Tag: under construction

Blackstone Negotiates Sale of Helios Building to a South Korean Fund for €200M

10 June 2019 – Eje Prime

The British real estate manager Savills Investment Management (IM) is looking to buy the Helios office building from Blackstone on behalf of an unidentified South Korean investor.

The property, which is currently under construction, will have ING as its main tenant and the sales price could reach €200 million.

The largest investor in South Korea is the National Pension Service (NPS) and the next largest is the Korea Investment Corporation (KIC). Other possible investors include the country’s banks, the manager IGIS and Samsung Securities.

Original story: Eje Prime 

Translation/Summary: Carmel Drake

Habitat Invests €10M to Build 40 Homes in Málaga

8 March 2019 – Eje Prime

Habitat, the property developer backed by Bain Capital, has acquired more than 11,000 m2 of land in the province of Málaga for €10 million on which it is going to develop 40 homes. Marketing of the properties will begin during the first half of 2019.

The urbanisation is going to be located on Calle Óscar Arias Sánchez, in Alhaurín de la Torre, and is located 20 minutes from Málaga-Costa del Sol airport and the beach.

Habitat already has 396 homes under construction in six developments across the province of Málaga and 1,621 homes under construction in 15 developments across the region of Andalucía.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake

Neinor & Vía Célere Lead the Ranking of Forecast House Deliveries for 2019

28 January 2019 – Cinco Días

Year after year, the new major players in the house construction sector are seeing the numbers in their growth plans increase. During 2019, the largest property developers created since 2015, and some of those reborn from the ashes during this latest upwards cycle, are expected to approach their cruising speed, above all, the listed companies Neinor, Aedas and Metrovacesa, which have been called to lead the residential construction sector together with Vía Célere. Even so, the sector is still very fragmented with lots of small companies.

Neinor Homes and Vía Célere have become the two entities with the largest number of home deliveries this year. In both cases, 2,000 clients will receive the keys to their homes, according to figures provided to Cinco Días by around twenty property developers. In these forecasts, the companies have detailed three concepts for their plans for 2019: homes that they will launch onto the market, homes that they will start work on and forecast deliveries.

Neinor Homes, created in 2015, and led by Juan Velayos (…) expects to start work on 3,000 homes this year, coming close to the cruising speed that it defined during its IPO, and it will start to market another 2,000 units.

Meanwhile, Vía Célere, controlled by the US fund Värde Partners, is in the middle of integrating the assets of Aelca, the other property developer owned by Värde, which has now emptied its portfolio (…). It is the only one of the large players that is not yet listed on the stock market; its plans in that regard were postponed last year.

The listed firm Aedas, also created in 2017 with land from another US fund, in that case, Castlelake, is also perceiving an upwards turn in its numbers. This year, it will hand over 1,055 homes, start marketing 2,500 homes and start building 3,000 homes, just two years after first appearing on the stage, with David Martínez as its CEO.

Meanwhile, Metrovacesa, the other large listed company, controlled by Santander (and in which BBVA holds a minority stake), clearly leads the business plans, with up to 4,500 homes to be newly marketed and whose construction will be launched. This one-hundred-year-old real estate company, which was cleaned up by the banks following the crisis, launched its new project in 2017 with Jorge Pérez de Leza, from Grupo Lar, as the CEO.

In terms of those entities backed by funds, the rescued firm Habitat also stands out, reactivated last year by Bain Capital, and which is planning to market 3,000 homes this year. Similarly, Cerberus took control of Inmoglacier in 2017 (…). That firm declined to provide its forecasts to this newspaper, but it is also set to play a significant role, given that it has become one of the real estate arms of the US fund, one of the most active in the purchase of assets from the banks and which also owns Haya Real Estate as its servicer.

The group of twenty-odd companies consulted will hand over almost 16,000 homes this year, will start work on 34,000 units and will begin marketing another 30,000 properties. These figures reflect the enormous fragmentation in the sector, which in the last 12 months has started 103,000 homes in total, according to figures from the Ministry of Development as at October 2018.

