Tag: Villar Mir Group

Domo Submits Bid To Wanda For Edificio España

31 May 2016 – Cinco Días

Domo Gestora has submitted an offer to acquire the historical Edificio España as part of the sale process that the Chinese group Dalian Wanda currently has underway. Three sources close to the operation have confirmed the bid, but it is expected that the company will have to compete with other interested parties.

The sale of Edificio España is being managed by the consultancy firm JLL, which declined to comment on the process. The intermediary closed the first deadline for the presentation of non-binding offers last Friday, 27 May 2016. Over the next few weeks, the Chinese group will analyse the offers it has received for the building, in which Wanda had planned to open a hotel and luxury homes, as well as a shopping arcade. The plan is to finalise the sale before August. Domo is one of the possible candidates to take over the property and is expected to form an alliance with a hotel partner or other investor, whose identity has not been revealed.

Domo is a medium-sized company that specialises in the management of housing cooperatives. According to the sources familiar with the transaction, it could become the perfect local partner to take over the renovation and marketing of the apartments. The management firm has been in the news recently for its involvement in Residencial Maravillas, a luxury housing development on Calle Raimundo Fernández Villaverde (in Madrid), where work has not started yet and whose approval divided the municipal Ahora Madrid government.

The sources consulted understand that Wanda lost interest in this Madrilenian project after it was unable to carry out its renovation plans, which involved demolishing the property to rebuild it from scratch in keeping with the original style. After the plans were rejected by the Administration, the company decided to withdraw its complex renovation plans. The group purchased the 1950s building from Santander for €265 million in 2014. Domo is thought to have been inspired by a proposal put forward by the architect Carlos Rubio Carvajal, who submitted a more respectful design to the financial institution.

In addition to Domo’s offer, sources in the sector indicate that other investors, who were potentially interested in the building initially, have also analysed this operation, however, it is not known whether they have submitted bids in the end or not. The other parties include the Chinese fund Fosum, the Hong Kong-based firm Platinum Estates, the Philippine group Emperador – which recently acquired Torre Espacio from the Villar Mir Group -, the US fund Hines and the insurance company Axa, which declined to comment on its involvement in the sale. Both Wanda and JLL are maintaining the utmost confidentiality surrounding this transaction.

Experts in the sector indicate that Wanda will only be interested in selling the property if the consideration offered exceeds the €265 million it paid in 2014. Meanwhile, the Asian group is continuing its negotiations with the Town Hall regarding the handling of the renovation work, given that the property would be worth more if the group manages to obtain the necessary building permits.

Original story: Cinco Días (by Alfonso Simón)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Plans For The 5th Tower Begin To Take Shape

1 April 2016 – Expansión

The skyscraper, located in the heart of the capital’s financial district, will house the new headquarters of the IE University, as well as a clinic and shopping centre.

The plans for the fifth skyscraper in the Cuatro Torres complex – the new financial district in the capital, which currently comprises the Torre de Cristal, Torre Caja Madrid, Torre Sacyr Vallehermoso and Torre Espacio – are taking shape and a date has been set for the inauguration of the tower: the end of 2019, according to the IE University, one of its future tenants.

The business school will expand its facilities and open its new headquarters in the north of Madrid.

Specifically, the fifth tower will house the IE Campus in a building that will be 165 m tall and have a surface area of 50,000 m2 on the Paseo de la Castellana. In addition, this site will also be home to a clinic and a shopping centre.

The plot of land belongs to the Town Hall of Madrid, which has granted its use to Inmobiliaria Espacio. In parallel, the subsidiary of the Villar Mir Group has reached an agreement with the IE University to offer it this space under a 20-year rental agreement, which may be renewed for additional 55 years.

Details of the project

“From now on, the Town Hall of Madrid, Inmobiliaria Espacio and IE University will work together to ensure that the project meets the needs of the city of Madrid in the best possible way”, explain sources at IE. According to these sources, work will be carried out over the next three months to determine the “details” of the project.

OHL Desarrollos will be responsible for the construction of the new infrastructure, which will include auditoriums, sports facilities, green spaces and a 35-storey tower with classrooms and educational areas. Meanwhile, the studios Fenwick Iribarren and Serrano-Suñer Arquitectura will lead the design of the project.

At the new IE Campus, university degree training will be delivered in areas such as Business Administration, Architecture, Technology, International Relations, Law, Communication and Psychology.

In parallel, the IE University, which has been located on María de Molina in Madrid since it was first founded, will continue to perform activities for the business school and other post-graduate programs at its current facilities.

