21 September 2019 – ARC Homes will invest 40 million euros to build a new development of semi-detached homes in Ca n’Oriol, in an area between Rubí and Sant Cugat del Vallès, Barcelona.
The developer will build 104 three-to-four bedroom homes for delivery in 2021.
Original Story: La Vanguardia / EFE
Adaptation/Translation: Richard D. K. Turner
5 October 2018 – Eje Prime
New corporate operation on the outskirts of Barcelona. The Iberian subsidiary of Fanuc has purchased two plots of land from Institut Català del Sòl (Incasòl) in Sant Cugat del Vallès in order to locate its new headquarters in the town. The total investment will amount to €15 million, according to a statement issued by the company.
The subsidiary of the Japanese multinational of the same name specialises in the manufacture of robotic solutions. Fanuc Iberia will locate its new central offices in Spain in Sant Cugat del Vallès.
The complex, which will be located on the Can Sant Joan business park, will comprise two plots with a combined surface area of 14,237 m2. The new plant will be located on the financial axis of the B-30/AP-7 motorway. According to Fanuc Iberia’s forecasts, the building work will start at the beginning of 2019 and will be completed by the end of 2020.
Original story: Eje Prime
Translation: Carmel Drake
1 June 2018 – Eje Prime
Kronos Homes wants to be a leading player in the Catalan residential market. The Spanish property developer has just completed the purchase of two plots in Gavá and Sant Cugat del Vallés. These two operations form part of the significant investment plan that the company has initiated in Cataluña, where it already has investments amounting to €400 million. “The objective is to close at least two more operations in Cataluña before the end of 2018”, explained Manuel Holgado, Partner at the real estate firm, speaking to Eje Prime.
The first of the acquired plots, in Gavá, has a surface area of approximately 173,500 m2, with capacity for the construction of 1,500 homes. The company plans to start marketing this project within two years.
In the case of the plot in Sant Cugat, it is located in the centre of the prime Barcelona city and spans 33,800 m2, on which 320 homes are going to be built. These more than 1,800 homes will be added to the 900 units that the firm currently has underway in four other projects.
Two of those projects are located in Tarragona, a province in the south of Cataluña, with one development in the provincial capital and one in Calafell. Both will start to be marketed this June and the property developer, founded in 2014 by Saïd Hejal, has taken advantage of the opportunity presented by the Madrid Real Estate Fair (SIMA) to unveil the two developments.
The investment by Kronos is Cataluña is going to continue to increase over the coming months and Holgado says that “we would like to close at least two more operations before the end of 2018”. The company’s Director General, Majda Labied, also points out that “we have just opened an office in the centre of Barcelona, which strengthens our 100% commitment to Cataluña”.
Currently, the property developer has two promotions in the province of Barcelona, namely H20 and O12, two residential projects with an innovative design, which are located in the maritime area of Badalona. The first promotion has 252 homes with 25 different types of homes.
Entry into the Costa Brava
Having entered Barcelona and Tarragona, Kronos now only has Girona and Lleida left to conquer. The Costa Brava is one area “where we have been working actively for a while”, explains Holgado, although the property developer has not yet found the right opportunity to start a project there.
The forecast by Kronos Homes for the next four years involves it doubling the number of homes underway in Cataluña at the moment. The real estate firm also has a presence in Madrid, the Costa del Sol, Andalucía and Levante, and wants to branch out into new markets over the next few years. Areas such as Euskadi, for example, have always been on the company’s radar. The firm is keen to invest and position itself as one of the leading property developers in Spain.
Investment of €500 million in land all over Spain
To build homes, you need land and, to that end, Kronos is going to invest €500 million between now and 2021 in the purchase of primarily residential land. The company will thereby acquire sufficient land to build 8,000 homes all over the country.
With a land bank spanning more than 1 million m2, spread between Madrid, Cataluña, Costa del Sol and Alicante, the intention of Hejal and the other shareholders that support him, including, in addition to Holgado and Labied, Ignacio Ocejo and Enrique Feduchy, is to expand the business to more Spanish provinces. The firm is currently making headway in the provinces of Córdoba, Sevilla and Cádiz, amongst others.