Small specialist property developers still carry a lot of weight, unlike in other countries where large players exist. Moreover, even though the rate of residential construction has taken off since 2014, it is still well below the peak of 2006 when 865,000 building permits were granted.

In terms of the new players also boosted by the international funds, they include other developers with a high rate of house sales: AQ Acentor (owned by the German fund Aquila), which is going to put 1,700 homes up for sale; Kronos Homes (backed by several European and US investors), which will market another 1,600 homes; and ASG Homes (backed by the British firm ActivumSG), which plans to add another 1,000 homes.

In terms of the survivors of the crisis, Amenabar stands out, the Gipuzkoan company, which expects to start work on 3,608 homes next year and to hand over 1,245 units. Another of the stalwarts is the Madrilenian firm Pryconsa, owned by the Colomer family, which has already reached a high number in terms of house starts: 1,285. In more modest terms, other important firms include the Basque entity Inbisa and the new entity Áurea Homes, the residential subsidiary of the Navarran construction group ACR (…).

Original story: Cinco Días (by Alfonso Simón Ruiz)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Arcano Sells 2 Buildings in L’Hospitalet de Llobregat to a Family Office for €40M

17 January 2019 – Eje Prime

Arcano is divesting two of its assets. The real estate fund Asoref has sold two buildings in Plaza de Europa, in the Barcelona municipality of L’Hospitalet de Llobregat to a family office for €40 million, according to Expansión.

In the case of the first asset, located at numbers 22 and 24 Plaza de Europa, it is an office building spanning 7,3000 m2, which was acquired by Arcano two years ago and which has been completely renovated and repositioned. The offices, distributed over four above-ground floors, have an occupancy rate of 100%. The tenants of the property include companies such as Aide, Zurich and Vanity Fair.

In the case of the second building, located at number 10 Plaza de Europa, it is a project that is still under construction. The building work is expected to be finished this year at which point the building will have a gross leasable area (GLA) of 5,000 m2.

The two buildings were acquired with Arcano’s first real estate investment fund, which was launched in the summer of 2015 and which had €100 million of capital. Currently, the company is in the process of raising capital for its second fund, Arcano Value Added II. The investment vehicle will amount to between €150 million and €200 million, and €70 million has already been committed.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake

Socimi Árima Buys 4 Office Buildings in Madrid for €110M

27 December 2018 – La Vanguardia

The Socimi Árima has purchased its first four office buildings in Madrid for €110 million, operations that it has carried out just two months after making its stock market debut in October without any real estate assets in its portfolio.

In this operation, the firm promoted by the former CEO of Axiare, Luis López de Herrera-Oria, has invested the c. €100 million that it raised from its stock market debut and “is whereby starting its journey”.

The four assets purchased comprise a combined surface area of around 27,000 m2, as well as 460 parking spaces, and are located in the business centre district and northeast of the capital.

The firm, which is going to invest €16.7 million to improve the properties, is convinced that they have “great potential for appreciation”.

Specifically, Árima has purchased one building on Calle María de Molina on the corner with Príncipe de Vergara, and another one on the intersection of Paseo de la Habana with Avenida de Alfonso XIII, for €31 million in total.

Moreover, the Socimi has signed a commitment to acquire another two office buildings, located in the northeast of Madrid, for €63 million, which will materialise in January 2019.

With these two operations, Árima is purchasing its first buildings after it made its stock market debut without any assets in October and through which it raised €100 million, a third of the €300 million initially planned.

“With the purchase of these assets, Árima is reaffirming its business plan presented during its IPO and the good investment opportunities that the Spanish real estate market offers”, said the CEO of the firm, Luis López de Herrera-Oria, in a statement.

