Tag: students

CPPIB Puts Valencia’s Largest Hall of Residence Up For Sale

25 April 2018 – El Economista

The Canadian pension fund CPPIB is going to take advantage of the investor appetite that currently exists for student halls of residence by placing the “For Sale” sign up over one of its assets in Spain. Galileo Galilei is the largest accommodation block for students in Valencia and one of the largest in the country, according to confirmation from several sources speaking to this newspaper.

With more than 500 beds, the asset will come onto the market during the course of the next month, given that its owner has entrusted the sales process to the international consultancy firm Savills, which declined to comment.

Currently, this hall of residence, which is the only one located on the campus of the Universidad Politécnica de Valencia, forms part of the Liberty Living portfolio, one of the largest managers of student halls of residence in the United Kingdom. CPPIB acquired the British group in March 2015 for GBP 1.1 billion (around €1.2 billion) and continued to grow its portfolio.

In December 2016, CPPIB closed an important operation with Blackstone, which divested a portfolio of 13 student halls, located in the United Kingdom, Germany and Spain, which included Galileo Galilei. For that package, comprising 6,484 beds, the pension fund paid around GBP 460 million (€536 million) to the US firm.

Almost a year and a half later and with the sector in Spain in full boom, CPPIB has decided to put this property on the market in an operation that, according to the experts, could amount to €32 million.

Galileo Galilei currently has 520 beds spread across individual, double and triple rooms, which range in price from €515/month to €846/month. That figure includes all consumption, restaurant services, doctors, cleaning and sports activities.

In addition, the hall of residence offers supplementary services such as laundry, sheet and towel changes, a university support academy for all subjects, IT and nutritional advice, amongst others. Moreover, on the ground floor, the property houses a shopping arcade with restaurants and cafeterias offering special prices for students and various local shops such as a beauty salon, a hairdresser, a print shop, a travel agent, a newsagent, a driving school and a language academy.

With these features and its high occupancy rate, Galileo Galilei is expected to arouse significant interest amongst investors looking to gain positions in the alternative asset market in Spain in the main university cities, such as the case of Valencia. “Since 2016, the city has appeared in the Top 100 ranking of the QS Best Student Cities, which highlights the best cities in the world for students. It is also one of the most sought-after locations by European students participating in the Erasmus program,” says Patricio Palomar, Senior Investment Consultant at Aire Partners.

In fact, the expert highlights the growth potential of the supply in this market, which in its metropolitan area “has around 165,000 students matriculated, a mobility rate of approximately 29% and just 4,123 beds in colleges and halls of residence, which results in a supply rate that falls below the Spanish average”, Moreover, Palomar points out that “the process of economic recovery currently being seen in this area is expected to lead to an increase in demand from domestic and international students alike, and this situation of imbalance may be accentuated even further”.

Original story: El Economista (by Alba Brualla)

Translation: Carmel Drake

The Student Hotel Invests €10M in its Second Hall of Residence in Barcelona

20 April 2018 – Eje Prime

The Student Hotel has doubled its presence in Barcelona. The Dutch company has invested €10 million in the remodelling of its new student hall of residence in the Catalan capital. The asset, located in the Pobleneu neighbourhood, will be called TSH Campus Marina and will have a surface area of 21,200 m2, which will be able to accommodate around 500 students.

With this new building, the group is debuting the TSH Campus brand, which is going to specialise in accommodation for undergraduate and post-graduate students. In addition to the 500 bedrooms, the complex will also contain 50 kitchens, four swimming pools, study rooms and a laundry, as well as a restaurant (La Forastera), which will be managed by Grupo Raval, according to explanations provided by the company.

The company, owned by Charlie McGregor and the funds Aermont Capital and APG, arrived in Spain in 2015 with the purchase of two halls of residence in Barcelona from the Melon District group. Like in the case of the hall of residence in Poblenou, the company’s first property in the Catalan capital, located in Poble Sec, was also subjected to a complete renovation.

Plans for the future: €240 million of investment and an opening in Madrid

One of The Student Hotel’s next steps in Spain is going to be the opening of its first hall of residence in Madrid in 2019. That purchase forms part of a €240 million investment plan that the company led by McGregor is going to carry out in the country, where it plans to open up around ten properties for students.

