Tag: Villar Mir Group

Villar Mir Group Puts Inmobiliaria Espacio Up For Sale

18 September 2019 – El Confidencial

According to financial sources, the Villar Mir Group has put its land and property developer subsidiary Inmobiliaria Espacio up for sale. The objective is to raise funds to repay the group’s creditor, the Monaco-based fund Tyrus Capital, and it follows the divestment of two other non-real estate entities, Fertiberia and Ferratlántica, in August.

Savills Aguirre Newman has been engaged to coordinate the sale after valuing the entity’s land and plots at €256.88 million as at 31 December 2017. The assets may be sold as a set or piecemeal. Moreover, the company has tax credits worth between €100 million and €200 million, which is where the real value of Inmobiliaria Espacio lies.

According to the latest available data, the company reported an EBITDA of €1.61 million in 2017 and sales of €46.77 million, up by 23.2% YoY. Moreover, it has an excellent and sizeable portfolio of land for development in good locations, for which planning permission has been granted, and therefore an improvement in sales is forecast over the next few years.

Last year, Tyrus Capital lent the Villar Mir Group €360 million to refinance the debt that the traditional banks did not want to extend. The conditions of that loan are onerous – it has a two-year term (of which one year has already passed) and it carries an interest rate of between 10% and 12%. As such, the group wants to sell off its assets in an orderly fashion to repay and reduce its financing, and so time is of the essence.

Original story: El Confidencial (by Agustín Marco)

Translated by: Aura Ree

Villar Mir Seeks Partners to Develop Inmobiliaria Espacio’s Land Portfolio

23 April 2019 – Idealista

The Villar Mir Group is looking for partners to inject capital into the development of the land owned by its subsidiary Inmobiliaria Espacio. The firm is going to put a portfolio of assets worth between €250 million and €300 million on the market. Its aim is to continue as the minority shareholder of the developments or to carry out the development of each promotion.

The plots of land are located all over Spain, including in Madrid (Valdebebas, Pozuelo de Alarcón and Alcorcón), Murcia, La Línea de la Concepción and Algeciras (Cádiz), Marbella (Málaga), San Juan (Alicante), Almería, Mallorca and Valencia. At the end of 2017, the plots were worth €256.9 million.

Original story: Idealista 

Translation/Summary: Carmel Drake

The Villar Mir Family Commissions the Sale of Inmobiliaria Espacio & Fertiberia

12 March 2019 – El Confidencial

The Villar Mir group has decided to clean up its asset portfolio in order to pay off some of its debt and, to this end, has put two companies up for sale: ‘Promociones y Propiedades Inmobiliarias Espacio’ (Priesa), which owns a variety of land and homes, and Fertiberia, the multi-national fertiliser firm.

These two operations form part of the group’s wider reorganisation process, which is being led by the CEO, Javier López Madrid. They will join the partial divestment of Ferroglobe and the possible IPO of OHL, both of which have already sparked great interest in the sector.

The Villar Mir family has entrusted the sale of Inmobiliaria Espacio to Savills Aguirre Newman, which will begin by performing a valuation of the assets. Project Caleido, involving the construction of a 180-metre tall tower, on Paseo de la Castellana, will be excluded from the deal.

Priesa has returned to profits in the last two years, following several years of losses, which forced the majority shareholder to provide a €175 million participation loan as part of a rescue plan. The company’s main appeal lies in its sizeable, high-quality portfolio of land for development, in good locations, which was valued by RICS to be worth €257 million at the end of 2017.

Meanwhile, sources report that Villar Mir has also engaged Lazards to find a buyer for Fertiberia, for which it could receive around €250 million.

Sources close to the operations point out that it is unlikely that all of the deals in the pipeline will go ahead. What is clear is that Villar Mir will have to divest some assets to repay as soon as possible the €365 million that Tyrus lent the group in November last year.

Original story: El Confidencial (by Agustín Marco)

Translation: Carmel Drake

CaixaBank & Allianz Grant a €135M Loan to Finance Caleido

20 November 2018 – Expansión

CaixaBank and Allianz have granted a €135 million loan to finance the construction and operational launch of Caleido, a project led by Inmobiliario Espacio, the property developer of the Villar Mir Group, and MegaWorld Corporation, the business conglomerate owned by the Philippine multi-millionaire Andrew Tan.

Caleido, which will constitute the so-called Fifth Tower in Madrid, is going to comprise a vertical 35-storey building, which will contain the facilities of Instituto de Empresa, and a second horizontal building at the base comprising four above ground floors and standing 17 metres tall in which Quirón Salud is going to manage an advanced medical centre. Moreover, Caleido is going to include an extensive commercial and services area, as well as lots of green space for Madrid and its citizens.

The loan, which has a 10-year term, will finance the construction period until the hand over of the property, in the final quarter of 2020, as well as seven years of operation.

