La Generalitat Resumes the Auction of Various Rental Homes in L’Hospitalet de Llobregat

12 June 2019 – El Confidencial

La Generalitat de Cataluña is resuming the public auction of a rental home portfolio for which it hopes to obtain proceeds €6.2 million, having applied a discount of 20% to the asking price last year (€7.7 million).

The assets in the portfolio are all located in L’Hospitalet de Llobregat (Barcelona) on Calle Ciencies 15-23, next to Plaza Europa and the Gran Vía 2 shopping centre. They comprise 16 homes, 2 commercial premises, 23 parking spaces with storerooms plus 3 terraced single-family homes located in the urbanisation behind that building on Calles Mileva Maric 33 and 49 and Hanna Arendt, 3. In total, the assets have a combined surface area of 2,448 m2 and are leased almost in their entirety, with just one home and the commercial premises vacant.

The assets are owned by Fira 2000, in which the Catalan government holds a 50%, alongside the Town Halls of Barcelona and L’Hospitalet de Llobregat.

The deadline for bids is 22 July and the online auction will be held on 29 July through Addmeet.  

Original story: El Confidencial (by E. Sanz)

Translation/Summary: Carmel Drake

Ibosa Bids for the DGT’s Former HQ in Madrid to Build Luxury Flats

22 May 2019 – Idealista

The cooperative manager Ibosa is one of the parties interested in acquiring the former headquarters of the Traffic Department (DGT) in Madrid, located at number 125 Calle Arturo Soria, where 43 luxury flats are going to be built.

The Socimi Jaba I Inversiones Inmobiliarias put the building up for sale recently after acquiring it in 2014 for €19.2 million. The property is currently vacant having been previously leased to the DGT and Vodafone.

The office building has a gross leasable area of 5,526 m2 and comprises a ground floor plus 4 upper floors. It has 148 underground parking spaces and is located in one of the most sought-after neighbourhoods of Madrid. The asking price reportedly amounts to less than €25 million and the sale is expected to close next month.

If it is successful, Ibosa plans to build 43 high-end homes with 2-, 3- or 4-bedrooms. Each property will have a garage and storeroom and the sales prices will start at €554,000, with an average price per m2 of €5,900. The urbanisation, known as Residencial Capella, will have common areas such as a swimming pool and gym.

Original story: Idealista (by P. Martínez-Almeida)

Translation/Summary: Carmel Drake

PSN Buys a Floor of Offices on c/Claudio Coello in Madrid for €3.45M

31 January 2019 – Eje Prime

PSN is continuing to grow its asset portfolio in Madrid. The Socimi has just closed the purchase of an office on Calle Claudio Coello, in the heart of the capital’s Salamanca neighbourhood for €3.45 million.

Specifically, the company has purchased a floor of offices (the right and left sides) spanning 570 m2 in total with three parking spaces in the same property. The operation has been carried out with a contribution of €1.25 million from own funds and a mortgage of €2.2 million.

The mortgage loan has a duration of twelve years and carries a fixed annual interest rate of 1.7%, according to explanations provided by the company in a statement submitted today to the Alternative Investment Market (MAB).

Moreover, the group has subrogated the lease contract signed for the right-hand office, which is due to expire in October 2024. The left-hand office, by contrast, is vacant.

PSN is whereby adding a new asset in the Madrilenian market, where it acquired a commercial premise in Collado Villalba for €1.3 million last year. During the last year, the company has also purchased two premises in Santiago and Tenerife, for €1 million each, as well as an office building in Sevilla and a hotel in Salamanca for €3 million.

The company, which debuted on the MAB in December 2017, owns a portfolio comprising more than thirty assets including offices, commercial premises and parking spaces in 21 cities across Spain and Portugal. The company expected to close 2018, its first full year on the stock market, with profits.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake

Blackstone Launches its 6th Socimi in Spain with 1,600+ Rental Homes

27 December 2018 – El Diario

Blackstone is increasing its position as the largest landlord in Spain. On Thursday, the vulture fund received approval to list its sixth Socimi, Euripo, on the stock market, which will make its debut with an initial value of €110 million. On its balance sheet, another 1,600 homes that will join the more than 20,000 properties that the fund already owns.

