Tag: Savills Aguirre Newman

Cerberus Puts 2 of Bankia’s Prime Branches Up For Sale

12 March 2018 – El Confidencial

Cerberus wants to take advantage of the appetite that exists for retail premises on Spain’s main high streets at the moment and to this end, has opened a process to sell two of Bankia’s star branches, located on Plaza de Catalunya in Barcelona and at number 1 Calle Alcalá in Madrid, according to sources familiar with proceedings.

The operation has been instrumented through Haya Real Estate, the real estate servicer of Cerberus, which is in charge of managing the assets thanks to the contract signed with the entity, and has been organised as a closed process, rather than through the website, like it does with other assets when it puts them on the market.

In both cases, the bank chaired by José Ignacio Goirrigolzarri is planning to vacate the premises, so that the buyers can let them to a new tenant and whereby obtain more attractive offers.

The establishment located on Alcalá 1, a historical building dating back to the 19th century, has a surface area of 900 m2 spread over the ground floor and basement. The process, which was launched last month, has received interest from several parties looking to acquire the empty space.

On the plus side, it is located right next to the entrance of the well-known Puerta del Sol, and it is very close to Calle Preciados, the most expensive shopping street in Madrid, with an average rent of €3,180/m2, according to Cushman & Wakefield (C&W). On the downside, its shop window overlooking Calle Alcalá is very reduced.

Meanwhile, in Plaza de Cataluna, the 1,000 m2 branch that Bankia owns is homes to its headquarters in the Catalan capital. Haya already identified it at the end of last year as a serious candidate for sale, a decision that it took in the end boosted by the record retail investment figures.

According to figures from Savills-Aguirre Newman, investor interest in the commercial segment in 2017 allowed it to break records, reaching €3.5 billion, levels that the real estate consultancy expects will be maintained this year thanks to the strong outlook that still exists for tourism, amongst other factors.

Plaza de Catalunya is also one of the most commercial areas in Spain, with rents exceeding €1,200/m2, and with the added bonus that it is a genuine magnet for large fashion firms.

In fact, Uniqlo was on the verge of acquiring the 3,000 m2 that Fundación Montemadrid used to own next door to Bankia’s branch, a property that ended up being sold to Desigual to house its new flagship store. El Corte Inglés, Apple, Zara and Fnac are just some of the distinguished neighbours on this sought-after square.

Original story: El Confidencial (by Ruth Ugalde)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Property Developers Eagerly Await Blackstone & Cerberus’s Major Land Sales

26 February 2018 – Cinco Días

The residential market is going to undergo a real shake-up over the coming months. From the summer onwards, Spain’s residential property developers expect the main investment funds to place on the market the large land banks that they have been stockpiling following their purchases from the banks, whereby alleviating the shortage of plots for construction in those areas where activity has resumed. Thousands of millions in investments are at stake.

Specifically, the major stars are going to be Blackstone, which took control of Popular’s toxic property portfolio last year, and Cerberus, which did the same with assets from BBVA. Moreover, managers such as Bain Capital, with land proceeding from Liberbank, will also play a significant role.

The other major player that is going to star in this market over the coming months is Sareb, which is preparing its largest-ever land transaction under a new formula. It is looking to team up with a large property developer to contribute plots worth €800 million and integrate its residential business in exchange for entering the share capital of a company that will be listed on the stock market in the medium term. In fact, large funds are arriving to compete with the bad bank to supply land (…).

“Expectations are high”, says Pablo Méndez, Director of Capital Markets at the consultancy firm Savills Aguirre Newman. “We expect the funds to bring products onto the market during the course of this year. They are going to want to maximise the value of their land, and so they will sell it on a piecemeal basis. We do not expect to see large portfolios for sale, at least not in Madrid, Cataluña or Levante”, he explained. “Nevertheless, I think that we may see portfolio sales in other areas that are starting to reactivate and that are of interest to real estate companies, such as Galicia, Asturias, Santander, Burgos, Tarragona and other large cities”.