The property developers have explained that the aforementioned agreement will cover the financing needs of Caleido, with a total estimated investment of approximately €300 million.

“This operation strengthens the confidence that financial institutions have in the project and the great expectations that are being generated around its construction. In this way, the technical solvency of the project is clear, as is its future management and operation”, said the property developers.

Caleido – designed by the architecture studios Fenwick & Iribarren and Serrano Suñer Arquitectos – will be located in the epicentre of the new financial district of Madrid and will serve to eliminate a scar from the north of the Spanish capital, connecting Paseo de la Castellana and Anida de Monforte de Lemos, as well as revitalising the current business complex.

The project is being built on some plots owned by the Town Hall of Madrid, granted to Espacio Caleido through a concession arrangement for the construction and operation of the project for the next 75 years. In exchange, Espacio Caleido will pay an annual fee of €4 million. The launch of Project Caleido will generate around 2,400 jobs during the construction period and another 3,992 jobs once it is operational.

Original story: Expansión (by R.A.)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Corestate Acquires 24 Commercial Properties for €212M

9 November 2018 – Eje Prime

Corestate has acquired a portfolio of retail assets. The Luxembourg-based fund manager has purchased 24 commercial properties, located in 17 German cities, for €212 million. The properties comprise a total surface area of 100,000 m2.

The tenants of these assets include retailers such as New Yorker, Rewe, Müller and Dm. With this operation, Corestate is fulfilling its latest investment program launched in April, through which it plans to invest €250 million in total, according to reports from Property EU.

“Our investors are still convinced by the success of retail assets in the pedestrianized areas of medium-sized and prosperous German cities”, said Thomas Landschreiber, co-founder of Corestate. “We will continue with this focus and we will also diversify our range of products in the retail sector with more investment programs”, he added.

Corestate arrived in Spain in 2015 hand in hand with the Villar Mir Group, but it has a long history in markets such as Germany, where it owns 6,000 beds in student halls of residence. The company’s investments include retail assets (with premises on the high streets of medium-sized German cities), offices, residential and micro-flats.

Original story: Eje Prime 

Translation: Carmel Drake

Espacio Caleido to Build up to 80 Commercial Premises in Madrid’s Fifth Tower Complex

4 June 2018 – Eje Prime

More retail space in Madrid. Espacio Caleido, controlled by the company Inmobiliaria Espacio, is going to build between seventy and eighty retail premises in the fifth tower complex in Madrid. Together, all of the establishments will have a combined commercial area of more than 13,000 m2.

The commercial premises will be destined to retail, restaurant and service operators, which will be located in a zone divided into several areas (some next to the tower) and which will include gardens and rest spaces next to the shops and restaurants.

One of the areas that will be most representative will be formed “by ten cubes that will be located parallel to Paseo de la Castellana and which may be customised by each operator”, said Espacio Caleido. To market the premises available in the complex, Espacio Caleido has already opened an office to show the plans to companies interested in moving there.

The Torre Caleido project, which is being built alongside the four tallest skyscrapers in Madrid, will involve an investment of €300 million. It will span 70,000 m2 in total, stand 165 m tall and contain 36 storeys.

The fifth tower is going to be the shortest of the five skyscrapers and its neighbour, Torre de Cristal, will continue to be the tallest in Madrid, and in Spain, at 249 m tall.

The new complex, which is being built in the Cuatro Torres Business District, will have Instituto de Empresa (IE) as its main tenant, which will create its university campus IE University there, and the Quirón Salud Group, which is going to install an advanced medicine centre in an annexed building that will be four-storeys tall and 20 m high.

The project is being promoted by the company Espacio Caleido, owned by Inmobiliaria Espacio, of the Villar Mir Group, the main shareholder of OHL, with a 51% stake, and by the Philippine company Megaworld Corporation with the remaining 49%.

Original story: Eje Prime 

Translation: Carmel Drake

Caleido’s Makers to Create a Brand New Neighbourhood Around the Cuatro Torres

24 February 2018 – El Economista

The plans involve the creation of a street that will link the area surrounding the La Paz Hospital with Plaza de Castilla and which will have retail units, squares and terraces along it.

In two years time, the barren concourse that currently welcomes the employees that work in Madrid’s Cuatro Torres will be converted into the antechamber of a new retail and leisure space, which is going to be built in the north of Madrid with the arrival of the fifth tower, known as Caleido.

This project from Inmobiliaria Espacio and the Philippine firm Megaworld Corporation will result in the construction of a fifth iconic tower.  The latest addition to Madrid’s skyline will not for known for its height, given that at 160 m2 tall, it will be the shortest of its neighbours, but it will be recognised for the services and life that it is going to bring to the area.