The objective of the company is to find opportunities in Bilbao, Sevilla, Santander and Granada, amongst other cities, to continue growing its domestic portfolio and for Spain to become its second reference market, behind only Italy, where it expects to have thirteen halls of residence. In total, The Student Hotel is going to invest €1.6 billion to accumulate forty establishments across Europe by 2021.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake

Excem Socimi Residencial Launches Homiii, a Brand Specialising in Shared Rental Homes for Millennials

17 April 2018 – La Vanguardia

Excem Socimi Residencial, which, in less than two years of life, has accumulated an asset value of €30 million, with share capital of €12 million, has launched the brand Homiii for the professional rental of shared homes to millennial students and young professionals.

Excem’s Socimi estimates a (stock market) debut value of €1.40 per share, which would represent an appreciation of 40% for current shareholders. Its latest capital increase, in March, amounting to €4.1 million was backed by 40 investors in total.

Homiii (www.homiii.com) purchases properties for residential use, in particular, those that are characterised by their location – in the most central areas of cities -, their quality – they must be renovated, decorated and furnished – and their design – the firm prizes comfort and functionality -.

This professional rental management company has concentrated its efforts in Madrid during the first phase. After just 20 months, it has acquired 40 flats, with a combined surface area of more than 7,000 m2 and 252 rooms under management for the academic year 2018-2019, located in the neighbourhoods of Moncloa, Chamberí, Centro and Salamanca.

The CEO of Homiii and Head of Excem Socimi Residencial, Antonio Mochón, explains that they are “very satisfied” with the results achieved so far. “We have created a business from nothing, and, to date, we have incorporated 40 highly qualified investors who have contributed funding worth more than €12 million”, he said.

Moreover, he highlighted that the firm has dealt with “more than 400 clients and earned a satisfaction rate of 80% for the quality of the homes and the value added”. “Young people feel part of the Homiii community because we offer them a lot more than they are initially looking for. We specialise in adding value to investors and clients, in a market where there is more demand than qualified and professional supply”, he said.

The objective is to exceed 3,000 rooms in some of the main cities in Spain such as Madrid, Barcelona, Sevilla, Valencia, Bilbao, Málaga and Santiago de Compostela. The strategic plan for the business model is to close 2019 with investment of €70 million and to reach €300 million over the coming years through expansion across Spain.

Monchón indicates that one of his challenges has been to achieve security for investors: “a gross yield of 6%, a share price increase of 40%, a default rate of 0% and a commercial occupancy rate of 100%”.

“We understand our business project as a very specialist business model, and for that reason, we are managing to add value to our shareholders and offer professionalised management to our clients. We have achieved great stability in terms of the generation of rents and security for investors”, he explained.

Original story: La Vanguardia

Translation: Carmel Drake

GSA Wants to Invest €0.5bn in Student Halls in Spain

7 December 2017 – Expansión

The British firm Global Student Accommodation (GSA), which specialises in student accommodation, arrived in Spain in June with the purchase of Nexo Residencias from Oaktree Capital Management. This move, which allowed it to add a portfolio of 2,300 beds in the country, was just the beginning, given that the company plans to reach 10,000 beds by 2025 and invest approximately €0.5 billion in the country. In this way, Spain would account for between 20% and 25% of the firm’s portfolio in Europe, which in turn is expected to account for 45% of the total worldwide.

“To date, we have invested €0.2 billion and we expect to invest approximately €0.5 billion in total”, explained the founder and CEO of GSA, Nicholas Porter, in an interview with Expansión.

Spain represents one of the company’s priority markets, although the firm also plans to expand its presence to other countries in Europe and Latin America, to reach 250,000 beds around the world by 2025. GSA is present in eight countries and thirty cities in two regions: EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) and Asia-Pacific.

“Over there next ten years, there are going to be 100 million more students in university education. That trend is going to be driven by the growth of the middle class in China, India and other regions in Asia. The globalisation of university higher education and educational institutions exporting their brands will allow us to reach more markets than ever”, he states.

Porter explains that, of the company’s objective of reaching 250,000 beds around the world by 2025, “right now, we have achieved 10% of that figure”.

GSA promotes, manages and invests in student halls in locations close to the most important universities in the world.

Specifically, the company currently has projects underway with forecast investment of USD 1 billion around the world and a portfolio under development of around 21,000 beds. Moreover, to achieve its objective, the firm plans to leverage its brand through franchises in other markets, such as, for example, Latin America.

New markets

The company operates its halls of residence through the brands Uninest Student Residences, The Student Housing Company and Nexo Residencias, which it acquired in June 2017, representing its debut in Spain. “We see Nexo as an expansion platform, not only in Spain, but also in the south of Europe and Latin America”.

