Tag: unicaja

Unicaja Negotiates The Sale Of Its RE Arm With Haya & Apollo

29 December 2016 – Vozpópuli

(…). In recent months, the Málaga-based entity has accelerated the divestment of its investment companies to make some cash ahead of the challenges that it faces over the coming months. First came the sale of Iberdrola and now, Unicaja is in advanced negotiations to sell its real estate arm to Haya Real Estate, the platform owned by the US fund Cerberus in Spain, or Altamira, owned by Apollo (85%) and Santander (15%), according to financial sources consulted by Vozpópuli. Sources at the entity say that the final decision has not been taken yet.

Through this operation, Unicaja wants to replicate the sales carried out by the large banks in 2014: Santander with Altamira, CaixaBank with Servihabitat and Popular with Aliseda. Through those deals, the banks recorded combined profits of more than €2,000 million.

It is critical that the Málaga-based entity generates profits at the moment for two reasons: the tax blow that it is going to suffer, due to the upcoming rise in Corporation Tax (CT); and the need to accumulate capital to pay back the public aid it received for Banco Ceiss (€604 million), over the next year; it has asked Brussels for more time in this regard. This would be an alternative solution to the entity’s debut on the stock market and would allow it to repay the contingent convertible bonds (CoCos) from the Restructuring Fund (Frob), which is what Ibercaja has done; yesterday, that entity repaid €163 million to the public fund. With this, the former savings banks avoid the blow for their shareholders that a debut on the stock market in the current environment would mean, although that comes at the price of them not being able to get rid of their shares.

Subsidiary up for sale

In the case of the real estate arm, the name of the subsidiary that Unicaja is negotiating the sale of is: Gestión de Inmuebles Adquiridos (GIA). It is a platform that administrates and sells the group’s foreclosed residential assets, and it has around 40 employees. It recorded turnover of €108 million in 2015, up by 5% compared to a year earlier.

Overall, GIA lost €114 million last year, because Unicaja recognised its real estate provisions in that company. In theory, this operation would only involve the sale of the management of the assets, not their title, although a small portfolio of around €50 million could also form part of the sale, according to sources close to the deal.

The entity, led until this year by Braulio Medel (pictured above, who continues to control the Foundation that owns 90% of the bank), does not have one of the largest exposures to property in the financial sector. It has foreclosed assets with a net value of €1,051 million, according to the figures as at June, which include provisions, meaning that they have a combined appraisal value of €2,690 million. (…).

The market also expects Unicaja to get rid of some of its other stakes, such as Deoleo, in which it holds a 10% shareholding and Reyal Urbis, in which the Foundation controls just over 4%. (…).

Original story: Vozpópuli (by Jorge Zuloaga)

Translation: Carmel Drake

German Firm Buys Building In Valencia To Convert Into Hotel

10 November 2016 – Real Estate Press

Realzia, the real estate consultancy firm, has advised on the sale of a building on Calle María Cristina, 8 in Valencia, located between the Central Market and the Plaza del Ayuntamiento, which has been acquired by a German property developer.

The property has a surface area of 1,723 m2, distributed over nine above ground floors and one basement level. It overlooks both Calle María Cristina, as well as the pedestrianised Calle San Fernando. The asset used to belong to Unicaja, but because of the complex urban planning rules associated with it, has been in disuse since 2008.

Following several months of urban planning work, the Town Hall of Valencia recently granted permission for the building to be used as a hotel, which has resulted in this purchase by the German property development company.

As such, within the next 18 months, Valencia will have a new and exclusive 35-room boutique hotel and restaurant, with a terrace on the ground floor, right in the heart of the city.

Realzia specialises in the sale of tertiary-commercial assets and urban land, for both residential and tertiary use. The company currently owns one of the most important portfolios in the city containing buildable land and buildings that need to be renovated, with almost a hundred assets in total in Valencia capital alone.