House building activity has reactivated timidly in Spain, with 80,000 new house starts last year and with the objective for the sector of reaching around 150,000 new homes per year as the healthy cruising speed. New companies, such as the listed firms Neinor and Aedas, together with others such as Aelca, Vía Célere, ASG, Amenabar and Metrovacesa (which returned to the stock market earlier this month) have boosted activity. But there has been a shortage of buildable land (plots with the necessary permits) in Spain’s large cities, above all in Madrid and Barcelona.

Simultaneously, the banks have been forced to divest property from their balance sheets, under pressure from the regulations set by the European Central Bank, like the entities that received public help did back in 2012, when they transferred their toxic assets to Sareb. In the funds, the banks have found the best partners for getting rid of their properties to start putting them on the market (…).

“We estimate that the large funds have land worth more than €15 billion”, calculates Samuel Población, Director of Residential and Land, at the consultancy firm CBRE.

Blackstone is going to become one of the key players over the next few months. The US fund purchased 51% of Popular’s portfolio worth €10 billion from Santander. Of that total, 42% corresponds to land. The agreement is not expected to be definitively closed until March. From then on, Aliseda will start to sell those plots. The new CEO of that servicer is Eduard Mendiluce, who is also continuing to serve as the head of Anticipa, the company that Blackstone uses to manage its housing portfolios.

Meanwhile, Cerberus acquired 80% of BBVA’s real estate portfolio for €4 billion. Almost 80% of those assets comprise plots of land. In that case, they are waiting until June, for the operation to materialise, before starting to place any portfolios on the market. That sales mandate will be entrusted to Haya Real Estate, the servicer that Cerberus is planning to list on the stock market. Note, the US fund also acquired a majority stake in the residential property developer Inmoglacier, which is expected to receive a small proportion of the plots to make it grow and become one of the new stars of the sector.

Finally, Bain Capital, on a smaller scale, acquired around €144 million of land from Liberbank, at the same time as taking over the Catalan property developer Habitat (…).

Original story: Cinco Días (by Alfonso Simón Ruiz)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Savills Aguirre Newman: Inv’t in Logistics Assets Exceeded €1.5bn in 2017

15 February 2018 – Expansión

Real estate investment in logistics assets exceeded €1.5 billion in 2017, up by 86% compared to the previous year. That figure includes the corporate operation involving Logicor.

The boom in e-commerce, combined with their attractive returns, have placed logistics assets in the spotlight for real estate investors. In this way, last year, the purchase of these types of properties reached a record-breaking €1.5 billion, according to the consultancy firm Savills Aguirre Newman.

That disbursement represents an increase of 86% compared to the previous year and is the highest figure ever recorded for these types of properties in the Spanish market. Nevertheless, the amount does include the corporate operation carried out by Blackstone. The US fund divested its logistics subsidiary, owner of 147 million m2 of space across 17 countries (including in Spain) to China Investment for €12.25 billion.

In the last three months of the year alone, investment in these types of assets exceeded €200 million.

Unlike other types of properties, such as offices, interest in these assets extends beyond Madrid and Barcelona. “The consolidation of economic growth and the gradual improvement in the fundamentals of the logistics market (demand, availability and rental prices) has continued to drive investment in the sector, which, due to the shortage of supply in Madrid and Barcelona, has shifted its interest to secondary markets, such as Zaragoza and Valencia”, say sources at the consultancy firm.

The large operations of the year included P3’s purchase of GreenOak’s portfolio for €243 million.

In fact, the high degree of interest has caused many investors to back the purchase of plots of logistics land for their subsequent development. “Operations involving logistics land, for the development of turnkey and at-risk projects, have become one of the cornerstones of the market. The high demand for space, combined with the shortage of finished products suitable for the requirements of specific demand, is generating a lot of interest in this product”, explain sources at Savills Aguirre Newman.

The boom in operations has already had an impact on the returns offered by these types of properties. “The initial rate of return for the most prime assets was below 6%, but during the course of the year, for some specific operations, the rate amounted to 5.5%, which means that the gentle upwards trend already observed in previous years is being maintained”.

Original story: Expansión (by Rocío Ruiz)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Co-Working Operators Leased 5-Times More Office Space in 2017

8 February 2018 – Expansión

Operators of co-working offices are gaining strength in Spain and multiplied by five times the space leased in 2017, to 40,500 m2.