Euripo will make its debut on the Alternative Investment Market (MAB), the secondary market in Spain, where it will join other Socimis owned by the US fund, including Fidere, Albirana, Corona and Torbel. Blackstone also recently took control of 80% of Testa, the largest rental home company in Spain, ownership of which it shares with Banco Santander.

In this way, almost one in ten Socimis in Spain have Blackstone as a majority shareholder. As is usual in the operation of this fund, Euripo is owned by a company belonging to Blackstone that is based in Luxembourg.

In this case, Blackstone is listing a portfolio comprising more than 2,000 real estate assets including homes, garages and commercial premises proceeding from the divestment of two financial entities, BBVA and the now extinct Banco Popular. Of the total portfolio, it has direct ownership of 1,900 assets, whilst another 400 are in the hands of a related company, which will likely end up on Euripo’s balance sheet, according to comments included in the IPO document.

There are currently more than 60 Socimis listed in Spain on the MAB, the main stock market and the Ibex 35. Blackstone has been the most active investment fund, especially in the rental home segment, where it controls almost a quarter of the companies currently listed.

The set of assets that Blackstone is debuting on the stock market with this new Socimi is worth around €215 million, of which half are located in Madrid and Barcelona. The remainder are distributed across 35 Spanish provinces, according to the aforementioned IPO document.

Currently, less than 30% of the properties of this company are occupied. For this reason, the company expects to increase its revenues by improving the occupancy ratios and by increasing the rents charged for each occupied home by between 4% and 5%. Moreover, it says that 7% of its assets are illegally occupied.

Original story: El Diario (by Diego Larrouy)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Inversiones Carney SL Buys an Office Building in Valencia from Cerberus

7 December 2018 – Levante EMV

The Madrilenian firm Inversiones Carney SL, backed by its Argentinian and Basque shareholders, has acquired an office building in the Alfafar commercial area, on the outskirts of Valencia. Specifically, the building is located between the MN4 shopping centre and Pista de Silla (road). The property, known as As Center, was constructed during the real estate boom and has remained inactive since then. Its status corresponds to the lack of activity over the last decade, but all of the building work has been finished.

The building is designed for companies. It comprises twelve floors and almost 200 offices. In 2010, at the height of the crisis, it passed into the hands of BBVA, which has held onto it ever since. In 2018, the property was sold to the US fund Cerberus, as part of the operation that saw the banking institution transfer it assets worth hundreds of millions of euros.

A few weeks ago, according to sources speaking to this newspaper, the property was sold to Inversiones Carney SL. That Madrilenian firm, which has Antonio Santiago Pérez as its administrator, has already undertaken some operations in the Community of Valencia, but not in the tertiary office field, at least not publicly. Specifically, according to the newspaper El Heraldo de Aragón, at the beginning of this year, the firm owned the Myo shopping centre, located on the Beneito industrial estate in Gandia. In 2016, it acquired a municipal plot, where a Decathlon store has been opened. This newspaper has contacted the company on two occasions in recent days but has not obtained a response.

One of the shareholders of Inversiones Carney is the firm Mazel Investments SA, which is based in Luxembourg. According to the latest accounts filed in the mercantile registry, corresponding to 2017, over the last two years, the company has undertaken real estate investments amounting to €24 million and €16.5 million, respectively. Moreover, its assets are worth more than €28.5 million.

According to the aforementioned newspaper, Carney is backed by Basque and Argentinian investors. Moreover, the firm has acquired the Plaza Imperial shopping centre in Zaragoza in 2018 with the intention of refloating it.

Original story: Levante EMV (by José Luis Garcia)

Translation: Carmel Drake

The Montejo Family Puts 2 Prime Stores In Madrid Up For Sale For €20M

30 October 2017 – Eje Prime

The commercial real estate segment is continuing to revolutionise Madrid. The latest operation is being prepared by the family office owned by the Montejo family of jewellers, which has put two of its prime stores in Madrid up for sale. The company has put a package of two establishments on Calle Goya on the market for €20 million, according to sources at the group speaking to Eje Prime.

The operation, advised by the company specialising in real estate management and consultancy TBCA, comprises, on the one hand, the store at number 25 Calle Goya, which has an asking price of €11.5 million. The establishment, which is currently occupied by Joyería Montejo, has a retail surface area of 158 m2 and a façade of 9m.

