Tag: warehouses

Prologis Leases 10,600 m2 of Logistics Space in Madrid to Airpharm

9 April 2018 – Eje Prime

Prologis is welcoming the first tenant at its building in San Fernando de Henares, in Madrid. The giant of the logistics sector has leased 10,600 m2 of space to Airpharm, out of a total surface area of 21,000 m2 that it has developed in the area. The entire complex spans a surface area of 90,000 m2 in total.

As a specialist in the supply of transport and storage services for chemical, cosmetic and pharmaceutical products, Airpharm has chosen this property due to “its proximity to the Madrid-Barajas Airport”, amongst other reasons, according to a statement issued by the company.

This operation by Prologis is further evidence of the good health of the logistics sector in Spain. In Madrid alone, the leasing of these kinds of spaces exceeded 920,000 m2 last year, registering record figures. Moreover, during the first quarter, the rental of logistics space rose by 61% with respect to the same period in 2017, when 310,000 m2 of space was leased.

In terms of Prologis, the Spanish subsidiary of the US operator, which has a presence in 19 countries, recorded turnover from rental income of €38 million last year and managed to let 95% of the total surface area that it owns in Spain.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake

Dachser Inaugurates New Warehouses Spanning 28,000m2 in Zaragoza & Logroño

10 April 2018 – Eje Prime

Dachser is expanding its warehouse space in Spain. The German logistics operator is strengthening its presence in the country with the development of 28,000 m2 of space for the provision of logistics services in Zaragoza and Logroño.

In the Aragonese capital, the company has expanded its volume of storage space in the city by 26,600 m2 with three new warehouses. Two of them are located on the Malpica Industrial Estate and the other one is located on the Plaza Industrial Estate.

Meanwhile, on the Las Cañas Industrial Estate in Logroño, Dachser has doubled the surface area that it has there for transport and has tripled its parcel processing capacity. With these two new operations, the company now manages more than 70,000 m2 of logistics space in the regions of La Rioja, Aragón and Navarra.

Currently, the group has 87 local offices in Spain and  Portugal, as well as 363 own centres distributed across 24 countries all over Europe.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake

Sprinter Invests 35 Million Euros in Its New Headquarters and Logistics Center In Alicante

26 March 2018

In 2017, the sporting goods chain of stores, owned by JD Sports, paid 15 million euros for occupied land in the Las Atalayas industrial estate, covering 39,000 square meters, and plans to spend another twenty million on a warehouse.

The group already spent around 15 million euros last year for the 39,000-square-meter plot of land, according to JD Sports’ financial reports for the first half of the year. The land has an additional area for potential future expansion.

In parallel, the company has begun the construction of a logistics warehouse in Las Atalayas, which is expected to cost about twenty million euros. JD Sports anticipates that the bulk of this investment will impact its results for the second half of 2017 (from August 2017 to January 2018).

Sprinter plans to start up eight new stores in Spain throughout 2018, reaching 140 functioning stores in the country. The company also expects to increase its turnover this year, reaching more than 240 million euros in net sales.

Original Story: EjePrime

Translation: Richard Turner

Inditex Reorganises its Logistics & Unifies its Warehouses for Online & Physical Stores

28 February 2018 – El Economista

In recent years, one of Inditex’s big secrets has been its logistical efficiency and its capacity to move any garment anywhere in the world in record time. Nevertheless, the development of its online business has now forced the Galician fashion giant to go a step further.

With the aim of reducing costs and increasing its profit margins, which have been decreasing systematically since 2012, Inditex has launched a project to unify the management of stock for its physical and online stores. The idea is that the same warehouse should be able to supply stores on the high street and in shopping centres, as well as customers who buy garments through the website.

The project forms part of the company’s digital integration policy. In fact, data collected by Inditex shows that a significant proportion of customers make their purchases online in the same physical store and that around 60% of the returns and exchanges for products purchased through the online channel are managed in a physical store.

Omnichannel strategy

In this vein, in recent months, Inditex has been strengthening its omnichannel strategy. In this way, at its store in Marineda, in La Coruña, it has opened an automated delivery point, with capacity for up to 700 packages, where users may pick up orders they have placed online without having to wait.