Currently, GSA has 1,500 operational beds in Spain and 900 beds under construction in Barcelona, which it plans to open in September 2019. Specifically, the operating portfolio is located in the centre of Madrid and includes: Galdós, with 370 beds, in Ramiro de Maeztu; El Faro, inaugurated in September 2016 and located in Moncloa with 358 beds; and Claraval, on c/ San Bernardo, with 186 beds. It also owns the Lope de Vega hall of residence in Alcalá de Henares, which it recently opened and which houses 468 students, both from Spain and overseas.

Moreover, it has two additional development plans underway in Barcelona, which will be ready for use in 2019 with 900 more beds (…).

Original story: Expansión (by Rebeca Arroyo)

Translation: Carmel Drake

 

Iese Invests €24M In New Campus In Madrid

17 November 2017 – Eje Prime

The Universidad de Navarra is going to expand its presence in Madrid. Iese, the entity’s business school, is going to start construction work in 2018 on a new campus with a surface area of 16,000 m2. The University will invest €24 million in the project. With the future building, which will be located next to the current faculty, the university will double its space in the town of Aravaca.

In addition to the new campus, Iese will build a car park with 300 parking spaces. The aim of the Universidad de Navarra is to triple the capacity of its business school in the Spanish capital, according to El Confidencial.

The design of the campus comprises four classrooms, one of which will be equipped with the latest technology, as well as an auditorium with capacity for more than 500 people. For the financing, the University de Navarra ‘s business school has launched a fundraising campaign, which aims to secure 70% of the investment from employer companies and the network of Iese former students, with the remaining funds being provided by the budgets of the institution itself.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake

Sevilla’s Chamber of Commerce Completes Sale of 2 Plots to Helena Rivero

2 November 2017 – ABC de Sevilla

This week, according to sources consulted by ABC, Sevilla’s Chamber of Commerce has sold two plots of land next to the Antares Club and on the Eusa campus to the family of the Jerez businessman Joaquín Rivero, who died in September 2016. The operation was agreed in November 2016 but was subject to the obtaining of municipal licences for the various projects. On the Eusa land, Helena Rivero’s investor group plans to build a university hall of residence for 400 students. Next to Antares, Helena Rivero is still deciding what to do with the 1,700 m2 plot, which has permission for the construction of a hotel given that it has been allocated for tertiary use.

In this way, the Chamber of Commerce, chaired by Francisco Herrero, will obtain a sizeable liquidity injection thanks to an operation that was closed for around €7.5 million. The negotiations for the sale of these plots were initiated by Joaquín Rivero Valcarce, the real estate businessman who chaired Bami. Following the death of the businessman in 2016, his only daughter, Helena, decided to push ahead with the operation.

Nevertheless, the sale of the two plots in question was subject to the Town Hall of Sevilla granting the necessary authorisations to build on the Eusa and Antares plots. Once municipal authorisation had been obtained to build a university hall of residence on Eusa’s plot, which has been allocated for social/educational use, the sale of the land was closed this week, according to the same sources. The sale had previously received the green light from the plenary of the Chamber of Commerce and the Junta de Andalucía, which oversees the region’s chambers of commerce.

A multi-national firm will operate the hall of residence

In terms of the university residence planned for Eusa, the plot sold to Helena Rivero’s investor group has a surface area of 2,200 m2 and permission to build up to 11,000 m2. According to sources consulted by ABC, a leading European multi-national in the hall of residence sector, which is listed on the stock market, will take over the operation of the building.

The other plot, measuring 1,700 m2 has been allocated for tertiary use – it is currently home to the exhibition hall, auditorium and parking lot of the Antares sports centre. On that plot, the company managed by the Rivero family may be able to build a hotel with a maximum buildable area of 6,000 m2, equivalent to around 100 rooms.

The hotel was promoted initially by Antares and it was precisely that project that led the company to file for creditors’ bankruptcy when the real estate bubble burst and it was unable to refinance a mortgage loan that it had requested from La Caixa in 2008 to build a four-star establishment in El Porvenir. Antares Andalucía had managed to reclassify the 1,740m2 plot, and so it was valued at €10.2 million in 2007.

In the end, the mercantile judge authorised the sale of the assets of the Antares Club, with their charges and levies, as well as of the brands “Antares Andalucía” and “Encuentros 2000”, to the Chamber of Commerce – through Eusa. The Chamber spent €4 million on the operation, including taking on a €3.2 million mortgage with CaixaBank.