According to the institution, the IE Campus will have a “new, cutting-edge” design for its educational space, offering open areas dedicated to teaching, teamwork and networking between the university and business communities. The Campus will also have a vertical space, which will reproduce the working environment of companies and organisations from all over the world, as well as a horizontal space with sports facilities, large auditoriums and green areas for exclusive use by the institution’s educational community.

Original story: Expansión (by Rebeca Arroyo)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Colonial To Pay Dividends Again After 10 Years

23 February 2016 – El Mundo

The Group generated profits of €415 million in 2015, thanks to the revaluation of its buildings.

Its profits in 2015 were 15.6% lower than in 2014, when the figures reflected the positive accounting effect of the deconsolidation of Asentia.

After 10 years, the Colonial Group is going to distribute dividends once again, distributed from its results for the financial year 2015. The real estate company will allocate around €47 million for payment to its shareholders, 59% of whom are individual investors. The rest of the Group’s capital is held by the Villar Mir Group (15%), the Qatar Investment Authority (13%) and Aguila LTD (7%), a fund owned by (the Colombian group) Santo Domingo (…).

Colonial’s share price closed 2015 at €0.62, after improving by 29% during the year. Shareholders will receive a dividend of €0.015 per share. The company, led by Juan José Brugera, generated a net profit of €415 million last year, after receiving revenues from rental income of €231 million, up by 9% YoY, due to a 6% increase in rental prices, as well as the impact of new acquisitions made in 2014 and 2015. The Group’s profits in 2015 were 15.6% lower than in 2014, when the results reflected the positive accounting effect of the deconsolidation of Asentia (which was not repeated in 2015).

The real estate company, which operates in Barcelona and Madrid, as well as in Paris, through its French subsidiary Société Foncière Lyonnaise (SFL) recorded a 20% increase in the valuation of its assets, to €6,913 million, with 4% of that amount relating to its most recent operations in Paris. In 2016, the firm wants to continue its pace of investment, at around €300 million per year, even though that figure rose to €475 million in 2015. It will also continue to operate in the office segment in its three geographical markets, through both renovations and new builds.

Original story: El Mundo (by M. T. Coca)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Torre Espacio’s Suitors Must Submit Bids Before 21 Oct

16 October 2015 – Expansión

The group has invited interested investors, insurance companies and funds to submit their bids by next week.

Grupo Villar Mir is pushing ahead with the process to sell its Madrilenian skyscraper Torre Espacio. The company, led by Juan Miguel Villar Mir, put the office building located in the Cuatro Torres complex, on the Paseo de la Castellana in Madrid, up for sale in June this year.

Villar Mir, which owns the property through his subsidiary Espacio, wanted to sell the building before the end of the summer, but decided to delay the sale after failing to receive any convincing offers. Pontegadea, the real estate company owned by Amancio Ortega, and Corporación Financiera Alba, controlled by the March family, expressed their interest in the building, for which Villar Mir is hoping to receive around €600 million.

After failing to receive any firm proposal, Espacio and the property consultant Aguirre Newman, responsible for the sale, decided to invite a wider range of investors to participate in the process.

Interested parties must submit their bids before 21 October, when the owner will begin to analyse the offers. According to real estate sources, there is a lot of interest in the market for the property, for which Villar Mir may receive between €500 million and €600 million. Potential buyers include institutional investment funds, such as Invesco, and insurance companies such as Axa and the March family.

Torre Espacio was inaugurated in 2007 after the Villar Mir group invested €400 million constructing it. The skyscraper contains office space with a surface area of 60,140 m2, 85% of which is occupied by tenants belonging to the Villar Mir group itself; the Dutch, Canadian, Australian and British embassies are also tenants of the property.

Original story: Expansión (by Rocío Ruiz)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Carmena Makes Deal With Villar Mir Re Canalejas Complex

13 October 2015 – Cinco Días

The mayoress of Madrid, Manuela Carmena (Ahora Madrid) has reached an agreement with the Villar Mir group to resume the construction of the Canalejas complex, a centre containing a hotel, shops and luxury homes next to the Puerta del Sol, which is currently on hold. That was the statement made by the Town Hall on Friday, which called a press conference for today (Tuesday), where it will reveal the terms of the deal.

OHL is building a five star (Four Seasons) hotel, a large shopping centre and luxury homes in this complex. In September, the company, the Town Hall and the Community of Madrid established a permanent negotiating table, which has now reached an agreement.

