Värde Partners May Force Breakup of LaFinca Socimi Due to Villarejo Case

24 September 2019 – The British fund Värde Partners, which owns 37.7% of the shares of LaFinca, may force a redistribution of the socimi’s assets should it fail to receive an acceptable offer for its shares in the firm, due to the socimi’s possible indictment in the Villarejo case.

Spanish prosecutors are investigating LaFinca concerning a series of possible crimes, including bribery, based on actions by the firm’s president and largest shareholder, Susana García Cereceda. Cereceda allegedly hired a firm owned by the commissioner Villarejo to spy on her sister Yolanda, who owns about 10% of the socimi’s shares.

Original Story: Eje Prime

Adaptation/Translation: Richard D. K. Turner

Sareb to Use FABs to Aid in Divestment Strategy

5 July 2019 – Richard D. K. Turner

Sareb and Värde Partners have joined together to create Árqura Homes, with the goal of building 17,000 new homes. The joint-venture is the first of a series of invetsments that will employ a financial instrument called a FAB. This financial instrument was designed six years ago to facilitate the sale of non-performing bank assets. The structure confers specific tax benefits, primarily reduced taxes on the sale of such assets.

Sareb is currently planning a number of such vehicles for selling different types of assets, including hotels, shopping centres, offices and homes.

Original Story: El Confidencial – Ruth Ugalde

 

La Finca Global Assets Approves its MAB Debut for July

12 June 2019 – El Confidencial

On Wednesday, the General Shareholders’ Meeting of La Finca Global Assets approved the company’s debut on the stock market, which will take place during the first week of July.

The decision was supported by Susana García Cereceda, President of the company and owner of 50% of the share capital, and Värde Partners, which holds a 39% stake. It was opposed by the President’s sister, Yolanda, who owns a 10.99% stake, but she was outvoted.

La Finca owns 220,000 m2 of office space worth €725 million as at 31 December 2018, all of which is located in Madrid and Pozuelo de Alarcón. Nevertheless, the company has debt amounting to almost €400 million, and has to cover the costs of managing its business parks, and so, its final valuation is expected to range between €156 million and €170 million.

At its meeting, the General Shareholders also approved the company’s accounts for the year ending 31 December 2018, which reported operating profits of €45.9 million, mainly from rental income and a result for the year of €9.73 million, up from €4.6 million in 2017.

Original story: El Confidencial (by Agustín Marco & Ruth Ugalde)

Translation/Summary: Carmel Drake

Árqura Homes: Sareb Launches a Property Developer to Build 17,000 Homes

11 June 2019 – Europa Press

Sareb has constituted its own property developer, Árqura Homes, through which it plans to build and sell 17,000 new homes over the next decade with an investment of €2.2 billion. The new entity looks set to rival the country’s main listed property developers on the basis of its land portfolio and investment plans.

Árqura has been constituted following the transfer of land and developments underway worth €811 million. 56% of its portfolio corresponds to just over 2 million m2 of land, 41% corresponds to developments in progress and the remaining 3% are developments that have been suspended.

The bad bank led by Jaime Echegoyen (pictured above) is going to team up with Värde for this initiative, which will hold 10% of Árqura’s share capital. Moreover, Aelca, a real estate company controlled by the US fund, will be responsible for the management and marketing of the new homes.

This operation represents Sareb’s second foray into the real estate market through the launch of its own firm after it launched the Socimi Témpore at the end of 2017. That firm became the third largest rental home company in the country and is currently on the verge of being sold to the fund TPG.

In the case of Árqura, it hopes to reach its cruising speed in terms of development between 2021 and 2022 and of homes deliveries between 2023 and 2024. Its homes will be distributed across 15 regions, although more than half (58%) will be concentrated in the most sought-after regions of the Community of Madrid, Cataluña and Andalucía.

Original story: Europa Press

Translation/Summary: Carmel Drake

Marathon Puts the Bahía Azul Shopping Centre in Málaga up for Sale for c. €30M

11 April 2019 – Idealista

The US fund Marathon has put the Bahía Azul shopping centre in Málaga up for sale for an asking price of between €25 million and €30 million.

Marathon has owned the centre since 2016, when it acquired it for €18.5 million, and has appointed Savills-Aguirre Newman to manage the sale, which will begin after Easter.

