Tag: urban hotels

JLL: Real Estate Investment Rose by 45% in 2017 to €14bn

11 January 2018 – El País

The volume of real estate investment in Spain broke records once again in 2017, closing the year at €13.989 billion, up by 45% compared to 2016, according to data from the international real estate consultancy JLL. And investors were not averse to any of the market segments, although two really stood out in 2017. On the one hand, the retail sector (stores and shopping centres), which saw investment of €3.909 billion, up by 31% compared to 2016 – that represents a historical figure thanks to the 35 operations that were closed during the year. And on the other hand, investment in hotels, which increased by 75% with respect to 2016.

Not even the political crisis in Cataluña deterred hotel investment from beating its own record by the end of 2017, with investment of €3.907 billion, representing an increase of 79% with respect to 2016 and comfortably exceeding the historical record set in 2015, when investment amounted to €2.614 billion, according to the study of this market conducted by the consultancy firm Irea. And that despite the slowdown in Cataluña, where no transactions have been closed since the referendum was held on 1 October. Nevertheless, “the impact of the uncertainty in Cataluña will make it hard for the investment data seen in 2017 to be repeated”, says Miguel Vázquez, Partner in the firm’s Hotels division.

For the time being, the incessant arrival of tourists in Spain (the country welcomed more than 82 million foreign visitors in 2017, almost 10% more than in 2016) is continuing to spark investor interest. In fact, in 2017, investment in holiday hotels comfortably exceeded financing in the urban segment (69% vs 31%), rebalancing the trend seen in 2014 and 2015.

Moreover, destinations that had remained quiet following the crisis were revived. Málaga rejoined the list of investors’ preferred destinations, accounting for 15% of total investment with 18 transactions amounting to €516 million. The Canary Islands retained its position as the favourite investment destination, accounting for €939 million of investment, representing 27% of the total volume. Madrid was the main destination for urban investment once again, with €637 million (including existing hotels and the acquisition of properties to convert them into hotels), ahead of Barcelona, which recorded €422 million.

Last year in Spain, 182 hotels were sold, containing 28,813 rooms, compared with 147 hotels and 21,646 rooms in 2016. That represented an increase not only in terms of the number of assets but also in the average price paid per room, which amounted to around €119,000, approximately 30% higher than the average price paid in 2016. In 2017, conversion projects and transactions involving land for the construction of hotels recorded a combined investment volume of €478 million, representing an increase of 139.8% compared to 2016, according to Vázquez.

Offices and residential assets

Offices were the third favourite assets for investors, accounting for investment worth €2.210 billion. Nevertheless, it was the only segment that recorded a decrease in absolute terms with respect to the prior year, with investment in this asset class falling by 20%. That reduction was driven by data in Madrid, given that investment in the Spanish capital fell by 38% with respect to the previous year – €1.374 billion – whilst in Barcelona, the investment volume amounted to €835 million, equivalent to an increase of 60%. Nevertheless, according to Borja Ortega, Director of Capital Markets at JLL, “that decrease was not due to a decline in investor interest, but rather a lack of product on the market and the fact that the previous two years saw record-breaking figures”.

Investment in land also stands out, since it amounted to a record volume of €109 million in Barcelona and €193 million in Madrid; moreover, that trend is expected to continue in 2018.

But it was investment in the residential sector – the purchase of entire buildings and land – that really soared in 2017. It amounted to €2.082 billion, which represented an increase of 160% with respect to the €802 million recorded in 2016. In Cataluña, residential investment amounted to 145% to reach €444 million.

Original story: El País (by S. L. L.)

Translation: Carmel Drake

CBRE: Hotel Inv’t Reached Record Figure of €3.75bn in 2017

29 December 2017 – Europa Press

Investment in the hotel sector in Spain grew by 83% in 2017 compared to the previous year, to reach a total transaction volume of €3.75 billion, according to data from the consultancy firm CBRE Hotels.

The cumulative figure represents a historical record in the Spanish market, exceeding the previous record set in 2015. The increase is primarily due to strong demand from investors to buy and capitalise hotel assets, whereby taking advantage of the economic and real estate recovery in Spain.

According to CBRE Hotels, 190 hotel assets were sold in Spain in 2017, up by 23% compared to 2016, which represented an increase of 25% in terms of the number of rooms sold (28,000). Moreover, a further 2,200 future rooms were also sold last year in buildings and projects still under construction.

The most sought-after hotel assets were 4-star establishments, accounting for 42% of all investments.

The Canary Islands and the Balearic Islands accounted for almost 40% of all investments

In terms of the main investment destinations in the hotel sector, the Canary Islands (21%) and the Balearic Islands (18%), together with Madrid (17%) led the ranking, followed by Barcelona and Málaga. The most significant changes compared to 2016 were seen in Barcelona and the two island regions, which went from accounting for 36% to 15% in the case of the former and from 24% (combined) to 39% in the case of the latter.