With this sale of the two plots, the Chamber of Commerce will now have sufficient revenues to undertake projects in its two business units: Eusa and the Antares Club. The Chamber of Commerce plans to completely renovate the Antares Club, given that it is more than 30 years ago, and move its training activities to the SGAE building in La Cartuja. That building has a surface area of 35,000 m2, including an auditorium measuring 22,000 m2.

Original story: ABC de Sevilla (by M. J. Pereira)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Equilis Sells Part Of Finestrelles Shopping Centre Project

5 October 2017 – Expansión

The Belgian multinational Equilis, which is currently building a shopping centre in Finestrelles (Esplugues de Llobregat), has sold part of the real estate project to the investment manager Temprano Capital Partners, which plans to construct a hall of residence for students on the site.

The plot of land, spanning 20,000 m2, which Equilis bought last year, has a licence to build a surface area of 57,300 m2. Of that figure, the majority (more than 46,800 m2) will be allocated to the shopping centre, which is going to be called Finestrelles Shopping Center. But that means that 10,500 m2 of buildable surface area will be left over, which is what is going to be allocated to the student hall of residence. Temprano Capital is an investment manager and real estate developer that was founded in 2013.

Original story: Expansión (by Marisa Anglés)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Catella Accelerates Its Investments In Spain

19 September 2017 – Expansión

Catella Asset Management is stepping on the accelerator in Spain. The Swedish fund manager, which arrived in the country just two years ago and which has already invested €150 million in assets, plans to boost the pace and make purchases amounting to €350 million over the next two years, whereby taking the firm’s total investment volume in the country to €500 million, according to Javier Hortelano, Managing Partner at Catella Asset Management in Iberia.

Until now, the company has undertaken five transactions in the residential rental market – four properties in Madrid and one in Barcelona – and has participated in the purchase of two shopping centres. Specifically, the fund manager has bought the Portal Mediterráneo shopping centre in Vinaroz (Castellón), together with the fund Aberdeen, and the El Manar retail complex in Massalfassar, in the Valencia metropolitan area, with the Belgian investor Mitiska Reim. In both cases, Catella is responsible for managing the assets.

The fund manager, which is listed in Stockholm, has a presence in 12 countries and manages assets worth around €3,400 million in Europe. “Spain is one of the markets that the firm is backing the most. Until now, we have invested €150 million, but the group’s ambitions go beyond that, given that we consider that the Spanish market offers a lot and has great potential”, he adds.

Spain ranks in the group’s Top 5 behind Scandinavia, Germany and France. Hortelano revealed that Catella is already analysing assets and expects some of the operations under consideration to materialise within the next couple of months. Specifically, the manager expects to invest €60 million in the residential sector before the end of the year.

Operations under consideration

In the future, the company will continue investing in the retail and residential sectors, where it is considering entering new locations such as Valencia, Málaga, Sevilla, Alicante, Madrid, Bilbao, San Sebastián and Vitoria, where it is identifying opportunities. “There is an increase in demand, oriented towards leasing. Spain is gaining ground, in line with other European countries, such as Germany and the United Kingdom”, says Eduardo Guardiola, Partner at the firm.

Guardiola believes that Spain suffers from a lack of supply and professional management in the residential rental market, which is adding to greater potential demand.

Moreover, the firm is considering entering other tertiary markets and wants to invest in offices and halls of residence for students. “Catella has a fund that invests in halls of residence for students at the European level. It is a very interesting asset, with lots of potential in Spain”, say the partners.

Both have a long history in the real estate sector. Before joining Catella, Hortelano was a Partner at PwC and previously served as the Director General of Operations at Redevco and was a member of the Dutch multi-national’s Board of Directors. Meanwhile, Guardiola has held positions of responsibility at PwC, Bouygues and Decathlon.

Potential

In terms of the real estate market, Catella believes that Spain is consolidating its position as one of the most attractive markets in Europe, but that, after years of rising returns, the sector has entered a new phase in which, in order to create value, you have to invest capex, professionalise the management and improve the rental market. “We have the opportunity to go from being an opportunity country to being a core country with a recurrent volume of investment every year”, say the executives.

Original story: Expansión (by Rebeca Arroyo)

Translation: Carmel Drake

JLL: Investment In Student Halls Could Reach €600M In 2017

13 March 2017 – Observatorio Inmobiliario

Student halls of residence are attracting interest from real estate investors. In fact, experts calculate that the volume of investment in this kind of property in Spain could amount to around €600 million in 2017, a vertiginous increase with respect to the figure recorded in 2016, when investment amounted to €45 million, according to estimates provided by the real estate consultancy JLL. (…).

