Tag: Sevilla

Price Increases Spreading In Major Cities. Valencia, Malaga And Palma De Mallorca Gain Speed.


13 February 2016 – Expansion

Real Estate recovery takes pace and extends to a growing number of provinces and province capitals. Specifically, 21 provinces are already positive year-on-year, according to the sold homes assessment carried out by Tinsa valuating company. On the other hand, sixteen provincial capitals have also increased prices in the last year. 
Thus, the recovery is concentrated in Madrid, Barcelona and Costa del Sol, which are the leading indicators of Spanish Real Estate sector. In fact, whenever there has been a crisis, these three areas have been the big headlights targeting where the rest of the market would head for in the coming months. 
Firstly, Madrid and Barcelona are the two largest metropolitan areas and also the cities that account for more space in prime areas. Stock depletion in these areas as well as high demand in these two cities has led to strong advances, reaching 6.2% in the Spanish capital and 8.7% in Barcelona. These increases are also supported on the largest credit facilities and improvement in confidence during the past year. 
On the other hand, many coastal capitals have experienced a great boost thanks to the pull of Marbella, Valencia, Malaga and Palma de Mallorca. This increase is due to the strong increase on foreign demand. These cities show a strong acceleration in the last month. For instance, the price of housing in Valencia rose at a rate of 0.6% in the fourth quarter, 1.6% in Málaga and 2.2% in Palma de Mallorca; in January, the three of them soared to paces of 4.7%, 5% and 5.6%, respectively. In addition, tha fact that this price has been relaunched in cities where the stock was weighing down the real estate suggests that this volume of unsold homes is very quickly shrinking.

Two paces     

However, Spanish market being divided into two speeds is something that cannot be left out. On the one hand, the great capitals and certain areas of the Mediterranean coast, which show a strong growth. On the other hand, much of the inland Spain, where there is either a large second-hand market or an aging population that subtracts dynamism from the demand. 
In this situation we find cities like Pamplona, Palencia, Zamora, Leon and Huesca, where prices have not yet finished their fall. However, Tinsa forecasts indicate that the recovery of the “brick” will be consolidated in 2016, bringing these areas to positive territory. Although the landscape is far better among the great capitals, some of these cities also remain in negative. This is the case of Zaragoza, where home prices fell at a rate of 3.1% in January, or Bilbao, shrinking back by 0.2%. Sevilla, however, shows a shy increase of 0.6%.

Original story: Expansion (by P. Cerezal)

Translation: Aura Ree

 

Rothschild Launches Fund To Invest €400M In EU Hotel Sector

13 April 2015 – Expansión

The wealth management specialist creates a real estate (investment) vehicle.

Edmund de Rothschild, the group that specialises in the management of large fortunes, is breaking into the hotel sector. Aina is the name of the real estate fund that Rothschild has launched with the aim of purchasing four- and five-star hotels, (of between 90 and 150 rooms and between 150 and 450 rooms) in Europe.

Managed by Jaume Tapies, the former Chairman of the international network Relais & Chateaux, Aina is seeking to raise more than €400 million, and more than half of that amount will relate to debt. The roadmap predicts the signing of around 20 transactions with an average value of around €20 million to €25 million.

Aina has identified 29 cities of interest, due to their potential for tourism and business, where there is no excess supply or barriers to entry. The list includes two Spanish cities, Madrid and Barcelona, and two others may join them, namely Sevilla and Bilbao. “Spain is a priority country and now is a good time to invest there, as well as in Italy and Portugal, and in the major capital cities such as London, Paris and Amsterdam”, says Tapies.

Aina, whose investment plan will take two years to complete, has a process open with institutional investors to secure €200 million in funding, which is about to close. Edmund de Rothschild will be responsible for the administration and custody of the funds. The minimum investment required to participate is €1 million. The fund will have a life of seven years and the investment period will be three years. The gearing ratio will range between 40% and 50% of the total portfolio value, and on an exceptional basis, may reach up to 60% for a single asset.

Profitability

The strategy also centres on risk diversification. One single hotel may account for 25% of the investment, at most, and no single country may account for more than 40%. On the other side of the scale, profitability will also be high, at 15% p.a., based on the profitability of the rental income and the potential for the increase in the value of the assets.