The international co-working giants –WeWork, Regus, Glue Concept and Busining– are claiming their space in Spain and have recorded a milestone in the leasing of co-working office space in Madrid and Barcelona.

Last year, 40,500 m2 was leased for use by these kinds of work spaces, which represents a five-fold increase in the figure recorded the previous year, according to explanations provided by the real estate consultancy firm Savills Aguirre Newman.

Sources at the consultancy firm explain that the arrival of international operators has definitively reactivated the so-called serviced office sector in Spain, which includes business centres and co-working spaces.

Specifically, Regus, WeWork, Busining and Glue Concept closed 15 office space rental operations in Spain last year. Those operators opted for new and renovated buildings, with large and bright spaces, locations that are well-connected by public transport and with excellent services for their users in the vicinity of the offices, explained Ana Zavala, National Director of the Offices Agency at Savills Aguirre Newman.

By city, Madrid accounted for 82% of the surface area leased, whilst Barcelona represented 18%. By number of operations, 53% corresponded to Madrid, compared with 47% to Barcelona.

For the consultancy firm, the participation of this new model in the global office calculation for Madrid and Barcelona still has room for growth, as it currently accounts for around 5%. Thus, whilst in Madrid and Barcelona, the leasing by these types of business accounted for 3% in 2016, in London, they represented 10%.

“The growth in terms of leasing has been very significant in 2017, but the model is still very new in Madrid and Barcelona, and will depend on the success and demand that is generated. London is a much more mature market in terms of co-working in Europe and there the market share has amounted to around 9%-10% of the volume leased over the last two years”, said Zavala.

For the National Director of the Offices Agency at Savills Aguirre Newman, the benefits of these spaces are attractive for SMEs and micro-companies used to working in a collaborative way (…).

New players

In an effort to take advantage of the new needs in the market, the large Spanish Socimis Colonial and Merlin have also taken their first steps into this business. In this way, in October, the Catalan Socimi closed an agreement to acquire a controlling stake in the co-working platform Utopic_US. That agreement also includes the development of a strategic plan through successive capital injections by Colonial. Utopic_US, founded by 2010, has three centres in Madrid and will open another one in Barcelona within the next few weeks.

Also in October, Merlin announced the purchase of a stake in Loom House. In the case of the Socimi led by Ismael Clemente, its alliance with Loom House involves jointly converting some of the buildings in Merlin’s portfolio into co-working office spaces. Loom House currently has two co-working centres in Madrid, one in the Atocha area and another on Calle Huertas.

Original story: Expansión (by Rebeca Arroyo)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Savills Aguirre Newman: Tertiary RE Transactions Soar in January to Reach €910M

6 February 2018 – Eje Prime

The sales of the Parque Corredor shopping centre in Madrid and the 16 Inditex stores in Spain and Portugal have boosted the sector, which has already registered 40% of the total amount invested during the first quarter of 2017.

Operations in the retail segment have stepped up a gear. The Parque Corredor shopping centre in Madrid, and the portfolio of stores that Inditex put up for sale in Spain, represented a boost for the investor boom in the sector during the first month of the year. In total, those two operations accounted for €660 million of the €910 million that was spent on the sale and purchase of non-residential real estate assets in Spain during the month of January.

For the Inditex portfolio, which contained 16 stores located across Spain (14) and Portugal, the German fund Deka paid more than €500 million. That transaction was followed by another major retail deal, specifically, the purchase by the joint venture between Ares and Redevco of 70% of Parque Corredor, whereby absorbing the 40% stake in the centre that Sareb held, for €140 million.

Thanks to those two sales and others that were closed during the first month of 2018, the investment quota for the year has already reached 40% of the total figure spent during the whole of the first quarter last year, according to data from Savills Aguirre Newman.