Original story: La Vanguardia 

Translation: Carmel Drake

Metrópolis Buys Hexagon Glòries Building in Barcelona for €50M

27 December 2018 – Idealista

Metrópolis is backing the 22@ district with new purchases. The fund led by Pere Bosch and in which the following Catalan businessmen, amongst others, hold stakes: Miguel de Navas, Oriol Tomas Carulla, Javier Ferrero, Yolanda Bassat, Rafael Tous Godia and Javier Carrasco, has invested €50 million in an office building under construction, promoted by the real estate company Brilten and located in the district of Barcelona.

The asset, known as Hexagon Glòries, due to the shape of its façade, has a surface area of 10,000 m2. Last summer, Brilten announced that it was planning to spend €35 million on the construction of the property, an amount that included the acquisition of the land, according to reports from Expansión.

The building has been designed by the architect firm Batlle i Roig and will be finished by the middle of 2019. In addition, Brilten already owns other assets in 22@ such as, for example, the Twentytú hostel.

This is the first purchase that Metrópolis has made in the Catalan capital’s technology district. The investor vehicle acquired its last property in 2017 when it purchased the Can Ametller business park for €35 million. Nevertheless, all indications are that the fund’s next investments could be in Madrid and even in other European cities such as London or Paris.

Original story: Idealista 

Translation: Carmel Drake

Juan Velayos: “Neinor will Not Buy Land in Municipalities that Oblige 30% of Developments to be used for Social Housing”

19 October 2018 – El País

Next week, the ‘Meeting Point’ real estate fair is going to be held in Barcelona and the atmosphere is palpable: property developers are angry about the obligation to allocate 30% of new developments to social housing, a measure approved recently by the Town Hall of Barcelona, which may be extended to other municipalities. In an informative breakfast on Friday, the CEO of Neinor Homes, Juan Velayos, added fuel to the fire. Velayos explained that this “manifestly illegal” measure, will generate legal uncertainty and hinder the purchase of land for construction. In the case of Neinor Homes, Velayos confirmed that his firm will not buy land in any municipalities that adopt the obligation to allocate 30% of developments to social housing.

The measure approved by the municipal government led by Ada Colau will oblige property developers to reserve 30% of all new and renovated residential developments spanning more than 600 m2 to social housing. “The need to create social housing is a reality in the city, but the measure is very unfortunate. It is great for winning votes, but not for resolving the problem of housing”, said the CEO of Neinor Homes. In his opinion, the obligation established by the Town Hall, which does not discriminate by area or reflect the specific needs of neighbourhoods, only serves to restrict the action of property developers. They will not have the same incentives to buy or build and, in his opinion, that will affect buyers, who will see prices continue to rise.

For the time being, the measure does not affect Neinor Homes, given that the real estate company only has 40 homes in the city of Barcelona. Its activity is focused on the municipalities of the metropolitan area. When asked about the possibility of those cities also adopting the measure, Velayos said that Neinor “would not buy land, or it would only buy it for a much lower price, because it would be land with a worse output”. “Municipalities that adopt this measure are going to deter investment”, he added. Velayos also criticised the ruling from the Supreme Court that establishes that it should be the banks, and not customers, who bear the cost of the Documentation Registration Tax (AJD) for mortgages. In the opinion of the CEO of Neinor, this is another measure that “will generate legal uncertainty” and it is the buyers who will have to take out more expensive mortgages.

Uncertainty due to the independence process

Despite this “legal uncertainty”, which has also been linked to the independence process in Cataluña, Velayos insisted that the region “is a very important location”. Neinor Homes has 34 developments in the autonomous community, comprising 2,700 homes in total. Of those, four developments, containing more than 200 homes, have already been sold.

In Spain, Neinor owns land for the development of 180 projects and 13,500 homes. Of those, 5,000 homes are under construction. The land owned by the property developer is worth €1.8 billion. The firm plans to hand over 1,000 homes in 2018 with more than 100 developments underway, followed by around 2,000 homes in 2019 with 120 developments underway, before reaching its “cruising speed” with the delivery of between 3,500 and 4,00 homes in 2020 and 120 developments underway.