Bahía Azul, which was inaugurated in November 2008, has a surface area of 13,827 m2, divided into four retail spaces, plus a 9,445 m2 underground parking lot. It is located opposite Guadalmar in the same complex as Ikea, and is home to high-profile brands including Worten, Conforama, Schmidt, Prenatal, McDonald’s, Visionlab, Carrión and Maisons du Monde.

Marathon Asset Management has headquarters in New York, London and Singapore. It is one of the minority shareholders of the property developer Vía Célere, which is controlled (75%) by Värde.

Original story: Idealista (by Custodio Pareja)

Translation/Summary: Carmel Drake

Blackstone Enters the Bidding for Solvia Desarrollos Inmobiliarios

26 March 2019 – Ok Diario

Banco Sabadell is on a mission to divest the land from its property development arm Solvia, worth more than €1 billion. The firm, Solvia Desarrollos Inmobiliarios (SDin), is sparking a great deal of interest in the market, not least from the US investment bank Blackstone.

That firm faces stiff competition from the property developers Aedas and Merlin Properties, as well as 10 other interested parties, who have been whittled down from an original list of almost 30 candidates.

Given the huge interest in Solvia Desarrollos, Sabadell has extended the original deadline by one month to the end of May, at which point it will choose the buyer.

Besides the firms already mentioned, funds such as Cerberus, De Shaw, Värde, Apollo and Oaktree are also reportedly participating in the bid.

Most of the land owned by Solvia Desarrollos Inmobiliarios is located in Madrid, Barcelona and several places along the Mediterranean Coast.

Original story: Ok Diario (by Borja Jiménez)

Translation/Summary: Carmel Drake

Property Developers are Building 18,000+ Homes in Andalucía

18 March 2019 – ABC Sevilla

The real estate market in Andalucía is booming, and in a good way. According to the latest figures from the Ministry of Development, 12,363 permits were granted in 2017 for the construction of new homes, compared with the record before the burst of the bubble of 156,483 in 2006. Construction activity is responding to real demand in the market and is featuring some new players that are planning to build thousands of new homes in the region over the next three years.

Two markets

The investors, which include international funds and local property developers alike, differentiate between two markets – the eastern (Málaga) and the western (Sevilla) – the former accounts for 70% of new developments.

Aedas Homes currently leads the regional ranking by number of homes planned and investments forecast in the autonomous region. The property developer controlled by the US fund Castlelake plans to invest almost €1.3 billion in the region in the construction of 5,150 homes, primarily in the provinces of Málaga (2,600 homes) and Sevilla (1,800).

It is followed by Neinor Homes, which owns a portfolio of 29 plots for the construction of 3,628 homes; Metrovacesa, which has 2,300 homes in its Andalucían portfolio at various stages of completion; and Vía Célere, controlled by another US fund Värde, which is building 1,975 homes across 21 developments.

Meanwhile, ASG Homes has buildable land in Andalucía for the construction of 1,700 homes; Habitat Inmobiliaria, owned by the US investment fund Bain Capital, is working on the construction of 15 developments containing 1,621 homes; and the Sevillan property developer Insur is working on 17 residential developments comprising 1,136 homes at various stages of completion.

Finally, Q21 Real Estate, the property developer created from the alliance of the US fund Baupost and the owners of the former Pinar group, is also constructing almost 500 homes in the region, bringing the total number of homes under construction to more than 18,000.

Original story: ABC Sevilla (by Encarna Freire)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Neinor Withdraws from the Purchase Process of ‘Solvia Desarrollos Inmobiliarios’

28 February 2019 – El Español

Neinor Homes is not going to be one of the candidates that submits an offer to acquire Solvia Desarrollos Inmobiliarios (SDI), the subsidiary of Banco Sabadell. The real estate company has been studying the operation for a while but has concluded, following its initial analysis, that the numbers do not fit with its investment philosophy.

That is according to explanations provided by Neinor’s CEO, Juan Velayos, who acknowledged that he has the sales prospectus on his desk but that at the moment, “it is not a priority” for him. We are talking about a company that has a portfolio of 300 buildable plots and which the bank led by Jaime Guardiola put up for sale in January.

Velayos himself acknowledges that he “loves the portfolio”, but he’s not so convinced by the numbers being seen in the market”. (…). “I’m afraid that it is not going to be for us from the perspective of a disciplined investor”, he said. The first valuations of SDI’s land are in the region of €1.3 billion, given that the portfolio also includes 130 real estate developments in different areas with 5,000 homes under construction.

