Tag: sale

El Corte Inglés is Selling Major Offices on c/Hermosilla and c/Santiago de Compostela in Madrid

11 April 2019 – El Confidencial

The 95-strong asset portfolio that El Corte Inglés put up for sale a few weeks ago not only contains commercial assets. It also includes three important office buildings, all located in Madrid, which have sparked a great deal of interest amongst institutional investors.

They include one of the jewels in the crown of the retail giant, a 20,450 m2 office building located on Calle Hermosilla, opposite the group’s headquarters. It is currently occupied by the Purchasing Division and, according to sources familiar with the operation, may be converted into homes, which would make it a golden opportunity in one of the most sought-after areas of Madrid. Nevertheless, ECI would remain as the tenant of the property for at least three years under a sale and leaseback arrangement, with the option of extending that term for another three years.

The second office building is located on Calle Tomás López, which backs onto the Purchasing division’s offices. And the third office building, which is located on Calle Santiago de Compostela, 100, houses the headquarters of Provincial Court of Madrid. It is known as the Edificio Marbella and spans 6,200 m2. The regional Government has an agreement to lease the property and so the potential buyer would be guaranteed of a stable tenant, with a long-term contract and an annual rental income of almost €1 million.

Original story: El Confidencial (by Ruth Ugalde)

Translation/Summary: Carmel Drake

Unicaja Puts NPLs Worth €1bn+ Up for Sale Ahead of Merger with Liberbank

8 April 2019 – El Mundo

Unicaja has placed non-performing loans and assets worth more than €1 billion up for sale ahead of its merger with Liberbank, which was launched at the beginning of last year and whose completion is scheduled for the autumn.

The Málaga-based entity, which started 2019 with €3.6 billion in non-performing assets (NPAs) on its balance sheet, wants to clean up 30% of that amount over the next six months.

Meanwhile, Liberbank has carried out several operations in recent years to substantially reduce its volume of NPAs, but still wants to cut the figure of €3.2 billion as at December 2018 by half.

Both entities have actually been in the process of liquidating doubtful loans and foreclosed assets since 2015. But the upcoming merger and need to assign a value to their balance sheets is putting pressure on them to accelerate their respective clean-ups.

Last year, Unicaja divested €995 million in doubtful loans and foreclosed homes, land, garages etc.

Original story: El Mundo (by César Urrutia)

Translation/Summary: Carmel Drake

País Vasco is Committed to Social Housing for Rent Not Sale

25 March 2019 – El País

País Vasco is going to stop building public housing for sale. From 2020 onwards, all of the public developments will be for rental, after it was revealed to be the preferred option for 52,000 of the 64,000 applicants registered on the waiting list for social housing properties. The aim is to boost supply whereby avoiding a shortage that could lead to a bubble.

The regional Government’s commitment to the rental sector is huge. According to data from the Government itself, investment in the segment in Euskadi will amount to €1.12 billion between 2018 and 2020, which is €48 million more than the State is planning to allocate to its housing plan for Spain as a whole during the same period (€1.07 billion).

The Basque Government already owns a stock of 13,340 social housing units for rent, and it is currently building 4,600 more.

Another one of the major battles facing the Basque Government is how to get the more than 20,000 empty homes in the region onto the residential market. This year, the Government is set to approve a decree that fixes the fee for empty homes at €10/m2, which the Town Halls will then be able to apply if they so decide.

It has also launched a program of subsidies of up to 60% of the rental payment for young people aged between 23 and 35 who want to leave home.

Original story: El País (by Pedro Gorospe)

Translation/Summary: Carmel Drake

Sareb Re-Opens the Bidding for its Renting Housing Socimi Témpore

7 March 2019 – El Confidencial

Sareb is putting up for sale the rental home Socimi that it constituted just over a year ago. Témpore, the third largest rental home firm in the country, after Blackstone (24,000 homes) and Azora (7,000 homes), owns 2,249 homes worth around €340 million. Candidates have two months to submit their binding offers.

The bad bank constituted Témpore in 2017 to provide an exit for a portfolio of homes proceeding from the bank restructuring process, and a few months later, it debuted the firm on the MAB.

The Socimi’s portfolio generated rental income of €7.3 million last year, up by 1.3% YoY, thanks to the renewal of contracts with the consequent increase in rents.

Témpore is sparking a great deal of interest amongst investors, providing further evidence of the appeal of the Spanish real estate market, especially the rental segment, for overseas investors.

Original story: El Confidencial 

Translation/Summary: Carmel Drake

Intu Considers Selling its 4 Shopping Centres in Spain to Pay Off Debt

6 March 2019 – Expansión

The British retail giant, Intu Properties, is considering putting up for sale its real estate assets in Spain in order to pay off some of its debt. The company’s stock market value has plummeted to €2 billion in recent months, and its debt amounts to more than €5 billion, following two unsuccessful takeover bids for the company last year.

The firm has reportedly received expressions of interest for its Spanish portfolio, which is worth €1 billion in total, from several large international investors. The assets in question are Xanadú (Madrid), Puerto Venecia (Zaragoza), Parque Principado (Asturias) and a mega-project currently under construction in Málaga.