Original story: Eje Prime (by Jabier Izquierdo)
Translation: Carmel Drake
8 May 2018 – Eje Prime
MGS has secured a plot of land in a prime area of Barcelona. The insurance company has purchased a plot with a buildable surface area of 6,700 m2 in Sant Cugat del Vallés. The acquisition of this asset (…) forms part of the company’s real estate investment plan.
The company, which specialises in the supply of insurance products, has been increasing its activity in the real estate sector in recent months, where it is undertaking purchases to increase its portfolio. This operation has been advised by BNP Paribas.
The National Director of the Land Department at the consultancy firm, Araceli Burgos, highlighted that this operation, involving land that may be used for alternative investments, “shows that this market is reaching the same level of maturity that has already been achieved in the rest of Europe”.
Original story: Eje Prime
Translation: Carmel Drake
15 March 2018 – Eje Prime
Sant Cugat del Vallès is growing strong in Barcelona’s slipstream. In addition to being one of the most sought-after cities in the residential market, the office sector is also strongly committed to this location, where 130,000 m2 of office space has been leased since 2015. Those figures place the city as the second location of choice for this segment in the province of Barcelona.
Currently, there are more than 3,100 companies installed in the city, with a financial district containing 49 hectares of business parks and more than 62,000 professionals working in its office buildings, according to the Marketshot report prepared by the consultancy firm Cushman&Wakefield.
According to the research, Sant Cugat del Vallès has played a fundamental role in the expansion of Barcelona’s office stock in recent years, evolving from a dormitory city into a nucleus of activity for the services sector, bringing together workers and residents alike.
Since 2015, the number of office rental operations in the city has soared. During that year, a record volume of office space was leased, with more than 75,000 m2 signed. In 2015 and the following year, 54 transactions were signed in the office market, spanning a leasable surface area of 104,000m2, which represented 27% of all the office space leased in the entire province of Barcelona.
In recent years, large operations have been carried out with the arrival of Stradivarius into an office building that spans 26,400 m2; and the leasing of offices to Echevarne, Mapfre and Natura Bissé Internacional, which contracted 12,000 m2, 10,000 m2 and 9,200 m2 of space, respectively.
In terms of the type of office being demanded, in Sant Cugat, prime products stand out. Quality A-rated offices account for 93% of the total space leased in the city, whilst properties rated Quality A/B+ represent 96% of the leasable surface area. These records have generated a significant decrease in the space available in the city.
In 2017, the shortage of available office space in Sant Cugat became clear with the leasing of just 22,000 m2 of space, a much lower figure than had been recorded in previous years. And, currently, the available surface area has been reduced to just 25,500 m2, which represents an availability rate of 4.9%, when just a few years ago, it stood at 30%.
Sant Cugat is a sought-after enclave for sectors such as pharmaceutical, R&D and technology, due to the services, communications and technical quality of the buildings, according to the report. It also highlights the location in the city of the Esadecréapolis knowledge and innovation centre as a “powerful” magnet for those types of companies to set up shop there.
1,800 m2 on average
Since 2015, the average rental operation in Sant Cugat has amounted to around 1,800 m2, when between 2010 and 2014, the figure was less than half (750 m2).
Today, in Sant Cugat, there is more than 115,000 m2 of potential office space, of which 100,000 m2 is located on buildable land, without a construction start date. The potential for growth in the stock is significant, and if all the projects were to be completed, the office supply in the city (the capital of the office market on the outskirts of Barcelona) would increase by 22%.
Original story: Eje Prime
Translation: Carmel Drake
7 November 2017 – Eje Prime
The office business in Cataluña is not all about Barcelona. Sant Cugat del Vallès has become the most sought-after office sub-market on the periphery of the Catalan capital, not only for users but also for investors and property developers. More than 130,000 m2 of space has been leased there in the last three years, according to the Marketshot report, compiled by the real estate consultancy firm Cushman & Wakefield.