On the other hand, the Montejo family has also put a second store in Madrid up for sale, also located on the prime thoroughfare. Located at number 43 Calle Goya, that establishment is currently leased to the Italian firm Kiko, specialising in cosmetics. The asking price for that retail asset is €7.6 million and it has a retail surface area of 164 m2, spread over two floors.

The Montejo family, which has awarded the exclusive mandate for the sale of this package of assets to TBCA, also has other investments in Madrid, in the industrial and residential segments, although for the time being, no other parts of its portfolio are up for sale, according to sources at the real estate company.

In recent months, family offices have become the most active players in Spain’s real estate sector. With the search for the creation of trans-generational value, these types of vehicles are diversifying with the acquisition of their assets, in terms of geography, products and clients, in search of robustness with sustainable investments.

In this way, retail assets have become the currency of exchange for this kind of company, which either divest these types of products or negotiate better rents to get more out of them. Such is the case of the Madrilenian Lurrueña family, which has just leased the premises at number 54 Calle Serrano to the Prada group, which is opening a Miu Miu store. The establishment has a surface area of 250m2 spread over two floors and was occupied until now by the historical Lurrueña shoe shop, also owned by the family. (…).

But, the activity is not limited to Madrid alone. The family offices are also active in Barcelona. Although the city has lots of high profile players, such as the Tous family, Caboel, owned by the founder of Caprabo, and the Andic family, owner of the Mango fashion retail group, the latest real estate group to star in an operation of this kind in the Catalan capital, has been the Carcassona family, which has leased its store in Portal de l’Àngel to Inditex.

As Eje Prime revealed, the historical haberdashery Mercería Santa Ana, owned by the Catalan Carcassona and Capdevila family, will close its doors, located at number 26 Portal de l’Àngel, after signing an agreement with the Galician giant to open a large format store for its underwear and sportswear brand Oysho (…).

Original story: Eje Prime (by Custodio Pareja)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Realia Sells ‘Los Cubos’ Office Building To Therus For €52M

23 October 2017 – Expansión

The real estate company Realia, owned by Inmobiliaria Carso and FCC, which are both controlled by the Mexican businessman Carlos Slim, has sold the office building known as Los Cubos, located in Madrid, for €52 million.

The buyer is the French real estate company Therus, which is co-investing with the British investment group Henderson Park, according to several sources.

The property, which owes its name to its unique architecture, has a leasable area of 18,324 m2 and 334 parking spaces.

The real estate company put this building, located in the vicinity of the M-30 ring road, up for sale at the end of last year, as reported by Expansión at the time. The building has been vacant since the end of 2015. Before its sale, the company considered renovating it on several occasions to improve its appeal in the market.

In the end, Realia has sold the building for €52 million, compared to the initial asking price of €57 million. The sale of Los Cubos is the latest in a long line of high profile real estate investment operations closed in Spain in recent months. The investment volume in the real estate sector during the 9 months to September amounted to €10,300 million.

Original story: Expansión (by R. Ruiz)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Ministry Of Defence Puts Former ‘Hospital Del Aire’ Land Up For Auction

4 October 2017 – Eje Prime

The plot of land (…) is located in the Arturo Soria neighbourhood of Madrid, one of the most expensive areas of the capital (…). 

The Ministry of Defence is looking to shed weight. The government department has received authorisation from the Council of Ministers to put up for auction the land on which the former Hospital del Aire used to be located. The block is in disuse and has been vacant since 2011 when the old hospital building was demolished.

The asking price for the ownership of the land has been set at €25.1 million, for a plot spanning 28,341 m2. The former hospital has been included in the Ministry of Defence’s portfolio of buildings since 1945, when the former Ministry of Air acquired it, through a normal purchase and sale transaction.

In 2010, the Ministry of Defence managed to reach a pre-agreement with the Fundación Universidad Empresa to sell the building, but just six months later, the protocol that had been signed in that regard expired.

The express authorisation of the Council of Ministers to launch the auction was mandatory in this case, given that the sales value of the site exceeds €20 million.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake

Bank Of Spain: Home Evictions Down By 20%

21 July 2016 – El Mundo

A total of 17,939 homes were evicted by court order in 2015, up by 11.3% compared with 2014, of which 77% related to primary residences. Nevertheless, only 902 of those properties were occupied, which represents a 20.1% decrease compared with 2014, according to data from the Bank of Spain, which shows that the aforementioned increase was concentrated in the eviction of empty primary residences (35.7%).