In this context, JLL has prepared a report “The student residence market in Spain”, which analyses, for the first time, the weight and forecasts for this market sector within the wider Spanish real estate market.

According to Nick Wride, Director of Alternative Investments at JLL, “several factors explain the interest in this project. Spain is one of the favourite destinations for international students to spend some of their educational years, which means there is a clear demand for accommodation. In addition, the market has a lot of potential because it is only just beginning and it is already offering some attractive returns with respect to other products – there is no doubt that halls of residences are going to be one of the star real estate products of the year”.

In fact, the initial return from prime halls of residence in Spain is 5.75%, above the yields generated in countries such as the UK and Germany (5% in both cases), where the market is very developed.

Need for supply

At the end of 2016, Spain had 1,129 university halls of residence and colleges, which translates into just over 91,000 beds. By autonomous region, Madrid had the highest number of beds, accounting for 19% of the total, followed by Cataluña (15%), Castilla y León (14%) and Andalucía (12%). Those four autonomous regions accounted for 60% of Spain’s total stock.

Spain has a university population of 1,513,513 students, of which 6.3% are from overseas. This presence is more palpable for students studying Masters (19.2%) and Doctorates (23.3%). 45% of these international students come from Europe, 25% from Latin America and the Caribbean, 10% from Asia and Oceania and the remaining 20% from other regions.

There is a large difference between the projections for expected demand and the current supply in terms of student beds, given that around 375,000 students are estimated to be looking for accommodation (in student halls or rental homes in Spain). If to this we add the fact that over the next two years less than 2,000 new beds are expected to come onto the market, it is clear that a need exists to generate more supply to meet this demand. (…).

The first major operation of the year

Last week, the student halls chain The Student Hotel (TSH) acquired the “La Imprenta” building from Threesixty Developments, a company owned by the US fund Oaktree Capital Management. The property is located on the central Madrilenian street of Cuesta San Vicente, 28. TSH plans to convert the building into a mix-used hall of residence and hotel. The real estate consultancy JLL participated in the operation as advisor to the vendor.

This is The Student Hotel’s second purchase in Spain, following its acquisition of two student halls in Barcelona at the beginning of 2015, Melon District Marina and Melon District Poble-Sec, in an operation that was also advised by JLL. (…).

Original story: Observatorio Inmobiliario 

Translation: Carmel Drake

Excem Capital Launches New Rental Home Socimi

20 February 2017 – El Economista

Excem Group has opened itself up to the real estate investment business targeting young people and has launched a new Socimi “Excem Capital Partners Sociedad de Inversión Residencial”, wich will debut on the stock market in September 2018. The aim of this new entity is to “professionalise” the “growing” demand for rental homes from students and young professionals.

In a statement, Excem Group said that its “Excem Real Estate” division was created with the aim of becoming a key player in the management of real estate investments aimed at young people. In addition, Excem will co-invest in one of the projects.

“Socimi Excem Inversión Residencial” began its activity with an investment capacity of €12 million and is currently undertaking a capital increase, through which it hopes to raise additional investment capacity of €35 million by April.

In addition, it plans to expand its presence to Madrid, Barcelona, Bilbao, Santiago de Compostela, Salamanca, Valencia, Sevilla, Málaga, Córdoba and Granada.

The new Socimi will invest in homes for students and young professionals, as well as hostels and similar properties, to meet leisure demand, and co-working spaces so that young people can undertake their employment activities in collaborative environments.

Specifically, regarding the management of homes for students and young professionals, Excem has said that its objectives include managing professional leases, which is what students and young professionals from all over the world demand when they arrive in Spain.

In this context, the CEO of the Socimi, Antonio Mochón, said that there are increasingly more young people looking to set up home in Spain’s major cities. They are looking for work and some are even developing business projects that they created during their masters or degrees, and these people need “well-managed, high quality accommodation in central areas”.

Regarding the “hostels”, the firm wants to create a network of hostels and tourist apartments for travellers from all over the world with the aim of having more than 3,000 beds in the domestic market and with a view to “globalising rapidly”.

“The scarcity of professionalised supply at the global level makes this a large investment product with strong, safe projections, given the central locations in each city…and the high returns generated by the business”, said Excem.

Original story: El Economista

Translation: Carmel Drake