the real estate group Didra, is looking for a hotel partner to operate the renovated property. In the case of KKH’s property in Madrid, the negotiations are more advanced. The former headquarters of the Monte de Piedad de Madrid is being renovated to open a five-star hotel and a dozen brands have expressed their interest in operating it. The Park Hyatt, The Peninsula and Saint Regis, from the Starwood group, are the favourites in the running, according to sources in the sector (…).

In addition to these projects that still need to be defined, in 2019, several luxury establishments are due to open, including, the first Four Seasons Hotel in Spain, which will open in the Canalejas complex with more than 200 rooms.

Moreover, a four-star, but nevertheless high-profile, hotel is being created by the Mallorcan chain RIU, which will restore Edificio España, in disuse for a decade, to open a modern urban hotel with 650 rooms.

Meanwhile, Marriott Starwood, the largest hotel chain in the world, has teamed up with the Indian investor Harry Mohiani to open a five-star hotel in the former Hotel Asturias, in the same square as the Four Seasons (Canalejas). That property will have 160 rooms (…).

Prices

The opening of these new luxury hotels will have an impact on room rates, which already saw a significant increase in this niche last year.

“Revenue per room (RevPar) in the five-star segment in Madrid has grown by 6.4% p.a. in recent years, almost four times more than the average in other European centres, due not only to the increase in rates but also the better performance in terms of occupancy rates”, say sources at Deloitte.

“The arrival of new luxury operators in Madrid will drive up the price of five-star hotels in the city. In fact, after carrying out comprehensive renovations, we have already seen examples of hotels that have increased their rates by 50%. The most exclusive hotels will charge €750 per night during certain periods of the year”, they add.

Original story: Expansión (by Rocío Ruiz)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Deloitte: Tertiary Real Estate Inv’t Amounts to €9.7bn in 2017

27 December 2017 – Expansión

An increase in property prices has led to a 22% reduction in the purchase of non-residential assets in 2017 with respect to 2016.

The boom that has marked the real estate investment sector in Spain since 2014 is starting to show signs of slowing. That is according to the most recent non-residential investment figures, which, with just a few days to go before year-end, are reflecting a decrease of 22% with respect to 2016.

According to a market study performed by Deloitte Real Estate, investors spent €9.7 billion this year on tertiary properties (offices, hotels, commercial and logistics assets) compared with €12.4 billion in 2016 and €11.8 billion in 2015.

“With just a few operations still left to close before 31 December, which will amount to between €0.5 billion and €0.6 billion, tertiary investment has fallen by 22%. This decrease in activity is a sign that we have crossed the equator of the bullish cycle and that we are possibly starting a period of greater stability”, explained Javier García-Mateo, Partner in Financial Advisory at Deloitte.

The 22% decrease is due to a weaker second half of the year in terms of the rate of investment (…). During the third quarter, investment fell from €6.6 billion in 2016 to €1.6 billion this year, says Deloitte in its report. During the fourth quarter, the difference was a decrease of 42% (€2.8 billion compared with €1.8 billion). The decrease is more pronounced in the property segments that tend to lead absolute investment, namely, offices and retail assets. In the case of the former, investors have spent €2.3 billion in 2017, less than half the amount recorded in 2016 (€4.9 billion) and 2015 (€5.3 billion) (…). “Offices tends to be the segment that traditionally leads investment, but this year it has decreased by 55%. This is not due to a lack of supply, but rather the gap between the expectations of sellers and the offers from buyers. Moreover, some operations have been abandoned, such as the sale of Hispania’s portfolio”, said García-Mateo.

In this way, unlike in previous years, where large operations were closed during the final quarter of the year, such as Torre Foster – sold for €490 million at the end of 2016-, Torre Espacio – sold in November 2015 for €550 million – and Torre Picasso – sold for €400 million in December 2011 – this year, the most significant operation has been the sale of 50% of Torre Caleido on Paseo de la Castellana, for around €150 million, closed during the first quarter of the year.

In the case of retail assets, investment in shopping centres fell by 29% to €2.7 billion, despite record operations such as the one involving Xanadú, whilst the purchase of shops fell by 36% to €421 million.

“After 4 years of increases in valuations and the consequent decrease in yields, investment in offices and retail property is significantly less attractive than in the hotel and logistics segments, where there are up to 3 points of differential per year”, say the sources at Deloitte. The large hotel operations this year have included the purchase of Edificio España by the Riu Group and the sale of HI Partners, along with its 14 establishments, by Banco Sabadell to Blackstone for €630.73 million.