After launching that project last September, under the development of its equipment at the Technological Centre in Arteixo (La Coruña), the company explained that its aim is to take a step further towards the integration of its physical and online stores.

Improved deliveries

In December, the President of Inditex, Pablo Isla, announced that the group had started to offer same-day delivery in six cities – Madrid, London, Paris, Istanbul, Taipei and Shanghai – and next-day delivery in Spain, France, the United Kingdom, Poland, China and South Korea.

According to Isla, it is about looking for an “increasingly comprehensive management of the online business”, whereby allowing improvements in delivery times. Just a few weeks ago, at the end of January, Zara, the flagship brand of the Galician group, unveiled the first store in the world that specialises in making and collecting online orders, as well as processing any returns or exchanges, at a new store in the Westfield shopping centre in Stratford (London).

That is a pop-up or temporary store, which will remain open until the flagship store in the same shopping centre is reopened in May, which is going to see its surface area double to 4,500 m2 with a completely new concept.

“The staff in that store use tablets and mobile devices to help customers, who have the option of receiving their orders just a few hours later – if the order is placed before 14:00 – or the next day – if it is placed after that time. It also facilitates the payment system thanks to an innovative system of bluetooth card payment terminals”, explain sources at Inditex. The company, which has 7,504 stores in 94 markets around the world, has an online presence in 45 countries and is continuing to make progress against the large online platforms, such as Amazon and Alibaba. Meanwhile, the stock market is still punshing the group for its falling margins; on Tuesday, its share price fell again, by 0.86% to €25.25.

Original story: El Economista (by Javier Romera)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Aragón Sells 555,000 m2 of Logistics Space in 2 Years

15 January 2018 – Inmodiario

The Government of Aragón has sold almost 555,000 m2 of space in Plaza (Zaragoza), Platea (Teruel), Plhus (Huesca) and the Fraga Logistics Platform since the beginning of this legislature.

In the ‘Parque Empresarial Dinamiza’ (the Dinamiza Business Park), from Expo Zaragoza Empresarial, more than 8,900 m2 has been leased during that time. The return to intense activity in terms of their management, their unification under the single ‘Aragón Plataforma Logística’ (‘Aragón Logistics Platform’ or APL) brand and the sales boost have managed to relaunch sales and invigorate the receipt of revenues in the public coffers.

In terms of the marketing of the Aragonese platforms, 355,000 m2 of space has been sold in Plaza over the last two years, which brings the occupancy rate of that Zaragoza-based platform to its current level of 83%. More than 350 companies work in the ‘Plataforma Logísitica de Zaragoza’ (Plaza) and it has become an international benchmark in terms of intermodal connections and high quality.

Meanwhile, the ‘Plataforma de Huesca’ (Plhus) has sold more than 22,100 m2 of space in the last two years, has formalised purchase options for another 3,448m2, and has leased 2,170 m2 of warehouses and plots. Some of the companies that have acquired plots in the last two years include Transportes Callizo, Hierros Alfonso, Audi Seat and Montajes Industriales del Alto Gállego (MIAG). The installations have also witnessed the creation of Gaypu and the manufacturing activity of Pastelerías Ascaso, amongst others.

In the Teruel-based platform, Platea, almost 48,000 m2 of space has been sold over the last two years, purchase options have been signed for almost 45,000 m2 and 4,353 m2 has been leased.

With the purchase by the multinational firm Röchling and the launch of the Ronal Ibérica plant, amongst others, Platea is now a key centre of activity for the automotive auxiliary sector, although the agro-alimentary sector also has a notable presence at the platform. This week, Jamones Albarracín announced that it has purchased plots in the Teruel platform (…).

‘Aragón Plataforma Logística’ was launched in 2017. The President of Aragón himself, Javier Lambán, backed its creation as “a single brand to attract more companies, which will contribute decisively to making logistics a fundamental factor in the economic consolidation of the European market”.

The 500 companies located in the logistics platforms and business park of Expo Zaragoza Empresarial, which form part of APL, employ more than 16,000 people (…). The Government of Aragón regards logistics as a strategic sector in terms of the Executive’s policies (…).