The designs involve the creation of a high street, which will run from the La Paz Hospital area towards Plaza de Castilla, passing through the Madrid Business Area complex, where the Cuatro Torres are located, generating a neighbourhood vibe with several squares and terraces, as well as restaurants and areas for events. In this way, Caleido will not contain a shopping centre, but rather will offer different retail units, which will be opened opposite the new building and which will represent an addition to the businesses integrated into the property.

Specifically, the retail area, which is going to occupy a space of around 13,000 m2, will be distributed over the first level of the four-storey rectangular base on which the tower is going to be built.

The design of this project has been carried out by the architecture firm Fenwick Iribarren and represents that studio’s second piece of work in this office complex, given that it was also the brains behind Torre Espacio, which was also built by the Villar Mir Group (Espacio) back in the day (…).

According to Mark Fenwick, who founded the firm with Javier Iribarren in 1990, “Our objective with this project was to create a service area for the 24,000 people who work in the Cuatro Torres and whereby create urban spaces and meetings areas, such as squares and terraces, which are going to occupy around 7,000 m2, and which will join together the office complex with the neighbourhoods that surround it, to extend the use of this space to the whole community”, said the architect.

The construction of this project also includes the creation of a public park spanning more than 3 hectares, which is going to be located on the adjoining plot and which is also going to be managed by the property developer behind the tower. That space will house facilities for sports, culture and open-air concerts.

Madrid as a destination

In the academic year 2020-2021, Caleido is going to become the first vertical campus in Madrid, given that its main tenant is the Instituto de Empresa (IE), which will occupy all of the 36-storey tower and half of the horizontal building, leasing 50,000 m2 of space in total. The other part of the lower building is going to house an advanced medical centre to be operated by the Quirón-Salud Group (…).

The complex, whose development is expected to involve an investment of around €300 million, will also have a 1,250 space parking lot, 630 of which will be for public use. (…).

Espacio Caleido has already started to market the project, which hopes to attract trendy brands in fashion, technology, sports and restaurants. It is targeting international firms that do not have a presence yet in Spain and the plan is to start signing agreements after the summer. The complex is also considering the creation of leisure area that may house a cinema with an exclusivity concept, as well as a Gaming (videogames) and eSports (electronic sports) area.

Original story: El Economista (by Alba Brualla)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Grupo Villar Mir Sells Final 1.51% Stake In Colonial

10 July 2017 – El Mundo

Grupo Villar Mir has definitively exited the share capital of the real estate company Colonial by selling the 1.51% stake that it still owned in the Socimi. The shareholding that has been sold is worth around €40 million on the basis of current market prices.

The corporation owned by Juan Miguel Villar Mir has thereby brought to an end its phase as a shareholder of the real estate company, which began in January 2014 – at its height, the Group was the largest shareholder, with a 24% stake. Villar Mir first invested in the real estate company Colonial when that firm was in the middle of its restructuring and clean up process, and it has exited it days after the firm returned to the Ibex 35 and became a Socimi.

Specifically, the corporation has sold the 5.42 million shares that it still owned directly in the real estate firm, through Espacio Activos Financieros, a package equivalent to a 1.51% stake of its share capital, according to the registers of Spain’s National Securities and Exchange Commission (CNMV).

Grupo Villar Mir also owned another 3.21% of Colonial indirectly, through various financial instruments. Those shares have been “loaned to hedge a financial operation”, according to the supervisor’s register.

In this way, the corporation concludes just over three years as a shareholder of Colonial, after leaving the Board of Directors in December 2016, when it decreased its stake in the company to just 3.3%.

Subsequently, in January 2017, it decreased its percentage to 1.5%, which is the stake that it is now selling.

Finaccess, current largest shareholder

Currently, the Mexican group Finaccess is the largest shareholder of Colonial; following its recent share purchase, it now owns 13.76% of the share capital. The Qatar sovereign fund is the second largest shareholder of the company chaired by Juan José Brugera, with a stake of 11.7%. The next largest shareholders are the Colombian firm Santo Domingo (6.1%) and the Puig family, which recently acquired a 5.10% stake.

On 19 June 2017, Colonial returned to the Madrid Stock Exchange’s Ibex 35, nine years after leaving the exclusive group. The firm owns a portfolio of office buildings for rent in the centre of Madrid, Barcelona and Paris, with a combined surface area of 866,000 m2 and a value of around €8,000 million.

With its return to the Ibex, Colonial completed the restructuring and clean-up process that it began in 2015. After that, it undertook a growth strategy through which it has now made investments amounting to €1,760 million through various operations, ranging from the purchase of assets to increasing its stake in its French subsidiary Société Foncière Lyonnaise (SFL), and acquiring capital in another Socimi, Axiare.