The fund will focus on finding properties with discounts of between 25% and 40% of their market value. Subsequently, it will increase their values by between 25% and 30% by redesigning their operating models and will obtain a similar percentage from the sale of these properties to investors that have lower long-term profitability requirements.

So far, investors from Spain, South America, Australia and Asia have all expressed their interest in participating in Aina.

In addition to the management team led by Tapies, Aina has an advisory board, which includes, amongst others, Charles Petrucelli, former Chairman of the travel division of American Express; Antoine Corinthios, former Chairman of Four Seasons in EMEA; and Jean-Jacques Gauer, for Chairman of Leading Hotels of the World.

Gabriel García is also advising the fund; he owns the Hotel Orfila in Madrid and is the Chairman of Relais & Chateaux in Spain.

Original story: Expansión (by Yovanna Blanco)

Translation: Carmel Drake

CBRE GI Acquires Airesur Shopping Centre For €76.5M

26 March 2015 – Expansión

The fund manager CBRE GI has finalised its purchase of the Airesur shopping centre in Sevilla for €76.5 million. Through this transaction, CBRE Global Investors strengthens its portfolio in the Iberian peninsula, where it manages 20 shopping centres for its large clients.

Original story: Expansión

Translation: Carmel Drake

CBRE GI To Buy Airesur – Sevilla’s Largest Shopping Centre

25 March 2015 – El Confidencial

Today (Wednesday), CBRE Global Investors will formalise its purchase of Airesur from the Lar Group for €75 million. In addition, it expects to invest a further €10 million in repositioning and expanding the shopping centre located (on the outskirts of the city of) Sevilla.

New first class transaction in the real estate sector. CBRE Global Investors, the international real estate asset manager, has reached an agreement with the Lar Group to purchase the Airesur shopping centre, the largest in Sevilla. Airesur has a surface area of 37,283 square metres and is located next to the only store that IKEA has, for the moment, in the Andalusian capital.

The definitive transfer of this asset is expected to take place today, after a busy process led by JLL, which also involved several international funds, according to sources familiar with the process. Despite the high level of interest, the complex financial structure hiding behind Airesur, coupled with the need to undertake additional investments to expand and reposition the centre, tipped the scale in favour of CBRE GI, which not only has the financial muscle (require for a transaction of this size), but also has more than 20 years of experience in the management of real estate assets.

After a lengthy due diligence process (internal audit), a price of around €75 million has been agreed, which is close to the latest official valuation completed by Savills (€77.5 million), as at the end of 2014. Nevertheless, it is long way off of the €102.5 million that Lar paid when it acquired the shopping centre in the summer of 2006, in conjunction with Morgan Stanley’s private bank (which today forms part of Caixabank).

Original story: El Confidencial (by Ruth Ugalde)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Caixabank Begins To Market Office Space In Torre Pelli

20 February 2015 – El Economista

Servihabitat, the credit and property management company owned by Caixabank, has started to market 35,000 square metres of office space in the building known as Torre Pelli (178m high), on the island of Cartuja in Sevilla. The tower is in its final stages of construction by the (development) company Puerto Triana, in which Caixabank is a majority shareholder.

Sources close to Servihabitat have confirmed that this week the company has started to market office spaces on floors 1 to 24; initially, a hotel was planned for floors 24 and above, although that is now pending confirmation.

The sources indicated that 1,500 square metres of office space is available per floor, with a minimum space of 200 square metres. In total, 35,000 square metres of office space has come onto the market.

In terms of the rental prices for these spaces, the sources indicated that “prices vary depending on the volume of square metres (contracted), the floor, the direction/orientation” and they note that prices “are being agreed on a personalised basis”.

Nevertheless, “El Correo de Andalucía” reported on Thursday that it will cost €3000/m2/month plus shared costs to rent a 200 square metre space, and so Caixabank may generate revenues of almost half a million euros per month if it manages to rent out the whole building.

The sources stressed that this marketing campaign “is attracting interest and has been very well received by its potential clients”.

Original story: El Economista

Translation: Carmel Drake