Original story: Inmodiario

Translation: Carmel Drake

Grupo Ortiz Puts its Socimi up for Sale with Assets Worth €150M

27 November 2017 – El Independiente

The Carpintero family, the majority shareholder of the Socimi Grupo Ortiz Properties, has put the company up for sale, just four months after it started trading on the Alternative Investment Market (MAB). The sales prospectus has been in the offices of potential interested parties for several days now, according to intel gathered by El Independiente.

The company, which has real estate assets worth more than €150 million and a capitalisation of €74 million, owns 100,000 m2 of space for rent, with a 96% occupancy rate.

Most of the assets, equivalent to 97% of their value, are located in Madrid, and they generate aggregate net rental income of €6.9 million. The residual part of the portfolio is located in Asturias and Guadalajara.

The intention of the Carpintero family is to continue as a shareholder of the company, by holding onto around 30% of the share capital.

The company is led by Juan Antonio Carpintero (pictured above), President of Grupo Ortiz and Chairman of the Socimi’s Board of Directors, alongside his children María and Carlos Carpintero, Raúl Arce as the CEO of the construction company and Carlos Cuervo-Arango Martínez, a former director of Zeltia.

According to the company’s own reports, the market value of the assets owned by Grupo Ortiz Properties amounts to €150 million. Of those, its office buildings account for €67.1 million; its homes and apartments another €70.7 million; its warehouses €3.6 million; and its other premises and parking spaces €8.7 million.

In the documentation prepared for its debut on the stock market, Grupo Ortiz Properties described the nature of the property sector at the moment. “The real estate market is entering an attractive point in the cycle in light of the improvement being seen in the main macroeconomic indicators, such as consumer confidence, employment, interest rates, exports/imports, the industrial production index, the reactivation of the second-hand residential market – they are all signs of the economic recovery and of the start of a change in the cycle”.

The Socimi highlights that its “management strategy is based on long-term leases to solvent tenants (both economically and professionally) in order to ensure long-term sustainability and the ability to obtain an attractive return in exchange for the risk assumed”.

Original story: El Independiente (by Ana Antón)

Translation: Carmel Drake

PwC: Madrid Is One Of Europe’s Top 5 Most Attractive Cities For RE Investment

13 November 2017 – Eje Prime

Madrid is really winning over European investors. The Spanish capital is one of the top five cities to invest in over the course of the next year, as recommended by the consultancy firm PwC, according to its annual study Emerging Trends in Real Estate: Europe 2018. Whilst Madrid rose from 9th to 5th position, Barcelona managed to avoid the tense political situation in Cataluña to rise from 16th to 11th.

One of the reasons that led the consultancy firm to highlight Madrid as a safe house for real estate investment over the next year is its office market, which “after a cycle of compression”, has seen an increase in rental prices in the segment. “The increase in office rental prices suggests that Madrid is one of the most attractive opportunities for investors in Europe”, say sources at PwC.

With the (national) political uncertainty now “dissipated”, the recovery across Spain and, specifically, in Madrid is progressing “at full speed”. Real estate investment volumes in 2017 are on track to exceed records, especially in segments such as retail, where investment in this kind of asset is expected to soar by the end of the year, to exceed €4,000 million. Moreover, Madrid is also starring in alternative investment operations, such as those involving Resa and Nexo in the student hall segment, and the opening of the first Spanish WeWork office in Madrid, in the co-working sector.

During the 9 months to September, Spain closed transactions worth €10,300 million, according to a study compiled by the main real estate consultancy firms in Spain. In the third quarter alone, investment in real estate assets amounted to €3,000 million (…).

Offices remained the second most popular asset by investment volume (accounting for 24% of the total investment volume in Spain). Investors tend to focus on Madrid and Barcelona in this segment, with the two cities accounting for 90% of total office investment (…).

Logistics assets are also sparking a great deal of interest, especially warehouses located in Madrid and Barcelona. The volume of investment in these types of assets has not stopped growing since 2012 and so far this year, investment has reached €811 million, up by €100 million compared to 2016 as a whole (…).