Cataluña

The 22% decrease comes at a time that is being characterised by the independentist challenge in Cataluña, although the uncertainty being generated in that region does not seem to have had an impact on real estate investment, at least not yet, according to García-Mateo. “In Cataluña, the absorption of office space has fallen and sales in shopping centres have also decreased, by around 10% with respect to Q4 2016, but investment has not been hit, as evidenced by Meridia Capital’s recent purchase of the Barnasud shopping centre and Invesco’s acquisition of the Mango facilities in Palau de Plegamans (Barcelona)”, he added.

In this way, the experts justify that the decrease in investment is due to a change in the cycle, following four years of rapid growth (…).

Nevertheless, the €9.7 billion spent during 2017 represents the fourth-highest figure in the historical series (dating back 13 years).

It was only in the last two years, as well as in the record year for the sector (2007), when investment amounted to €12.6 billion, that investment in non-residential assets exceeded the €10 billion threshold, according to Deloitte.

Original story: Expansión (by Rocío Ruiz)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Idealista: Hotel Inv’t to Reach Record Figure of €3.2bn in 2017

26 December 2017 – Idealista

The year-end forecasts for hotel investment are marking record highs, exceeding the €3.2 billion threshold. This represents an increase of 45% with respect to 2016 and of 25% with respect to 2015, the record year to date when investment amounted to €2.55 billion. The large operations completed during the year include the 14 assets (HI Partners) that Sabadell sold to Blackstone for €630 million and the purchase of the iconic Edificio España building (pictured below) in Madrid by the hotel chain Riu for €380 million.

The hotel segment has risen to prominence in 2017 in terms of real estate investment, accounting for 30% of the total market share, exceeded only by retail. During the first six months of the year, €1.655 billion was invested in hotel purchases.

Madrid and Barcelona are the two cities that recorded the majority of the real estate operations: the Spanish capital accounted for 19% of total investment and the Catalan capital 12%. Nevertheless, markets such as Valencia, Sevilla and Bilbao also started to spark interest amongst investors. Meanwhile, in terms of holiday markets, the Canary Islands, Andalucía and the Balearic Islands led the investment ranking, accounting for 23%, 13% and 9%, of the total investment, respectively.

Between January and November 2017, 94 operations were closed, with 109 hotels changing hands. The most significant operation was completed by Blackstone, with its purchase of the HI Partners portfolio from Sabadell (…).

Another important deal was closed in June with the sale of a portfolio of 3- and 4-star Meliá Hotels, located in Ibiza, Lanzarote, the Balearic Islands and Torremolinos to London & Regional for €230 million.

In 2018, the investment figures in the hotel sector could soar once again if Barceló’s plan goes ahead to take over the NH Hotel Group, worth €2.48 billion. That deal would create a new market leader with more than 600 hotels and 109,000 rooms.

Original story: Idealista 

Translation: Carmel Drake

Hotelier Catalonia Leads Ranking of Spain’s Top 15 Tourism Companies by Gross Margin

24 November 2017 – Preferente

Catalonia, the hotel chain based in Barcelona and owned by the Vallet family, leads the first ranking compiled by preferente.com of the Top 15 Spanish tourism companies by gross margin in 2016, with a 30.2% gross profit on its sales. It is followed by large hotel chains such as the Ibiza-based Palladium, and the Mallorcan-based Grupo Piñero and Riu, which all generated gross margins of more than 20% during the last financial year.

The chain owned by the Matutes family is the second in the ranking after obtaining an estimated gross margin of 28.6% on its sales in 2016; it is followed by the group owned by the Piñero family, which includes the Bahía Príncipe and Soltour businesses, with a gross margin of 24.2%; and the chain owned by the Riu family, with a gross margin of 23.8% and the leader of the ranking by EBITDA.

Completing the Top 5 is another large chain and another Catalan firm: H10, which recorded a gross profit on its sales of 19.8% in 2016, followed by Grupo Barceló, with a gross margin of 14.2%, which would have been greater if it did not include in its sales the intermediation activity of Ávoris, which generates higher volumes but lower margins.

After Group Barceló in the ranking comes Grupo Iberostar, which comprises Almundo and World2Meet; and then the hotel groups NH and Meliá, which all exceeded or equalled a gross profit of 10% of sales in 2016. After those companies come the Canarian firm Lopesan and the Catalan firm Hotusa, which groups together Keytel and Restel, with similar gross margins of around 9% over sales.