In 2015, more than 75,000 m2 of office space was leased in this Barcelona town. Sant Cugat del Vallès has always played an important role in Barcelona’s office space leasing figures. In the years 2015 and 2016, 54 rental operations were closed in Sant Cugat covering a surface area of 104,000 m2 (27% of the total signed in Barcelona as a whole).
The most important operations, including turnkey projects, in terms of size in recent years have been: Stradivarius (with 26,400 m2), Laboratorios Echevarne (with 12,000 m2), Mapfre (with 10,000 m2) and Natura Bissé Internacional (with 9,200 m2).
“Although the sub-market is maintaining the tone, the volume of absorption in 2017 has not exceeded 18,000 m2 (7% of the total leased in Barcelona)” – explain sources at the consultancy firm – “Nevertheless, we are not surprised to see fewer operations, given that the supply has been decreasing and the limited space that is still available is very fragmented”.
There is more than 115,000 m2 of potential office space in Sant Cugat, of which 100,000 m2 is located on buildable land. The potential for stock growth in the area is significant and, if all the projects come to fruition, the office park in this sub-market could increase by 22%.
As a result, the plots of land have great potential to respond to the lack of space in the area. “The Can Sant Joan and Can Ametller areas stand out for being home to the most iconic projects. Moreover, they are very well connected through their access to both public and private transport”, explain sources at the consultancy firm.
The increase in activity in the office market in Barcelona, the appeal of different business areas, other than the CBD and the city centre, added to the pre-leasing formula, which is present in the Barcelona market again for the first time since 2008, are all driving up rents. In the last year, the maximum rent in the peripheral areas rose by 7.5%; the minimum had been maintained between 2013 and the first quarter of 2017, but then the first significant increases started to be seen.
Original story: Eje Prime
Translation: Carmel Drake
27 June 2017 – Expansión
Shareholders of the blood products manufacturer Grifols are finalising the debut on the stock market of Centurion Real Estate, a Socimi that is owned in its entirety by Scranton Enterprises. Scranton is a holding company headquartered in The Netherlands, which owns 8.67% of the Catalan company Grifols. The real estate company will start to trade on the Alternative Investment Market (MAB) in July, according to financial sources.
Centurion was founded in 2014 in Barcelona – where its headquarters are located – with the aim of “identifying acquisition opportunities in the real estate market for their subsequent management and operation under lease contracts”, according to Scranton.
Scranton
Grifols sources admitted yesterday that members of the family that controls the pharmaceutical group are some of the around twenty shareholders of the Dutch holding company and they said that board members, former board members, directors and former directors of the Spanish company participate in the business – which has its registered office in Amsterdam – although they did not reveal the composition of the shareholders.
Centurion is chaired by Juan Javier Roura, who used to be responsible for Treasury and Risk Control at Grifols until 2015, where he previously served as Finance Director. Other members of the board of directors include Jordi Fabregas, Núria Martín and Tomás Dagá, founding partners of the law firm Osborne Clarke in Spain; Dagá is also a director of Grifols and of some of the group’s subsidiaries.
The Socimi closed last year with own funds of €61.33 million, up by more than ten times compared to 2105. Its turnover amounted to €5.28 million, almost 5% higher than last year. Its profit reached €2.27 million and the company distributed €1.82 million in dividends.
In light of its imminent debut on the MAB, the company has prepared an audited report of its activity during the first four months of 2017, a period in which its turnover amounted to €1.71 million and its profit reached €421,591.
Grifols’ buildings
According to the same document, Centurion Real Estate is the owner of four buildings, currently occupied by Grifols in the city of Barcelona (Calle Jesús y María) and in the Barcelonan suburb of Sant Cugat del Vallès (Avenida de la Generalitat), where the group has its headquarters. In March, the Socimi formalised the acquisition of retail premises in Plaza Francesc Macià, 10, in Barcelona, on the ground floor of Winterthur’s former headquarters for €50 million.
To undertake its business, Centurion signed a €40 million mortgage loan with BBVA in October 2016 and a €10 million loan with Santander in February 2017.
Original story: Expansión (by J. Orihuel and M. Anglés)
Translation: Carmel Drake
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