Barcelona rises but misses out on Top 10 place

Outside the top ten by one position, Barcelona is nevertheless above average for the European cities recommended by PwC for investment. After rising several places from 16th to 11th in the ranking, the Catalan capital has caused alarm bells to ring due to the political situation, which has led some funds to put their real estate investments in the autonomous region on standby.

PwC says that, although there is a certain degree of concern, after interviewing a large number of investors for the preparation of its report, it concludes that no one is going to stop taking Barcelona into account for their real estate investments. “Investors are applying almost zero political risk, given that they do not believe that Cataluña is going to become independent”, said one of the main directors of a Spanish real estate business to the consultancy firm (…).

Original story: Eje Prime (by C. Pareja)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Sareb Sold 13,796 Properties Between Jan & Sept, Up By 55% YoY

15 November 2017 – Expansión

Yesterday, the bad bank reported updated figures for its commercial business. Between January and September, it sold 13,796 properties, up by 55% compared to the same period last year, boosted by commercial campaigns and the change in the real estate cycle. These figures imply a drop in the growth rate compared to the previous quarter, most likely influenced by the lower activity typically seen in August. Note, the data relates to the first 9 months of the year until 30 September and therefore does not reflect the suspension of real estate activity in Cataluña since that date.

The sale of residential properties grew by 50% YoY, whilst the sale of warehouses, retail premises, hotels and offices rose by 99%. The bad bank also sold 710 plots of land, up by 31% compared to the previous year.

Sareb is also involved in property development activity. This year, the company has sold eleven developments that it received when they were unfinished.

The bad bank’s total revenues grew by 3.6% during the 9 months to September – after increasing by 21% during the first 6 months of the year – to €2,394 million.

Sareb has never made any money. Its cumulative losses amount to €781 million. Since its creation, it has reduced its toxic asset balance by 23% and has repaid 19% of the debt it issued initially.

Renewal of the board

Sareb is going to subject the renewal of its Board of Directors to the General Shareholders Meeting for approval. The former minister and former President of Endesa, Rodolfo Martín Villa, who represents the Frob, will depart for reasons of age. He will be substituted by Eduardo Aguilar, former CEO of Seguros. The representative of Popular will resign from the board to make way for Jaime Rodríguez Andrade, Director General of Problem assets, restructurings and corporate investments at Santander. And the representatives of CaixaBank will be replaced: Jorge Mondéjar and Antonio Cayuela will take over from José Ramón Montserrat and Antonio Massanell.

Original story: Expansión

Translation: Carmel Drake

Ibercaja Sells 2 Logistics Warehouses In Plaza For €19M

26 October 2017 – Heraldo.es

Ibercaja has sold a logistics complex measuring 27,096 m2 in Plaza (Plataforma Logística de Zaragoza) to the fund manager Savills Investment Management for €19 million. The sale, closed last week, represents the highest price paid per square metre in an individual operation in the history of the logistics platform.

The complex that Ibercaja has divested comprises two large warehouses with long-term leases to Mercadona and the German operator Kuehne Nagel, respectively. Sources familiar with the transaction explain that the objective of the new buyer is to maintain these uses, given that it was precisely the long-term rental agreements over both warehouses that raised their interest in the first place.

The competitive process for the sale, in which more than 25 possible buyers expressed an interest, was coordinated by the portal specialising in real estate auctions addmeet.com, which has now managed several important sales in Zaragoza and Aragón.

The move by Ibercaja sees it deepen its commitment to the divestment of its non-strategic assets, as it seeks to focus all of its efforts and resources on boosting the banking business and the digital transformation, whereby fulfilling the roadmap that the entity set itself for the strategic cycle 2015-2017.

The buyer, the Savills Investment Management group, plans to integrate its new assets into the European Logistic Fund II fund, aimed at acquiring top-quality logistics products around Europe. Savills Investment has 18 offices in Europe and Asia and manages properties around the world worth €16,000 million. “We are very happy with the completion of this operation in a very competitive market. It is a high-quality asset in Plaza, which provides the fund with a solid and defensive distribution platform”, said Michael Reinmuth, Director of Savills in Spain.