A vertically integrated tourism group: an airline, a travel agency and a bed bank follow them in the ranking. At number 12 is Globalia, the parent company of Air Europa and Halcón Viajes, with a gross margin of 3.8% of sales, followed very closely by Iberia (3.7%) and Viajes El Corte Inglés (2.4%). The B2B firm Hotelbeds appears in fifteenth place with an estimated gross margin of 2% in 2016, a year when it had not yet completed the purchase of Tourico and GTA, the first of which generates significant EBITDA.

In this way, according to the ranking prepared by the leading tourism website, the chains with the greatest presence in the Caribbean and those dedicated exclusively to resorts are those that generate the greatest gains with respect to their revenues. Meanwhile, the conglomerates that also include intermediaries would have higher gross margin figures if they only reflected their hotel businesses, given that although they invoice less, they are more profitable.

Original story: Preferente (by Andrea Bulla)

Translation: Carmel Drake

VP Finalises Opening of Flagship Hotel in Madrid’s Plaza de España

24 November 2017 – Expansión

The hotel chain, VP, which is going to debut its Design brand in Madrid in Plaza de España in January, is looking to export its model to other European capitals.

Five years after its arrival in Madrid’s Plaza de España, with the purchase of the buildings at numbers 3, 4 and 5, VP is putting the finishing touches ahead of the inauguration of what will be its flagship property in the capital: the VP Plaza España Design.

“Design is the new collection that VP is launching with Hotel Plaza España in Madrid and we hope to expand it to other European capitals soon”, explains Pedro José Alonso, the Director of the Hotel, speaking to Expansión.

This establishment has been built on the foundations of several buildings that were illegally occupied for years and which once housed offices, an aparthotel and the headquarters of Telefónica. VP purchased the assets in 2015, from the liquidated real estate company Monteverde, for €22 million.

After demolishing the old buildings and constructing the new property, work that was carried out by the construction company Tilmón, the family group is now preparing to unveil its flagship hotel, planned for the middle of January, to coincide with the tourism fair (Fitur). “It has been a pharaonic project. We have incorporated some very exclusive designs that we have had to import from other countries and as a result, the construction work has been delayed by a few months”.

The Hotel VP Plaza España Design will have 214 rooms of different kinds spread over 17 floors, as well as a spa, gym, its own car park and a sky bar with 360º views. Moreover, it will have a restaurant on the ground floor leased to Grupo Larrumba. Both the sky bar, Ginkgo, and the restaurant, Botania, will be independently accessible to facilitate entry for clients not staying at the hotel.

This hotel wants to become a benchmark for MICE tourism (meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions) and will have 1,400 m2 of space for events. “Madrid needs infrastructure in the heart of the centre for this kind of tourism. The existing supply is located on the outskirts”.

Alonso explains that the hotel, which will employ 150 people, will provide a distinctive artistic and decorative offer with works from Pere Grife and Jan Hendrix.

Regeneration of the area

A few months after the debut of the hotel, the Town Hall of Madrid will begin work to regenerate Plaza de España, which is expected to start in the spring of 2018. “Plaza de España has been a black mark (on the landscape) for several years. I am delighted about the project and we form part of this regeneration work”, he says.

Moreover, the facelift of the central square will happen at the same time as the arrival of large domestic groups such as RIU and international players such as Hyatt and Four Seasons: “Their arrival is excellent news for Madrid. Those brands attract their own tourism; they help us to specialise and raise the bar”.

In terms of prices, Alonso says that rooms will be offered from €220 up to “as much as the client is willing to pay”. And he adds; “Madrid is a city that deserves to have different prices to those on offer until now, which were beneath it. In our case, we have a great building, an excellent location and a commitment to service and people. That will allow us to charge prices commensurate with those of a five-star hotel.

Original story: Expansión (by Rebeca Arroyo)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Hyatt To Open Its New 5-Star Hotel In Madrid In December

6 November 2017 – Cinco Días

Nine years after it stopped managing Hotel Villa Magna, the North American hotel chain Hyatt, is finalising its return to Spain and will benefit from first-mover advantage in the battle between the luxury hotels in Madrid. It will be the first to open, but close behind it will be followed by the five-star Four Seasons hotel in Canalejas, the four-star RIU hotel in Plaza de España and the five-star Starwood hotel in the former Hotel Asturias.

The hotel will be located in the heart of Gran Vía, will have 159 rooms (of which 10% will be suites with views over the iconic street) and will be very focused on tourists with a high purchasing power. Gonzalo Maggi, Director of the hotel, highlights that it will be the first hotel to operate under the Centric brand in Europe. “The main features of the brand including being at the centre of the action. We are targeting clients who want to explore, get to know the city and discover new things and who want to use the hotel as a launch pad for their stay”, says Maggi, who admits that the building work is being accelerated to ensure that the hotel will be ready to open in December to take advantage of the Christmas rush.