Following a month of considerable activity, the forecast for the rest of 2018 is optimistic. Sources at the consultancy firm predict a year of “significant investment”. In this way, the volume of operations forecast for the office sector could exceed €2.0 billion, after investment in that segment amounted to €210 million in January.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake

Inditex Negotiates the Sale of 16 Stores to German Fund Deka

29 January 2018 – Eje Prime

Inditex has found a buyer for its portfolio of stores. The Galician fashion retailer is holding conversations with the German fund Deka Inmobilien to sell the sixteen stores that it put up for sale in December. Both companies are holding negotiations to close the acquisition for €400 million.

The agreement is expected to be closed this week in such a way that the group may include this divestment in its results for 2017, according to reports by El Confidencial. Almost 80% of the value of the portfolio corresponds to the establishments located in Madrid (the Zara store on c/Preciados and the Lefties shop on c/Carretas), Barcelona (the Zara store on c/Pelayo) and Lisbon (Rúa Augusta y Antonio Augusto de Aguiar). The remaining stores are located in Valencia, Córdoba, Albacete, Palma, Sevilla, San Sebastián, Ciudad Real, Zamora, and Fuengirola.

Zara’s parent company has received several offers for its stores. Some buyers were only interested in part of the portfolio and many were mainly interested in the Preciados store. The operation is being brokered by Savills-Aguirre Newman.

Meanwhile, Deka Inmobilien, the real estate investment division of Grupo Deka, is a buyer interested in acquiring assets in good locations, with high profile tenants and long-term contracts. Its operations in recent years include the acquisition of the Diagonal 640 office building in Barcelona for €145 million. Inditex guarantees a five-year rental term with the option of extending for another twenty years and rental prices that offer an average return of 4% for the whole portfolio.

Original story: Eje Prime 

Translation: Carmel Drake

Unibail Will Invest at Least €800M in Spain Over 6 Years

26 January 2018 – Expansión

Unibail-Rodamco, the largest European real estate group, has committed investments for projects in its portfolio in Spain amounting to, at least, €800 million between now and 2024; it has already disbursed €120 million of that figure.

The Director of Development and Investments at Unibail-Rodamco in España, Javier Solís (pictured above, left), explained yesterday at a meeting organised by IESE, Tinsa and Savills Aguirre Newman, that the company has projects in its portfolio spanning a new gross leasable area (including extensions) of 187,000 m2 and a total committed investment of more than €800 million, reports Efe.

Of the projects underway, the director highlighted the shopping centre in Benidorm (Alicante), whose construction has already commenced and which is expected to open in 2020. In his opinion, the increase in visitor numbers and sales at shopping centres suggests “that returns have the potential to rise”.

The director explained that some of the investment planned for the coming years will be spent on improving its assets so that “they are more than just a place to shop”. In this sense, Solía advocates transforming them into centres for meeting up, having fun and being entertained, for enjoying new gastronomic experiences and with higher standards in terms of energy efficiency and sustainability.

In terms of future possible purchases, Solís said that the company’s intention is to incorporate new assets that are already operational, although, for the time being, it does not have any operations on the table.

In Spain, Unibail-Rodamco owns a dozen shopping centres and has two more under development. Its most high profile assets include Parquesur and La Vaguada (in Madrid) and Les Glòries and La Maquinista (in Barcelona), worth around €3.7 billion.

Westfield

Unibail-Rodamco, which has a presence in 11 European countries, reached an agreement at the end of 2017 to purchase its Australian rival Westfield for $24.7 billion (€19.8 billion).

The operation will result in the creation of a colossus with a gross asset value of €61.1 billion and a presence in 13 countries. Following the integration, Unibail-Rodamco will extend its competitive distance over its main European rivals, Klépierre and Hammerson. Indeed, one month ago, the latter announced an agreement to purchase Intu and grow in the shopping centre segment.

Original story: Expansión

Translation: Carmel Drake

Savills Aguirre Newman: Logistics Demand Soars in Andalucía

26 January 2018 – Eje Prime

The logistics sector is growing throughout Spain. Demand for high-quality logistics products with a surface area of more than 5,000 m2 is increasing significantly in Málaga and the Costa del Sol, as a result of the growth in consumption in this region of Andalucía, according to a report from the international consultancy firm Savills Aguirre Newman.