The project will modify the volume of the building, which will now be smaller, thanks to a reduction in the height, since the Town Hall wanted to limit the visual impact, above all in the area next to “kilometre zero”. Moreover, the revised plans exclude the planned underground transport hub, and so buses will arrive at Puerta del Sol.

The building work was suspended in part by the Heritage Commission, for the alleged destruction of protected sections, and needs a building licence to continue.

The company owned by Juan Miguel Villar Mir plans to invest €285 million in the operation, which will affect the block between Calles Alcalá, Sevilla, Carrera de San Jerónimo and the Puerta del Sol. Historically, this is where the headquarters of several banks, such as Banesto and Banco Hispano Americano, have been located. (…).

Original story: Cinco Días (by Alfonso Simón Ruiz)

Translation: Carmel Drake

‘Quirón Salud’ Considers Opening A Hospital In The Fifth Tower

7 October 2015 – Cinco Días

The Quirón Salud group is currently considering opening a hospital in the so-called fifth tower, the skyscraper that the Villar Mir group is planning to build at the northern end of the Paseo de la Castellana, on land that was previously home to Real Madrid’s former Ciudad Deportiva. This step would enable the company led by Juan Miguel Villar Mir to construct this emblematic building.

The Villar Mir group was awarded the plot of land next to the Cuatro Torres in April. The company is planning to build a new skyscraper on the site and has always hoped that building would house a private health centre. The corporation won this project, through its subsidiary Inmobiliaria Espacio, but does not have any tenants for the property for the time being.

Initially, the sector thought that the US hospital group Mount Sinai was the most likely candidate to occupy the skyscraper, in its first expected foray into Spain, but the numbers did not stack up for the healthcare company – it concluded that the rental charge was too high for a social use building, according to sources close to the operation.

Now, the baton may be passed to Quirón Salud, the main private hospital group in Spain, which was created following the merger of IDC Salud (formerly Capio) and Quirón. According to sources at the company, it is currently evaluating the project. The company has 70 health centres, including the Fundación Jiménez Díaz, and manages several public hospitals in Madrid, as well as a number of prestigious clinics such as La Luz, San José and the Ruber, in the capital and Teknon and Dexeus, amongst others, in Barcelona. However, the company has not yet confirmed what kind of centre or facilities it would consider opening in the tower.

Two weeks ago, it was announced that Villar Mir will receive help from the Swiss fund Corestate Capital to construct the skyscraper. In a statement, the company announced that the project will require investment of €240 million, and although it did not specify how much each partner will invest, it did say that the possible tenants will be “a hospital, university or government body”. In fact, construction of the property is not expected to start until the tenant (client) has been identified so that the building can be tailored accordingly.

Over the last few days, the possibility of opening a business school in the tower has been evaluated. Some market sources insist that it will be hard for Quirón to make the numbers stack up to open a hospital in the skyscraper.

Villar Mir acquired the plot of land in a tender after presenting the highest bid; the company will pay the Town Hall an annual fee of €4 million for 75 years, in other words, €300 million in total. The plot has a surface area of 67,000 m2 and a buildability of 70,000 m2, of which 52,500 m2 must be allocated to social use (for example, a hospital); the remainder will be developed as retail space. That part is precisely what the hundreds of employees who work in the four adjoining towers want the most, given the lack of restaurants and services currently in the area.

Villar Mir also owns one of those skyscrapers, Torre Espacio, which is currently up for sale, with an asking price of around €600 million. The possible bidders include international funds, such as UBS, Aca, Corporación Financiera Alba and Pontegadea.

Original story: Cinco Días (by A. Simón)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Villar Mir Seeks Tenant For 5th Tower After Mount Sinai Withdraws

12 August 2015 – El Confidencial

The future of Inmobiliario Espacio’s new skyscraper is up in the air. Just four months after Juan Miguel Villar Mir’s company was awarded the concession to use the land next to the Cuatro Torres business district, it has been left without a tenant for the site and is assessing alternative solutions with various candidates.

The future of the fifth tower, which Madrid’s Town Council awarded to Inmobiliario Espacio in April as Ana Botella’s term in office drew to a close, is up in the air. And not just because of the change in local government and political ideology that took place following Manuela Carmena’s arrival at the Palacio de Cibeles in May, but also, and above all, for purely commercial reasons.

The proposal that enabled the company, controlled by Juan Miguel Villar Mir, to win the contest centred around the new skyscraper housing a private medical centre, as well as recreational and retail space – an arrangement that the businessman had agreed with the prestigious Mount Sinai group.