In addition, the issuing bank states that 82% of the mortgages that gave rise to forced evictions of occupied homes, both primary residences and others – corresponding to 1,112 properties, down by 18.2% – were originated in or before 2007.

The lower level of activity in terms of evictions is also observed in the data relating to law enforcement involvement in property evictions. In this way, only 14 such interventions were recorded in 2015, down by 44%. Of those, less than half were carried out in primary residences.

If we add together the legal and voluntary proceedings during 2015, there was a 3.8% decrease in the total number of homes handed over, to 36,929 – i.e. 0.57% of all mortgages – which in the case of primary residences amounted to 2.4%, with 29,327 properties.

More than half of the homes handed over were done so voluntarily

The number of voluntary home hand overs decreased by 14.8% last year, to 18,990, with a reduction of 20.1% in the case of primary residences. Thus, voluntary home hand overs accounted for 51.4% of the total.

On the other hand, there were 16,175 “daciones en pago”, down by 12.4% compared with 2014, which accounted for 85.2% of all voluntary home hand overs. Of those, 81.5% related to primary residences, down by 19.9%.

Other data provided by the Bank of Spain indicates that the total number of mortgages granted for house purchases amounted to 6.3 million at the end of 2015, down by 1.1% compared to a year earlier.

Original story: El Mundo

Translation: Carmel Drake

25% Of Adif’s Retail Units Are Vacant

21 December 2015 – El Economista

In total, 307 retail units at Adif’s train stations in Spain are vacant. These establishments occupy a total surface area of 38,239 m2, which represents approximately 24.8% of the more than 154,000 m2 covered by all of the areas dedicated to restaurants, retail and leisure in the network of stations owned by the railway manager. In other words, almost a quarter of the retail space at train stations is currently empty.

During 2014, Adif recorded revenues of €569.5 million, of which €134.6 million related to rental income and services. Of that amount, €61.4 million was generated by the lease of buildings, shops and other properties and €71.8 million was generated by the use of fibre optics. Therefore, the contribution of rental income from retail stores, homes and plots represented around one tenth of total revenues. On the basis of the data about the uptake of retail units at Spanish train stations, that amount could increase significantly if the occupancy rates were improved.

The 307 available stores owned by Adif are spread across 75 train stations, according to the data from the body that sits under the Ministry of Development. The station in Albacete Los Llanos has the highest number of empty units, with 29 in total, covering a combined surface area of 3,953 m2. Meanwhile, the station in Córdoba has 12 stores available, with a surface area of 3,255 m2, whilst the station in Cáceres has 13 free units, covering 2,313 m2.

After Albacete, Córdoba and Cáceres, the stations with the most available space are Pontevedra and Madrid Chamartín, with 2,160 m2 (10 stores) and 1,996 m2 (5 stores), respectively. The station in the Spanish capital has various units available, where according to the website of the state-owned company, shops, a restaurant and car rental parking could be opened.

By contrast, in Madrid’s other major train station, Atocha, there is not a single square metre available for rent. At the other main train stations in Spain, Barcelona Sans has just one store available, measuring 48 m2, whilst Sevilla Santa Justa also has just one unit without a tenant, measuring 28 m2.

By contrast, at the high speed train station Valencia Joaquín Sorolla, there are seven units without a tenant, with a total surface area of 346 m2. There are six empty shops at Zaragoza Delicias, with a total surface area of 161 m2. And at María Zambrano in Málaga, one shop is available, along with two sites for ATMs.

Empty for several years

The majority of the retail spaces are available to rent immediately. Nevertheless, some of them have been empty for several years. In certain cases, that is because they need major renovations. Others will be available from early 2016, which is why Adif has now begun to market them.

The supply from the railway manager, which launched a plan two years ago to get rid of many of the homes and land under its ownership, includes units that may be used as shops, restaurants, cafeterias, kiosks, offices, bookshops, ATMs, parking and car rental. At certain train stations, Adif prohibits any new tenants from using properties to undertake activities already in operation at existing stores.

During 2015, the prices of the retail units at Adif’s train stations have ranged between €975/month, for stores measuring up to 8 m2, and €10,500/month, for stores measuring up to 30 m2. (…).

Original story: El Economista (by Javier Mesones)

Translation: Carmel Drake