Plaza has seen investments worth €140 million so far this year

This new sale, at a price of €701/m2, is the most significant in Plaza’s history in terms of an operation involving real estate assets only. Previously, higher prices per square metre have been paid in other transactions but only when they also included the purchase of companies, according to local sources in the sector.

With this latest deal for €19 million, Plaza has recorded investments from various operations amounting to €140 million so far this year, an amount that helps consolidate the position of the logistics platform in Zaragoza (…).

Original story: Heraldo.es (by V. M.)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Liberbank Finalises Property Sale To Ensure Success Of Capital Increase

4 October 2017 – Cinco Días

Liberbank does not want to follow in the footsteps of Popular and is taking firm strides to avoid that fate. Its focus now is on shaking off the property that it still holds following the crisis, in order to project the image in the market that it has cleaned up its books and to ensure the success of its upcoming capital increase. In this way, the entity is finalising the sale of a large part of its portfolio of foreclosed assets this week, in parallel to the capital increase, which its General Shareholders’ Meeting is expected to approve on 9 October.

The entity led by Manuel Menéndez is working against the clock to ensure its independence. The CNMV has given it until 30 November to extend, for the third time, a veto on short positions that it imposed in June, a few days after Popular’s future was resolved. Sources close to the operation expect the first stage (the sale of a portfolio worth €800 million) to be closed this week. Or within 15 days, at the latest, since in that case, it would be performed in parallel to the start of the capital increase.

Liberbank received the first binding offers at the beginning of last week. And from those, it has selected three funds: KKR, Bain and Cerberus. The latter is the firm that acquired the bank’s real estate subsidiary, Mihabitans, in the summer, through Haya Real Estate. It spent €85 million on that purchase. The market described the operation as a “success” and uses it as an example for the upcoming sale of the toxic property.

Haya is exclusively managing the current foreclosed real estate assets on Liberbank’s balance sheet, as well as any future foreclosed real estate assets that end up being incorporated onto the bank’s overall balance sheet or onto those of any of its real estate subsidiaries. According to the accounts for the first half of the year, Liberbank held €3,115 million in foreclosed assets on its balance sheet, with a provision coverage ratio of 40%. Of those, €1,741 million are finished homes, €1,162 million are plots of land, €480 million are homes under construction and €402 million are offices and warehouses.

This new sale of foreclosed assets, dubbed ‘Operación Invictus’, will be closed for a price of around €400 million. Although the book value of the real estate assets in the portfolio is €800 million, the sale will be closed at a discount of at least 50%. Santander closed the sale of 51% of Popular’s property to Blackstone at a discount of 66%.

With the aim of wiping out the losses that this sale will generate and of getting rid of a large part of its real estate portfolio, once and for all, the Board of Directors of Liberbank proposed a capital increase on 6 September, which they are now trying to safeguard. The bank hopes to raise €500 million through the operation. The objective is for the bank’s default ratio to amount to 3.5% by 2019 and for the coverage ratio on its non-performing assets (doubtful loans and foreclosed assets) to rise to around 50%. At the end of June, Liberbank recorded figures of 11.3% and 40% for these ratios, respectively.

With a balance sheet of €40,000 million, Liberbank is the smallest entity of those supervised by the ECB, together with Banco Crédito Social Cooperativo, the parent company of Cajamar. One of Liberbank’s other missions is to increase its return on equity (ROE) to 8% by 2020, compared with the figure of 2.7% recorded during the first half of this year. It is the second time that the bank has increased its share capital since it started trading on the stock market in 2013. The previous capital increase, in May 2014, saw it raise almost €500 million.

Then, the bank responsible for coordinating the operation was Deutsche Bank; now it is being managed by Citi. Last time, the injection of fresh funds allowed the entity to early repay €124 million that the FROB (Fund for Orderly Bank Restructuring or ‘Fondo de Reestructuración Ordenada Bancaria’) had injected it with; to strength its top-tier capital ratio to more than 10%, as if the Basel III requirements were completely applicable; and to bring forward the payment of dividends to its shareholders.

Original story: Cinco Días (by Álvaro Bayón and Pablo M. Simón)

Translation: Carmel Drake