In terms of the type of properties, holiday hotels accounted for 60% of the total compared with 40% urban properties. On the other hand, buyers invested in individual assets in 60% of cases, rather than in portfolios (40%).

Regarding the type of buyers or investors that acquired the most hotel assets last year, including not only hotels but also tourist apartments, aparthotels and land and buildings destined for hotel use, institutional investors participated in 55% of operations, followed by private entities and family offices, with 22% of transactions, and other hotel chains, with 21%.

Main operations

The largest operation of the year involved HI Partners, the hotel platform that Banco Sabadell recently sold to Blackstone for more than €630 million. The change of owner of Edificio España also hit the headlines – it was acquired by Riu Hotels & Resorts for €272 million. And finally, the Wave portfolio, owned by Starwood Capital and Meliá, comprising 4 hotels in Lanzarote, Ibiza, Torremolinos and Mallorca, was sold in the middle of the year to London & Regional Properties, on advice from CBRE (…).

“The excellent performance of the main tourism markets and the excess liquidity in the capital market have led to a historic year with more than 150 transactions and where institutional players have been the protagonists once again”, explained the National Director of CBRE Hotels, Jorge Ruiz.

Moreover, he added that “the outlook is very positive and we expect to see more concentration in the market in 2018 and a renewed interest in the tourism industry in our country”.

Original story: Europa Press

Translation: Carmel Drake

RIU Seeks To Grow Its ‘Hotel Plaza’ Business Line

17 May 2017 – Expansión

RIU is on a roll. As it waits for the starting gun to fire on its Edificio España project in Madrid, the Mallorcan hotel chain is analysing other destinations in order to strengthen its Plaza business line, which is strategic for the group, whereby adding new locations to the Plaza brand.

The CEO of RIU and Head of Canary Islands, Morocco, Portugal and Cape Verde, Félix Casado, explained in an interview with Expansión that the group is considering destinations such as Barcelona, Paris and Rome to continue the business it started in 2010, when it opened its first RIU Plaza hotel in Panama. Since then, it has added another five Plaza branded establishments in Berlin, Dublin, Miami, Guadalajara and New York. But, for the time being, it does not have any in Spain. At the beginning of the year, the company announced its plans to team up with Baraka to manage and invest in the mega-hotel that the Murcian group is planning to open in Edificio España.

“We are very excited about the idea of handling this project in Madrid, in particular, in a building as iconic as Edificio España. The negotiations are not proving easy and now we have to wait for the purchase operation to be closed, which has been delayed for three months, before we can start construction”, said the Director. Casado said that his firm’s investment commitment with the Baraka Group “continues”, in line with expectations, with the aim of creating a joint venture to which the hotel chain will contribute 25% of the investment.

In terms of the possibility of undertaking a project on its own, in the event that Baraka does not manage to close the purchase within the scheduled timeframe – i.e. by June – Casado simply said that that option “is not envisaged”. And he added: “The other line would be a separate study that would have to be analysed from the point of view of the required investment and the return”.

Entry into China

Besides the urban business, the hotel group’s growth plan involves expanding into vacation destinations, both in America as well as in Asia.

The company, which operates in 19 countries with almost one hundred hotels, is considering entering China, starting out in cities such as Beijing and Shanghai. “We would be willing to invest in all of these destinations. RIU is going to attend the ITB Tourism Fair in China to consolidate its relations there and create new business opportunities”, said Casado.

In addition, RIU has not ruled out returning to Cuba, which it left in 2015, with the management of new hotels. “We are looking at various possibilities to return to Cuba. We have experience in that destination and if an opportunity arises that fits with out philosophy then we will explore it”.

Renovations

In addition, the hotel group is committed to repositioning its products through major renovation projects. Within the framework of this strategy, the Spanish group will spend €400 million this year on construction and renovations, of which almost €150 million will be spent on improving its hotel portfolio in Spain.

“We are diversifying the product and we are updating it, so as not to get left behind, with the aim of ensuring that our clients are happy, which is one of the priorities of RIU”, he said. Recently, RIU opened the doors to its Club Hotel RIU Costa del Sol in Torremolinos, after combining and renovating the RIU Belplaya and RIU Costa Lago hotels.

Original story: Expansión (by Rebeca Arroyo)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Millenium Group Resumes Its Hotel Socimi’s Activity

15 March 2017 – Cinco Días

The Millenium group has resumed its plans to launch a hotel Socimi. Following a break caused by the absence of a Government and the misgivings of some of its investors, the company has returned to the project.