In fact, according to sources close to the deal, the medical group had signed a letter of intent with the Spanish company, but had not entered into a binding contract. As such, the prestigious US centre has been able to back out of the deal and leave Inmobiliario Espacio without a tenant and therefore, without the key required to access the bank financing that is so critical to making this project work. This situation has forced Villar Mir to start looking for alternatives.

Several sources have confirmed that various consultancy firms are working on the search for an alternative to the Mount Sinai project. The options range from reaching an agreement with another medical group – the Mayo Clinic, IDC Salud, HM Hospitales and Vithas have all been considered – ; to modifying the project to accommodate another kind of tenant, such as a university or business school; and even, to changing the initial idea of building a skyscraper to construct another kind of property instead, which would be cheaper to build. Any such change would require the approval of the Local Council.

“Hurricane Carmena”

According to sources close to the Villar Mir Group, the new Local Council has not yet definitely approved Inmobiliario Espacio’s proposal, which means that the project may still be suspended if the numbers do not add up. This threat has been looming since Ahora Madrid was elected into office (in May), but it would be difficult to justify from an economic perspective, given the (negative) impact its cancelation would have on the public coffers. (…).

According to the terms of the concession, the Town Hall will continue to own the plot of land next to the Cuatro Torres site and the winning bidder (in this case Inmobiliario Espacio) will have the right to use the land for a period of 75 years, in exchange for the payment of an annual fee throughout the concession term, which Ana Botella’s team had set at a minimum of €1.9 million, but for which Villar Mir ended up offering more than double (€4.0 million).

Since Inmobiliario Espacio does not own the land, it will have to finance the entire build cost of the skyscraper, estimated at €100 million out of its own pocket, or find a way of offering the banks some kind of guarantee (other than the land) to convince them to grant a loan…in these kinds of project, banks tend to rely on a guaranteed tenant, but that is something that Villar Mir lacks at the moment and explains the current wave of activity to find a solution.

The problems associated with the fifth tower come at a particularly difficult time for Grupo Villar Mir, as its flagship company OHL is struggling to generate cash, whilst at the same time is facing corruption and financing problems…in recent years, the parent company has embarked on several highly ambitious transactions, including the purchase of a 25% stake in Colonial, a 19% stake in Abertis, Operación Canalejas and the fifth tower. (…).

Original story: El Confidencial (by Ruth Ugalde)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Investment In Offices Soars By 85% In H1 2015 To €1,300M

21 July 2015 – Expansión

Real estate investment in office buildings soared by 85% during the first half of the year to reach €1,300 million and whereby record “one of the best results in the last twenty years”, according to data from Aguirre Newman.

Madrid accounted for three quarters (75%) of the total investment, which was mostly concentrated in the business district of the capital.

Aguirre Newman attributes this remarkable increase in real estate investment (which does not include Merlin’s purchase of Testa), to the “consolidation of the growth of the economy”, the “return” of financing and the prospects of recovery in office rental prices in Spain, which are currently offering higher returns that investing in the stock market.

The firm considers that this “strong investment activity” will continue during the second half of the year, given the operations that are currently in the pipeline, such as the sale of Torre Espacio, one of the four skyscrapers in the Cuatro Torres business district, which the Villar Mir Group is looking to sell, but continue to occupy as the tenant (…).

Socimis and institutional investors led the real estate purchases during the first half of the year – they accounted for almost two thirds (65%) of the total acquisitions made.

On the sales side, financial institutions, insurance companies and institutional investors were the main sellers of property.

The interest shown by investors in office buildings has stemmed from the recovery that the sector is experiencing. During the first half of the year, the rent paid for those kinds of buildings increased by 23.7% in Madrid and 49% in Barcelona.

During H1 2015, in the capital, lease contracts were signed for offices with a total surface area of 262,790 m2 and in Barcelona, the figure was 177,499 m2.

Therefore, the average price of rents continued to rise, to reach €25.35/m2/month in Madrid, where prime rents are now €31/m2/month; meanwhile the average rent in Barcelona is €15.96/m2/month.

Aguirre Newman is confident that the increases in demand for office space and in office rental prices will continue for the next few months.

Original story: Expansión

Translation: Carmel Drake

Villar Mir Puts ‘Torre Espacio’ On The Market For €700M

30 June 2015 – Expansión

A new mega real estate transaction is taking shape in Spain, involving ‘Torre Espacio’ – the 236 metre tall skyscraper that the Villar Mir Group owns in the Cuatro Torres Business Area, in Madrid.