The company says that interest is continuing to grow from logistics operators looking to either position themselves in the region or improve their existing facilities, whilst the supply of high-quality logistics spaces spanning more than 5,000 m2 “is very limited”. The firm indicates that the most sought-after types of facilities are those measuring between 5,000 m2 and 15,000 m2, provided they are accompanied by land that allows logical operations with loading bays and sufficient room for vehicle manoeuvring.

Nevertheless, “this product is scarce, and that shortage is limiting the arrival of companies in the province, where there is an extensive supply of warehouses and mini-warehouses very focused on local operators, but a distinct lack of supply of large warehouses”, explains Vicente Bernabé, Head of Industrial and Logistics Markets for Andalucía at Savills Aguirre Newman.

With forecast demand of around 50,000 m2 for spaces measuring more than 5,000 m2 in Málaga and the Costa del Sol in 2018 and a limited current supply of just one asset exceeding that threshold, Bernabé indicates that 2018 will be “a key year for the sector in the region”.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake

Urban Land Shortage Shatters Property Developers’ Dreams

15 January 2018 – Eje Prime

There is not enough land in the city for so many opportunities. That is the complaint that is increasingly being heard amongst experts in the real estate sector and above all, amongst residential property developers in the country, who warn that this problem is starting to take on a more serious tone. Not in vain, in the midst of the economic recovery, in one of the most critical moments of the upwards cycle (that has given confidence back to the house-building sector), available buildable land is scarce.

Real estate specialists like Anna Gener, Director General in Barcelona of the consultancy Savills Aguirre Newman, warns that “the sector is heating up a lot”, due to the shortage of land, given that property developers “by definition, can only purchase buildable land”, according to comments made in a recent interview with Eje Prime. In the opinion of the Catalan executive, “it is starting to become a matter of urgency for the public administration to take sides and streamline the procedures because, in certain areas of Spain, there is a genuine need for new homes…(…)”.

Whilst making her comments, Gener may have had in mind regions such as Madrid, Barcelona and Málaga. All three provinces are experiencing high demand for housing and they accounted for more than 50% of the total investment in land in Spain in 2017, with €3.5 billion spent there on urban land purchases. That figure represents an increase of 19% in recent quarters in relation to the number of property developer operations formalised, according to the Solvia Market View report compiled by the Spanish servicer, which analyses the real estate brokerage situation in the country.

Over the last twelve months, property developers have strengthened their presence in the Spanish residential market, starring in 74% of transactions, supported in many cases by investment funds that hold stakes in them. That fact, together with the aforementioned lack of land supply, has resulted in a 6.2% YoY increase in land prices.

Newly created companies such as Neinor Homes, Aedas Homes, Vía Célere and Aelca have led the current boom in domestic housing with ambitious land purchase plans. Their residential projects have breathed life and confidence into an activity that had been in decline following the real estate bubble of not so long ago, but they have caused the market to become more expensive again due to the increased competition to acquire the limited supply of buildable land available in the most sought-after areas.

In terms of amounts, operations of this kind were closed with prices ranging between €500,000 and €10 million in 60% of cases, whilst 15% of transactions exceeded the €10 million threshold (…).

Generating buildable land: a new line of business for 2018

In the Community of Marid, for example, the most sought-after buildable urban land is that allocated for residential use, above even that allocated for logistics use. As the main market in Spain for the buying and selling of land, the Madrilenian case exemplifies the constraints that the residential sector will have to battle against in 2018.

Firstly, the report from Solvia indicates that property developers will have to leave the city in search of buildable land on the outskirts. Areas such as El Cañaveral and the Corredor de Henares were the most sought-after places last year by companies in the sector (…). There is hardly any land left inside the M-30 (…).

The same applies in Barcelona. Buildable land is scarce both in the Catalan capital, and in its surrounding metropolitan area, which is leading some property developers to return to investing in towns in the second ring of the city’s outskirts, such as Sabadell, Terrassa and Granollers, amongst others, according to the report from the servicer owned by Banco Sabadell (…).

For this reason, one of the challenges for property developers this year is going to be to attract demand to new provincial capitals and markets. On the national map, the Solvia Market View report highlights cities such as Jaén, Pamplona, Oviedo and Valladolid. Regardless of where, what is in no doubt, is that the search for and acquisition of land for house building will continue for the next few months.