Original story: El Mundo

Translation: Carmel Drake

Corestate Buys Old Hall Of Residence In Madrid For €14M

16 November 2016 – Expansión

A new investor has made its debut in the Spanish real estate market. The investor is Corestate Capital Holding, a large investment fund headquartered in Luxembourg, which owns a broad portfolio of assets, mainly located in Germany and Austria. Corteste has combined forces with an investment partner to acquire a former halls of residence, located at number 42 on Calle Juan XXIII, in the Moncloa district, the heart of Madrid’s university area.

Corestate arrived in Spain last year when it teamed up with Inmobiliaria Espacio – part of the Villar Mir group – to launch a jointly owned company called Iberian Corestate Capital Advisors. In September 2015, that company announced that it is going to construct a fifth tower in the Cuatro Torres office complex in Madrid, on Paseo de la Castellana.

The owner of OHL was awarded the plot that runs alongside the four Madrilenian skyscrapers back in April, after the city’s Town Hall decided against building a Conference Centre on the site. The company controlled by Juan Miguel Villar Mir was awarded the concession, which gives it the right to operate on the land for 75 years, after it submitted the highest offer. Specifically, OHL agreed to pay an annual fee of €4 million, outbidding the second-best bid, led by Hispania and Ferrovial, who offered around €2.6 million. The Town Hall had asked candidates to submit bids for an annual fee of at least €1.9 million.

In September last year, Corestate announced that it was going to join the project through the company Iberian Corestate.

It is expected that Iberian Corestate will invest €240 million in the fifth tower project, which will involve the construction of a skyscraper that will house an IE Business School campus and a Quiron group medical centre. Corestate declined to comment on the plans for the Castellana project, but did confirm that it has purchased the Madrilenian hall of residence. According to sources in the sector, Corestate paid around €14 million for the property.

Until now, the asset acquired has housed a Spanish-Mexican secondary school – Santiago Galas de Arce. The building, which has been operating for almost half a century (44 years), will undergo a profound transformation with its new owner, given that Corestate is preparing an ambitious plan to restore the property and renovate the 4,022 m2 space, which will house 260 rooms and 302 beds.

Corestate’s idea is to demolish the existing complex and construct a new building that seeks to be one of the best equipped halls of residence in Madrid. The project will include several services such as a reception and concierge, common areas, such as a restaurant, gym and laundry facilities, as well as recreation areas in the form of patios and terraces.

Original story: Expansión (by Rocío Ruiz)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Villar Mir Negotiates Partial Sale Of Fifth Tower To Hispania

29 September 2016 – Expansión

According to the businessman Juan Miguel Villar Mir, the Villar Mir Group has begun negotiations with the Socimi Hispania to join forces for the development of the fifth tower, the new skyscraper in the north of Madrid, next to the Cuatro Torres Business Area complex.

It is one of the most important buildings in the capital in terms of investment, given that the developers will need around €500 million to cover the construction and rental costs – an initial lease has been granted for a period of 75 years.

Sources at the family holding company have confirmed that preliminary conversations have begun, aimed at Hispania’s entry into the project “as a minority shareholder”. Other sources state that the Socimi, managed by the Azora group and in which George Soros holds a stake, may be interested in acquiring 100% of the building, which will be leased in its entirety. Nevertheless, the Villar Mir Group assures that it will maintain the majority stake.

The fifth tower project, which Villar Mir won at the end of 2014 in a tender organised by the Town Hall of Madrid, has already selected its tenants. Earlier this year, the IE Business School agreed to lease 50,000 sqm of the building for its campus. The bottom part of the complex, measuring 12,000 sqm, will house leisure areas, a shopping arcade and a health centre, which will, in theory, be operated by the Quirón Group. The project, promoted by the Villar Mir family, still needs to obtain the definitive permits from the mayoress of Madrid, Manuela Carmena.

Partners

In September 2015, the Swiss investment fund Corestate announced that it had agreed to form a joint venture with the Villar Mir Group to jointly develop the fifth tower. Six months later, in March 2016, Juan Miguel Villar Mir qualified that announcement by stating that the agreement with Corestate had not been signed yet. With or without Corestate, the negotiations with Hispania are happening at a time of peak activity for Spain’s listed Socimis. Hispania reached the final round of the tender to acquire the building, after it partnered up with Ferrovial, but Villar Mir won the 75-year lease by offering to pay an annual fee of €4 million, equivalent to twice the bid price. (…).

Divestments

The search for partners forms part of the strategy being pursued by the Villar Mir’s holding company to finance its multi-million investment commitments through Espacio and OHL, without increasing its debt, which amounts to €14,000 million. The other source of extraordinary income comes from the sale of its assets. (…).

The group needs funds to tackle its three major real estate projects (the fifth tower, the Canalejas Complex and the War Office in London), as well as several toll roads in Latin America.

Original story: Expansión (by C. Morán and R. Ruiz)

Translation: Carmel Drake