Original story: El País (by Josep Catà)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Aedas Homes has a Landbank Covering 4+ years of Visibility

8 October 2018 – Nasdaq

Aedas Homes, a leading property developer in the new real estate cycle in Spain, already has enough land in its portfolio to cover deliveries until 2022, as well as a significant part of 2023, thereby confirming the delivery targets set out in its IPO prospectus. The company’s landbank (close to 90% is classified as ready-to-build) will allow it to develop up to 14,521 homes in Spain’s key residential markets and is considered by analysts to be the best in the country.

So far in 2018, the publicly traded company, with CEO David Martínez at the helm, has completed the construction of 222 homes scheduled for delivery this year, 190 of which have already been sold.  As of August 31, the company had 6,287 active units, 55% more than in December 2017, and of those, 1,623 were already under construction. These figures reflect the strength of the property developer’s operating capacity during its first year.

In 2019, the developer plans to deliver almost five times as many homes, with a delivery target of 1,055 residential units; 1,071 homes are currently under construction and 761 have been sold. In 2020, Aedas Homes will deliver 1,986 homes and reach its cruising speed in terms of launches (3,000). The plan for 2021 is to deliver 2,438 homes and begin 2,471 new projects. 2022 will mark the moment when the developer reaches its cruising speed in terms of deliveries, with plans to put 3,063 homes in the hands of customers and launch another 3,000. In 2023, the number of homes being delivered will reach 3,326.

Martínez highlighted the company’s strict compliance with the goals announced at its IPO, noting that the company returned a profit one year ahead of schedule. Specifically, the property developer earned €3.7 million during the first half of 2018, making it the first of the new large developers in Spain to become profitable, and doing so only eight months after being listed on the Madrid stock market.

“We designed a realistic business plan, meaning that we will reach our targets in the coming years: by 2020, for example, we will have delivered more than 3,200 homes. Right now, we have almost 6,300 active units across 117 developments which gives us the visibility we need in terms of our objectives,” Martínez explained.

About Aedas Homes

The property developer Aedas Homes became a listed company on 20 October 2017 in Madrid, with a market capitalization of over €1.5 billion. Aedas is an industry leader at the national level and aims to play an important role in the new cycle of the Spanish real estate sector, which must be marked by professionalism and an adherence to rigorous standards.

Aedas Homes has a fully permitted residential landbank with more than 1.5 million buildable square metres (the highest quality landbank in Spain, according to analysts). This will permit the development of 14,500 residential units in the key markets, and their surrounding areas (both in terms of real estate and finance) where Aedas operates: the Centre, Cataluña, the East & Mallorca, Andalucía and the Costa del Sol.

Original story: Nasdaq 

Edited by: Carmel Drake

Urbania Developer: Panamanian Capital Promotes 20 Developments in Valencia

31 July 2018 – Eje Prime

Numerous Spanish real estate entrepreneurs crossed the pond when the Spanish property sector crashed at the end of the 2000s. One of the property developers who got on a plane when the walls of the real estate sector were starting to crack in Spain was Juan Antonio Claveria. That Valencian businessman is now back on his home turf with Urbania Developer, a Panamanian real estate company that is planning to “have up to twenty projects under development over the next three years in the Community of Valencia”, explained Claveria to Eje Prime.

The Spanish businessman is the CEO of Urbania Developer, a company listed on the Panamanian stock market, which he created last year together with his partners, the local investors Yasser Williams and Omar Fricentese. “The company’s share capital is 100% private”, highlighted Claveria.

The three have recently teamed up with the Valencian builder José Vicente Roig, who has included the assets of the former property developer Patrimonios del Levante in the group. With those, the real estate company has launched its growth plan in the Community of Valencia, where the firm already has eight projects underway or on the verge of being executed.