The Villar Mir Group, owner of the OHL construction company and the Espacio real estate company, has just put one of the most iconic buildings in the capital up for sale. According to sources close to the process, the property, which contains 60,140 m2 of office space, has an asking price of between €650 million and €700 million.

Villar Mir’s decision to sell the building, through a process organised by the consultancy Aguirre Newman, comes barely a month after the company was awarded the plot of land adjoining the Cuatro Torres, where it will construct a new skyscraper.

The sale of Torre Espacio, which opened in 2007, will generate significant capital gains for the company owned by Juan Miguel Villar Mir, which invested €400 million to buy the site and construct the building. That amount includes the €187 million it paid to purchase the land, as well as all of the financial expenses incurred during the construction period.

Torre Espacio, which was the first of the four buildings in the complex to open, has an occupancy ratio of 85%. Its tenants include the Villar Mir Group, some of its subsidiaries (Fertiberia, Ferroatlántica and Espacio), as well as the embassies of the UK, Netherlands, Canada and Australia.

According to initial calculations, when the tower is fully leased, it will generate annual income of €28 million.

Original source: Expansión (by Rocío Ruiz)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Colonial Completes First Ever Debt Issue By A RE Company

28 May 2015 – Expansión

Colonial placed €1,250 million, but demand exceeded €2,700 million. The real estate company, controlled by the Villar Mir group will use these funds to refinance a bank loan, whereby reducing its financing costs.

Colonial debuted on the bond market yesterday with great success. The real estate company controlled by the Villar Mir Group completed a debt issue amounting to €1,250 million in two tranches: one over four years amounting to €750 million and the other over eight years for €500 million. It paid 1.864% for the first issue and 2.728% for the second.

This is the first debt issue ever to be carried out by a Spanish real estate company and it comes in the middle of the election hangover, which has generated considerable volatility on the markets. The debt issue aroused significant interest (demand exceeded €2,700 million with 225 purchase orders in total), which clearly shows that the confidence of investors has returned to a sector that was hit hard by the crisis (the real estate sector) and above all, to this company in particular, which underwent a tough refinancing process last year.

Lower costs

In fact, Colonial will use the funds obtained to repay a syndicated loan that it signed last year amounting to €1,040 million, which carries a high interest rate, at 400 basis points above 3-month Euribor, and which represents 40.5% of its liabilities. Sources close to the company explained yesterday that this refinancing with result in an annual saving of almost 2%. “The real estate company will stop paying around €20 million per year in interest”, they added. Moreover, the same sources noted that the company, chaired by Juan José Brugera, will no longer be bound by the conditions imposed by the banks, given that “the debt market has granted this financing with no conditions attached”.

To ensure the success of the issue, the CEO, Pere Viñolas and the Corporate Development Director, Carmina Ganyet, launched a road show on 14 May with the banks that they had engaged for the transaction: Morgan Stanley acted as the global coordinator, with the support of Sabadell, BBVA, CaixaBank, Crédit Agricole, ING and JP Morgan. The executives were well received, since S&P had assigned the company a ‘BBB-‘ rating.

As well as the plan to repay the loan to reduce financing costs, Colonial may improve its balance sheet in advance of possible M&A activity in the short term. Sacyr has considered the option of integrating its subsidiary Testa with Colonial to create a large real estate group. Colonial has been authorised to issue more bonds, amounting to €750 million.

Operation “Fade”

In addition to the activity in the private sector, the Government also plunged itself into the quest yesterday with the issue of a ‘fund to cover the electrical hole’ (“fondo que cubre el agujero electric” or Fade). It placed €1,300 million in securities that mature in September 2019, with the help of Santander, BBVA, Barclays and Citi.

The Administration is continuing to refinance this debt, which the vehicle has issued since its creation in 2009, to cover the electrical deficit (which arises due to the mismatch between the revenue received by the companies, from electricity tariffs, and the costs of generating it) at much more favourable costs. For this issue, it has only paid 0.85%, the lowest rate since the vehicle was created.

Meanwhile, the Sociedad Concesionaria Autovía de la Plata, owned by Meridiam (50%), Cintra (25%) and Acciona (25%) launched its first bond issue without a public guarantee in Spain yesterday, for €184.5 million. It is paying 3.169% for these securities, which are being traded on the MARF.

Original story: Expansión (by D. Badía and M. Anglés)

Translation: Carmel Drake