The aim of the firm led by Javier Illán, which has now constituted the Socimi Millenium Hotels Real Estate, involves listing the company on the stock market in 2019, whereby maximising the term permitted for that purpose. Meanwhile, the vehicle is working hard to secure high profile investors and acquire hotel establishments.

Millenium plans to raise around €400 million from investors and expects that its Socimi will have a market valuation of between €650 million and €700 million when its debuts. For the time being, the company does not have a registered advisor for its debut on the stock market, but it has received support from investors who have participated in its investments since 2000, including large homegrown and overseas real estate mutual institutions and pension funds.

For new investors, Millenium has established a minimum entry ticket of €5 million. Moreover, it has not ruled out the possibility of allowing hotel owners to take a share in its share capital in exchange for “gifting” the property to its portfolio. Regarding the debut on the stock market, the company may open up another stock tranche, with a lower minimum investment of around €250,000, to give liquidity to its shares.

The vehicle is expected to acquire around thirty hotels, including those that the group already owns, such as the Hesperia on Paseo de la Castellana, the Hotusa in Plaza de Castilla and the Tryp Chamberí, all in the centre of Madrid.

The Socimi will acquire urban and vacation hotels, however, Javier Illán states that they are also analysing cities that receive lots of tourist visitors. Besides Madrid and Barcelona, he points to other major capitals such as Málaga, Sevilla, Córdoba, Granada, Bilbao, San Sebastián and Valencia. The Canary Islands and the Balearic Islands, together with the Costa del Sol, will be its areas of focus in the vacation segment, all areas that have been under the spotlight of domestic and international investors alike, over the last year.

This year, Illán hopes to close around ten acquisitions on which he expects to spend around €200 million. He also acknowledges that the company is holding talks with all of the hotel chains interested in operating lease contracts.

For the time being, none of these operations has materialised and the hope is that they will be completed one by one and not in batches to avoid acquiring unwanted assets.

The Director also assures that he intends for 70% of the portfolio of establishments to require investment for their repositioning and refurbishment (value added, in English), which whereby differentiates it from the model adopted by Hispania in the vehicle that it created together with Barceló: Bay.

The group, which specialises in the development of luxury residential properties and commercial premises is carrying out detailed analysis with a view to creating a Board of Directors for the Socimi, which will mainly comprise independent directors.

Original story: Cinco Días (by L. Salces and A. Simón)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Merlin Considers Creating New Hotel Socimi

15 November 2016 – Expansión

Merlin is going all out following its merger with Metrovacesa and is now busy exploring new market niches. The new real estate giant is analysing alternative options for the sale of its non-strategic assets, and now that it has set the future of its residential business on course, it is searching for a solution for its hotel portfolio – one option includes creating a new specialist Socimi to compete in the market.

“We will analyse the book value of our assets and we will determine whether a block sale from the portfolio is possible. If not, because the cost of capital of the potential buyers is very high, then we will probably opt for a solution that is similar to the one we have applied to the residential business. We will create a subsidiary, we will look for partners and we will constitute a company, in which we hold a majority, minority or equal stake, to serve as an owner of urban hotels”, explains Ismael Clemente, CEO of Merlin.

Following the integration with Metrovecesa, Merlin has gone from having 12 hotels worth €398 million, to owning 24 hotels with a gross value of €654 million. In this way, the new Merlin has multiplied the value of its hotel assets by 1.6x following the integration. By number of rooms, the union between Merlin and Metrovacesa has given rise to a giant hotel company with almost 4,500 rooms and a gross yield of 5.8%, according to the most recent data available.

In terms of its main rival in the sector, Hispania, Clemente says that “if there are any solutions that we can find together, we would be delighted to explore them”.

Merlin is now beginning a new phase in its journey, having created a business with assets worth €9,500 million in just two years. (…).

The listed real estate company, the only one to feature in the Ibex 35 following Colonial’s departure in 2008, faces a difficult year ahead with the major task of integrating Merlin and Metrovacesa’s teams. “By the end of the first quarter, the integrated team will work together in one location, which will not be where either of them are currently based”.

In addition, one of Merlin’s other challenges for 2017 is to dramatically improve the occupancy rate of the offices that it has inherited from Metrovacesa, as well as to perform a “significant” intervention in the shopping centres of both companies. (…).

Growth in housing

In terms of its plans for Testa – the subsidiary that owns the Socimi’s rental homes – Clemente says that, at the moment, the firm is holding conversations with other companies, as well as with its shareholder banks, with the aim of increasing its portfolio by incorporating new assets.

“We think that this vehicle has the potential to become a major player in the professional market for residential rental properties in Spain. The vehicle could own between 9,000 and 10,000 homes by the end of 2017”. (…).

Original story: Expansión (by R.Arroyo and R.Ruiz)

Translation: Carmel Drake