“We are interested in towns with between 200,000 and 300,000 inhabitants”, explains Claveria, who is also attracted to “those suburbs that have between 40,000 and 80,000 inhabitants, which are well connected by metro”. Public transport links and the proximity to the capital of Valencia are the key aspects of the investment policy that Urbania Developer is going to carry out. It is turning its back on the overheating of prices that is being recorded in the centre of the city.

Torrent, Paterna, Mislata, Benimamet and Paiporta are the towns on the outskirts of Valencia where Urbania Developer has residential projects underway at the moment. Nevertheless, “we are now finalising the purchase of new plots of land”, said Claveria, who indicated that his company could close around half a dozen operations soon.

Moreover, the property developer has already expanded its business to the south of Valencia with the purchase of a “small plot” in Alicante. Size is important for the company, which projects developments comprising “between eight and thirty homes”. “In Castellón, we are also looking at plots”, said the businessman, who wants to focus solely on the Community of Valencia in this first phase of his arrival in Spain (…).

Currently, the property developer has more than 5,000 homes built or under construction in Panama, the epicentre of the company’s business,  as well as in Paraguay and Nicaragua. In the Panamanian market alone (“the Switzerland of Latin America”, according to Claveria), the property developer manages 2.2 million m2 of residential land spread over 18 projects.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake

C&W: 86 Office Spaces Spanning 101,000 m2 were Leased in 22@ in 2017

2 July 2018 – Mis Oficinas

According to the Marketshot report issued by the real estate consultancy Cushman & Wakefield, Barcelona’s 22@ district closed 2017 with 86 rental operations, spanning a total surface area of 101,000 m2, which represents the highest figure in the last ten years.

The 22@ district is continuing at record levels for another year. According to the Marketshot report from the real estate consultancy firm Cushman & Wakefield, the district closed 2017 with a total of 86 rental operations, spanning a surface area of 101,000 m2, which represents the highest figure in the last ten years and 34% more than in the previous two years. This leasing figure accounted for 30% of the total office space leased in Barcelona and was led by pre-lease operations, such as the case of Amazon in the Luxa Silver building (10,241 m2), Activision (King) in Ciutat de Granada 150 (8,837 m2), Hewlett-Packard in the building located on c/Tanger 62 (8,132 m2) and WeWork in the Luxa Gold building (6,572 m2).

Potential tenants in the district are mainly looking for sustainable, high-quality spaces. In this sense, 78% of the surface area leased belongs to buildings with A or B+ ratings. The district had only 60,000 m2 of space available at the end of the first quarter of 2018, which represented a 15% decrease in the available surface area in one year and an availability rate of 7%. If we take into account high-quality buildings only (those with A and B+ ratings), the percentage of available space in the 22@ district decreases to 5.7%. Leasing levels recorded at the moment and forecast for the next few months support the development of new properties.

The 22@ district currently has 129,000 m2 of space under construction, scheduled to be handed over between the second half of 2018 and 2019. The potential space for offices in the district amounts to more than 800,000 m2, of which 350,000 m2 is located on finalist land.

Investor interest in the district broke all records in 2017. In terms of investment volumes, the 22@ district received total investment of €161 million, which tripled the €51 million recorded in 2016. In square metres, the investment volume amounted to 173,000 m2, well above the figure at the end of 2016, which amounted to 33,000 m2.

New construction in the area has reactivated in recent months, due to the type of demand and, to a large extent, the growth in rents. On the basis that this trend is going to continue, there will be an impact on capital markets, where we will start seeing operations again soon.

Flexible and coworking spaces are enjoying an unprecedented boom in Barcelona at the moment. The rise in coworking spaces in the city is clear and during the first six months of 2018, 52% more space was leased in this segment than during the whole of 2017.

In Barcelona, the 22@ district is still the main hub of innovation in the city, attracting technological companies, startups and the digital eco-system. The main coworking operation this year, amounting to 4,500 m2, was completed in 22@ and these types of spaces already account for 3.5% of the constructed stock in the district (…).

Original story: Mis Oficinas 

Translation: Carmel Drake