Original story: Real Estate Press

Translation: Carmel Drake

INE: Land Sales Increase By 10.5% In 8m To Aug

27 October 2015 – Cinco Días

This week has seen the conclusion of the two major annual events in Spain’s real estate calendar: the Real Estate Trade Fair in Madrid (SIMA) and Barcelona Meeting Point. In addition to a sharp increase in the number of private visitors, this year more companies have wanted to be present at both events, because the figures clearly show that more houses are being sold, at higher prices (the price decreases have now come to an end across most of the country) and most importantly, new properties are being constructed once again.

Given that land is the raw material required to launch new developments, it was crucial for funding to return to this segment of the market as well, and the statistics show that the trend there is now reversing. Not only are more mortgages being granted to acquire homes and complete developments abandoned due to the crisis, loans are also being granted once more to buy land. (…)

According to the latest available statistics, compiled by INE, for the period from January to August 2015, 48,905 plots of land were sold in Spain during the first 8 months of the year, an increase of 10.5% compared with the same period in 2014 (when 44,237 plots were sold). If this trend continues, 2015 will close with a significant increase on the number of plots of land sold last year (65,821), breaking the downward trend that began in 2007 (the first year this data was collected) when 195,269 plots of land changed hands.

What are investors looking for?

In terms of whether more or fewer mortgages are being granted on the plots of land being sold, the figures do not yet reflect an overwhelming improvement (…).

Again, according to INE, between January and July (the data for August is published today), 4,897 mortgages were granted for plots of land, a decrease of just 1.6% compared with the same period last year, when the number amounted to 4,979. Like in the case of land sales, if the trend in mortgages granted for land is maintained between now and the end of the year, then 2015 will close with an increase in the number granted for the first time since 2009.

For the experts and everyone now working in the real estate sector (including the banks, the Socimis and the new servicers), the fact that financing has returned to the land segment is very good news, since this will revive the construction of new builds. Above all, we are now starting to see studies that show that one of the imbalances on the horizon in the market is the lack of offices, developable land and industrial warehouses in prime and other good locations in cities, which is what exactly national and international investors are looking for.

Finally, if this trend continues and improves, it will be a great relief for the banks, since 37.8% of the almost €80,000 million in foreclosed real estate assets that last year weighed down on the balance sheets of the main Spanish financial entities (Santander, BBVA, CaixaBank, Sabadell, Popular, Bankia, Bankinter, Kutxabank, Unicaja, Ceiss, BMN, Liberbank, Ibercaja-Caja3, Novagalicia and Catalunya Banc) related to land, the same percentage as for finished homes, which accounted for 37.1% of the total, according to a study by the Department for Research and Economic Analysis at La Caixa.

Original story: Cinco Días (by Raquel Díaz Guijarro)

Translation: Carmel Drake

The March Family & GreenOak Compete To Buy Ahorro Corp’s HQ

13 April 2015 – Expansión

The financial group has given investors two weeks to submit their final bids. The leading candidates are the March (family), GreenOak, Colonial and Infinorsa.

Ahorro Corporación has prompted a new battle for real estate in the business district of Madrid. And it is proving to be the winner. The financial group is now on the home stretch in the sale of its headquarters, located on Paseo de la Castellana, 89; and the offers received to date have far exceeded the company’s initial expectations. The bids received are approaching €140 million, almost 50% higher than the price offered two years ago (€90 million – €100 million).

Ahorro Corporación and its advisor Aguirre Newman, have now made a shortlist of three candidates to buy the property. According to sources consulted, the investors with the strongest bids are Corporación Financiera Alba, controlled by the March (family), the fund GreenOak, the investor group Infinorsa – which owns Torre Europa – and the real estate company Colonial.

The improved macroeconomic environment (in Spain) and the war waged by these investors to acquire the main properties in Azca, have led to the rise in property prices. The over-supply of funding has also led to greater competition.

The price offered (€140 million) is at the high end of the consideration sought by Ahorro Corporación. Nevertheless, market sources say that the price may decrease slightly – to around €130 million – once the binding offers, which must be submitted in a couple of weeks, have been finalised. Ahorro Corporación has extended the initial deadline due to a request for new information from the interested parties.