Original story: Eje Prime (by Jabier Izquierdo)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Experts: Foreign Investors will Continue to Back the Spanish RE Sector in 2018

11 January 2018 – Expansión

The experts believe that the residential sector is going to be the main protagonist of 2018, in terms of both development and investment. The banks are expected to continue their balance sheet clean-ups with more portfolio sales.

The real estate sector is expected to continue to constitute a mainstay of the Spanish economy in 2018 thanks to the growth of residential property development and the commitment from international investors to Spanish property as a safe haven for their investments, according to the experts consulted by Expansión.

For Adolfo Ramírez-Escudero, President of CBRE España, property developers will be some of the most dynamic investors in 2018. “Last year, they underwent an expansionary cycle and, through specialisation and the sophistication of their product, they will continue to increase their prominence in the sector”, he explains.

The CEO of JLL España, Enrique Losantos, forecasts that 2018 will maintain the positive rhythm of recent years and that figures will remain in line with 2017, with a total investment volume of around €13 billion. Losantos also expects that portfolio operations, which were the major stars of 2017, thanks to the sale of assets by Banco Popular and BBVA, will continue to strengthen their position in 2018 (…).

Rents

For Santiago Aguirre, President of the Board of Directors of Savills Aguirre Newman, “we are entering a year of consolidation in terms of the upward cycle that we have been immersed in since 2014. Several segments, such as offices and logistics, have reached maximum leasing levels, nevertheless, we still see potential for rents to reach the maximum levels seen in the previous cycle”.

In terms of investment in tertiary assets, Oriol Barrachina, CEO at Cushman & Wakefield, explains that there is a perception that there will be more liquidity than product, despite caution being erred in light of the local and international uncertainty. “The main difference with respect to the last two years is that one group of buyers, the Socimis, are now also going to be selling assets. For years, they have purchased lots of assets and after generating value from them, they are going to put them up for sale, a fact that will also help to bridge the gap between supply and demand”, adds Barrachina.

Sandra Daza, Director General at Gesvalt, thinks that this year those investors who entered the cycle during the opportunistic period, between 2013 and 2015, will be replaced by long-term investors, such as insurance companies and pension funds.

In terms of trends, Mikel Echavarren, CEO at Irea, considers that residential development will continue to generate news this year, both in terms of land transactions, as well as price rises and the recovery of secondary markets (…).

Humphrey White, Director General at Knight Frank, highlights that Spain is currently at the beginning of an expansion period, with forecast demand of between 120,000 and 150,000 new homes per year, even though it closed 2017 with just 47,500 new home transactions (…).

No sign of a bubble

White considers that the growth in the sector in Spain rests on “some very firm foundations in terms of the law of supply and demand, whereby moving firmly away from a possible real estate bubble”.

For Gonzalo Gallego, Partner in Financial Advisory at Deloitte, buildable land will be one of the major challenges in the property development sector.

In terms of the rental market, Ramírez-Escudero explains that in 2018, we will see “quite a lot” of activity in the market from institutional investors backing rental homes. Over the last decade, the number of rental homes has increased significantly to reach 22.5%. Nevertheless, Spain still has major potential given that the average in the EU is 33% (…).

Javier López-Torres, Partner in Real Estate at KPMG, agrees. He considers that the rental segment will continue to gain weight due to the difficulties involved in accessing credit, mobility and cultural change (…).

Asset types

By sector, Thierry Bougeard, Director General at BNP Paribas Real Estate, says that demand for office space will continue its strong performance (seen in 2017), above all in Madrid, where leasing volumes are expected to increase to around 600,000 m2.

Meanwhile, in the logistics market, e-commerce will continue to be the main motor of demand, whilst in retail, many owners are betting on improving the quality of their centres, boosting leisure areas and the quality of them, with the aim of encouraging customers to stay longer, he explains.

The experts also agree in highlighting the high level of interest expected in alternative real estate assets, such as student halls and nursing homes.

Original story: Expansión (by Rebeca Arroyo)

Translation: Carmel Drake