Maggi defines the client that his hotel is targeting as “lifestyle”, which serves, in his opinion, to differentiate its offer from those of the other operators that are going to compete with Hyatt. “We are going to target people who place a lot of importance on design, fashion, the people they share space with and the gastronomy they seek. We are going to position ourselves in the high-end segment. Of the scale of traditional five-star hotels, we are going to aim a bit lower, but in the highest range of the new establishments”, he says. Another feature of the chain is the food. “We are going to have a music studio in the hotel lobby specialising in vermouths, a restaurant with international food and a rooftop bar, which will open in the first quarter of 2018”, he says (…).

The Director of the Hyatt Centric forecasts that to start with, 40% of the hotel’s clients will come from the USA, where the brand has been established for 60 years and is very well known. The rest will come mainly from three European countries (France, Germany and the UK) as well as from certain Asian countries. Maggi does not rule out that the hotel will also spark interest in the domestic market, despite its high prices, given its good location.

The director of the hotel highlights that Spain represents a very interesting market, as shown by the opening of the Park Hyatt in Mallorca a year and a half ago, although he is sure that the main opportunities are in Madrid and Barcelona (…). Asked about the hotel moratorium, he says (…) “as soon as they let us build there, we will launch ourselves into that market. It is a fantastic city and has a great deal to offer”, he says.

Original story: Cinco Días (by Carlos Molina)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Deloitte: Hotel Inv’t Will Exceed €3,000M In 2017

7 November 2017 – Expansión

The extraordinary tourism data in Spain, the interest from investors in real estate assets and the purchase by international funds of hotel portfolios has catapulted investment in the Spanish hotel segment so far this year to €2,600 million. That figure is 21% higher than the total amount recorded in 2016, and is very close to the record figure of €2,700 million recorded in 2015, according to The Hotel Property Handbook report, prepared by Deloitte España.

In this way, the hotel sector now accounts for 35% of total real estate investment in the tertiary sector (non-residential assets) in Spain. The firm forecasts that, by the end of this year, the investment volume figure will have easily surpassed the €3,000 million threshold.

In terms of the main operations of the year, the purchase by the US fund Blackstone of the HI Partners hotel portfolio, comprising 14 establishments, from Sabadell for €630 million and the acquisition by the British fund London & Regional of four Starmel hotels – a joint company formed by Meliá and Starwood Capital in 2015 – for €230 million, have given the investment figure a real boost.

Record operations

These operations have been accompanied by several one-off hotel transactions, such as Edificio España, which was acquired by RIU in June for €272 million (…).

Other noteworthy operations so far this year include the purchase of Hotel Silken in Barcelona by the British fund Benson Elliot for €80 million and the acquisition of 55% of Hotel Diagonal Mar in Barcelona by Axa for €80 million.

For Javier García-Mateo, Partner at Deloitte Financial Advisory, institutional investors are seeing the opportunity to build large portfolios of holiday hotels in Spain, to integrate them into their international platforms in the Caribbean, South America and South-East Asia, developing a direct channel and obtaining greater negotiating power with tour operators. “In the end, Spain is establishing itself as the world’s main tourist market”, he says.

In this sense, we are seeing the natural migration of traditional hotel owners, who are divesting property to focus on management, such as in the case of the Meliá chain, which is making way for overseas investors who have greater financial muscle and so can launch more ambitious projects, explains Patricia Pana at Deloitte Financial Advisory.

In this context, the large tour operators are also participating in the investment fever and are buying assets in order to carry out a vertical integration of their business (…).

Interest from investors is partly driven by the record number of visitor arrivals – more than 84 million international tourists are forecast to visit Spain this year – and the strong evolution of key performance indicators such as the average daily rate (ADR), revenue per available room (RevPAR) and the occupancy rate.

Peak returns

Specifically, the ADR in Spain reached an average of €82.30 in 2016, up by 5% YoY; the occupancy rate rose by four percentage points to 66%; and RevPAR increased by 10% to €53.90.

The challenges for the sector now include improving the hotel portfolio to allow for an increase in prices. “If we compare our hotels with those in other urban and vacation destinations, the price per room of Spanish hotels still has a lot of potential, provided that renovation and transformation projects are carried out with the help of the main operators”, says Ana Granado, Director at Deloitte Financial Advisory (…).

Original story: Expansión (by Rebeca Arroyo)

Translation: Carmel Drake