100% occupancy rate

The financial group purchased the property from Banco Zaragozano in 2003 for €93.5 million. The building has a surface area of 20,000 square metres, spread over 14 floors and 530 parking spaces. As well as Ahorro Corporación itself, the building’s tenants include Sareb, the French opticians Alain Afflelou and Deloitte. The ground floor of the building is leased to restaurant chains including Lateral, Maki, Wagaboo and New York Burger. The building was constructed in 1977 and refurbished in 2008.

This is not the first battle between real estate investors in recent months. In January, BBVA sold the Torre Ederra, on Paseo de la Castellana, 77 – also in the Azca financial district – for €87 million. On that occasion, the real estate company GMP beat Infinorsa in the final round.

The sale of its headquarters is just another one of a number of divestments undertaken by Ahorro during its redefinition process, which KPMG is advising.

Over the last year, the financial entity has carried out transactions such as the sale of its fund manager, ACGestión to Abanca; the transfer of its infrastructure funds to GEDCapital; and the sale of its securisation manager, Ahorro y Titulización (AyT) to Haya Real Estate, owned by Cerberus.

The group is continuing to focus on its strategic businesses, namely fixed income and equity brokerage and advisory services.

Ahorro is focused on the international diversification of its business in the face of the disappearance or absorption of its former shareholders and clients – the savings banks – by other financial groups.

This group will have to face the remodelling of its shareholder base in the short-medium term, given that some of its shareholders, such as Bankia, will be forced to exit. Other shareholders that holds stakes in the group include: Cecabank, CaixaBank, Kutxabank, Liberbank, BMN, Ibercaja, Unicaja, Abanca, BBVA, Sabadell, Ontinyent and Pollença.

Original story: Expansión

Translation: Carmel Drake

Villar Mir Raises €268 Million Funding For Canalejas Project

29/12/2014 – Cinco Dias

The Villar Mir and OHL Group closed Canalejas Project financing by signing a credit agreement for a maximum amount of EUR 268 million, making it the largest financing operation granted to a real estate development project in Spain over recent years.

Specifically, funding has been signed-on for a period of 10 years – 3 years of construction and 7 of exploitation, according to the company.

This transaction involves a group of Spanish and foreign financial institutions: Banco Santander, CaixaBank, Banco Popular Español, which have acted as mandated lead arrangers in addition to Bankinter, Unicaja Banco, MoraBanc Group, Inmomutua Madrileña and Generali Insurance and Reinsurance.

The Canalejas complex, developed by the Grupo Villar Mir, in a landmark location in Madrid will employ about 4,800 workers and reach an annual sales volume of nearly €200 million.

The project, which seeks to promote urban renewal of the iconic area in downtown Madrid also entails the opening of the first hotel of the Canadian luxury chain Four Seasons in Spain.

The 5-star luxury hotel will have an area of 26,000 sq. m, 215 rooms, banquets and meeting halls, 2 restaurants, a spa, gym as well as an indoor swimming pool. It will also feature between 28 and 30 residences for sale, spread over a total area of 6,000 sq. m.

Canalejas will also feature a shopping mall of 16,000 sq. m. over 3 storeys and an underground parking lot. All this will be complemented with an underground bus station on Calle Sevilla and refurbishment of the existing parking lot, which will be carried out by the City.

The purpose of this complex is to rehabilitate the historic downtown of Madrid and make use of 7 contiguous properties located on Calle Alcalá, Calle Sevilla, Plaza de Canalejas and Carrera de San Jerónimo. Having remained unoccupied for 10 years and some of them dating back to 1887, the properties were sold to Villar Mir Group from Banco Santander in a €215-million transaction.

Since they were acquired in December 2012, restoration work on various protected structures have been carried out as well as interior demolition and facade cladding works.

With respect to protected structures, there are over 130 listed elements of carpentry, locksmith’s works, stonework and stained glass windows. They will be restored and relocated in the future project to be fully operational in 2017.

The Canalejas project involves an important job creation feature. In the construction phase, from 2013 to 2017, 600 direct and 1,200 indirect jobs will be generated. The operational phase is expected to create over 3,000 direct or indirect jobs – 1,200 in the hotel and 1,800 in the shopping center.

Original article: Cinco Dias (by EFE)

Translation: Aura REE