No formal sales process has been initiated yet but a number of unsolicited offers have been received. Nevertheless, legal sources state that the firm would have to offer the right of first refusal to its shareholder partners in each case, namely CPPIB in the case of Puerto Venecia and Parque Principado, and Nuveen (previously TH Real Estate) in the case of Xanadú, before opening any sales process to the wider market.

Other potential suitors include Castellana Properties (the firm backed by the South African investor Vukile) and the Slovenian group J&T.

Original story: Expansión (by Roberto Casado & Rebeca Arroyo)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Mango’s Owner Sells a Logistics Warehouse in Barcelona to Jevaso for €25M

28 February 2019 – Idealista

Isak Andic, the owner of Mango, has sold its former distribution hub in Parets del Vallès, Barcelona to the logistics operator Jevaso for €25 million. The warehouse has a surface area of 35,000 m2 and the deal was actually completed in the second half of 2018.

Mango’s expansion means that the firm no longer needs this plant, in which it invested €45 million initially. It has already been replaced by the fashion retailer’s current complex in Lliçà d’Amunt.

Jevaso is one of the largest operators in the Spanish logistics sector and provides services to large fashion groups across the country.

Original story: Idealista

Summary translation by: Carmel Drake

Liberbank Sells its HQ on the Outskirts of Madrid for €45.3M

1 March 2019 – El Confidencial

Last year, Liberbank sold its headquarters in Madrid for €45.3 million under a sale and leaseback arrangement, generating gains of €23.4 million. The bank will continue to occupy the property, located in the Fuente de la Mora area of the Spanish capital, on a rental basis.

Liberbank acquired the building from Sareb in 2015. The identity of the purchaser has not been revealed.

Original story: El Confidencial

Summary translation by: Carmel Drake

Meliá Earned 13% More in 2018 but its Revenues Fell by 1.5%

1 March 2019 – Expansión

Meliá ended the year with a slight decrease in revenues (1.5%) to €1.83 billion, which it blamed on a deceleration in the tourism sector. Nevertheless, its net profits rose by 13% to €140 million.

The decrease in revenues was due above all to the impact of the devaluation of the US dollar in the America region during the first quarter of the year – one of the most important for the company in the region – and the closure of several hotels for renovation in Puerto Rico and the Caribbean. There was also a slow down in the Mediterranean and Cuba.

Despite the slow down in turnover, the company’s EBITDA increased by 7% to €326 million, following the sale of three hotels to the Socimi Atom in the summer and due to an appreciation in the value of its assets. Excluding those gains, Meliá’s EBITDA in the period increased by 0.9% to €307 million (…).

Looking ahead to 2019, Meliá is cautious regarding the evolution of the markets in America and the Canary Islands, but, by contrast, is optimistic about the markets in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), where it expects RevPAR growth of low to average digits, primarily due to the strong outlook in Continental Europe, as well as in Spain. Specifically, it forecasts a recovery in Barcelona, Madrid and Sevilla.

Original story: Expansión (by R.A)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Unibail’s Profit in Spain Falls by 3.6% Following the Sale of 4 Assets

20 February 2019 – Idealista

The French shopping centre giant has seen its profits in Spain decline due to one of the operations of the year. Unibail-Rodamco earned 3.6% less in the Spanish market in 2018, specifically, €155 million, following the sale of its portfolio of four shopping centres to the South African fund Vukile for around €500 million, as reported by Idealista News last July. If it had not carried out that sale, the group’s profits would have grown by 2.8%.

The company ended last year in the Spanish market with a net profit of €161 million, up by 10.3% compared to 2016, when the group earned €146 million. Until now, Spain had been one of the fastest-growing countries for Unibail-Rodamco.

Across all of the markets in which it operates, the French company recorded a net profit of €1.9 billion, up by 36.9% YoY. That increase in gains was due, in part, to the purchase of the Westfield shopping centre group.

Whilst the area where Unibail-Rodamco increased its profit by the most in the last twelve months was Central Europe, up by 21.7%, France was ranked in second place, with growth of 5.3%. Behind France was Austria with an increase in profits of 4.3%.

Mega-operation with Vukile

Unibail-Rodamco became one of the stars of the sector last July when it closed the sale of four shopping centres to the South African fund Vukile, through its Spanish real estate vehicle Castellana Properties Socimi for €489 million (…).

Currently, the group led by Christophe Cuvillier (pictured above) owns a portfolio in Spain worth €3.6 billion, which receives 126.2 million visitors per year. Those assets account for 10% of its global portfolio.

Original story: Idealista (by Custodio Pareja)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Haya to Sell €188M in Secured Loans from Sareb

19 February 2019 – Expansión

Yesterday, Haya Real Estate put up for sale a package of non-performing loans (NPLs) with real estate guarantees, owned by Sareb, worth €188 million. The portfolio, baptised Project Marconi, comprises loans with an average value of €5.7 million, which are backed by around 1,445 properties.

Original story: Expansión

Translation: Carmel Drake