Indeed, the price of land is one of Neinor’s obsessions. Over the last year, it has purchased 2,400 plots in which it has invested €95 million. Neinor’s CEO believes that his firm has adopted a prudent policy in this regard (…).

As a result, it looks like Neinor will not be one of the candidates to bid for Sabadell’s subsidiary in the end. The bank is awaiting possible expressions of interest for its land company. The intention is to receive binding offers before the end of this quarter and to settle the sale during the month of April.

Interested parties

In terms of the parties that are interested in SDI, they include some of the main international funds such as Cerberus, Värde, Oaktree and Blackstone (…).

The sale of SDI comes after Banco Sabadell sold Solvia, its real estate servicer for €300 million, for which it obtained capital gains of €185 million (…).

Original story: El Español (by Arturo Criado)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Sabadell Puts its Property Developer Subsidiary Up For Sale with Assets worth €1.2bn

5 February 2019 – La Vanguardia

Banco Sabadell announced on Tuesday that it is putting its subsidiary Solvia Desarollos Inmobiliarios up for sale. The property developer owns assets worth around €1.2 billion. The assets are mostly plots of residential land, located in prime areas of Madrid, Barcelona and other major cities, as well as 130 work-in-progress real estate developments.

Less than a week ago, the President of Banco Sabadell, Josep Oliu, announced at the presentation of last year’s results that “we are going to continue with our asset divestment policy”. On this occasion, Sabadell has chosen the investment bank Rothschild, according to the relevant fact sent to the CNMV, to circulate the sales prospectus amongst possible buyers. According to market sources, large funds such as Blackstone, Cerberus, Värde and Oaktree, amongst others, may be interested in buying the company.

The entity, led by Francisco Pérez, has around 40 employees, who will also exit Sabadell’s orbit. The sales process may last six months. Firstly, the candidates will have to submit offers and then a competitive process will be carried out.

This sale is running in parallel to the sale of 80% of the real estate manager Solvia. In theory, an agreement has been reached to sell that firm to Lindorff Holding Spain, which belongs to the Swedish fund Intrum, for €300 million. That price may increase by an additional €40 million if certain conditions established in the sales agreement are fulfilled.

Original story: La Vanguardia (by Conchi Lafraya)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Aedas, Neinor & Merlin Properties Put €1bn on the Table for Sabadell’s Land

29 January 2019 – OK Diario

Banco Sabadell has now opened the sales process for Solvia Desarrollos Inmobiliarios, its real estate developer, for which the entity expects to obtain €1 billion. To date, the entity chaired by Josep Oliu has already sent the teaser to almost 30 interested parties. But there has been an important development, and that is that it is not only the typical funds that tend to participate in these types of auctions that are interested in the company, property developers are also keen, including Neinor, Aedas and Merlin Properties.

It is worth remembering that when Sabadell decided to sell Solvia, it separated the house-sale business and the real estate development business into two different companies with the aim of achieving a better offer. The land, which is owned by the second firm, forms part of the bank’s balance sheet and that is what is now up for sale.

According to sources speaking to OK Diario, the deadline for non-binding offers will finish in March; it will be after that when Banco Sabadell will start to receive binding offers. Sources in the know indicate that the operation will be closed in the second quarter. And, moreover, in addition to the aforementioned property developers, funds such as Cerberus, De Shaw, Blackstone, Värde, Apollo and Oaktree have also received the teaser (…).

The main plots of land owned by Solvia Desarrollos Inmobiliarios are in Madrid, Barcelona and several places along the Mediterranean Coast. The portfolio includes plots that the buyer will have to reclassify in order to be able to sell, resell or transform them, as well as plots that are ready for development. It is precisely in those assets that so many property developers have expressed their interest.

Banco Sabadell obtained a profit of €138 million from the sale of 80% of Solvia, its real estate subsidiary, to Lindorff, a company that belongs to the Intrum AB group, for €300 million. With that operation, Sabadell, which has retained ownership of the remaining 20% stake in Solvia, achieved a positive impact on its Common Equity Tier 1 (“fully loaded”) capital ratio of 15 basis points.

The completion of that operation, which is subject to obtaining the corresponding authorisations, is also scheduled for the second quarter of 2019 (…).

Original story: OK Diario (by Borja Jiménez)

Translation: Carmel Drake