CBRE: 100,000 m2 of Logistics Space was Leased in Zaragoza in 2018

12 March 2019 – Eje Prime

According to data from CBRE, 100,000 m2 of logistics space was leased in Zaragoza in 2018, up by 10,000 m2 compared to 2017. Most of the space was  absorbed by turnkey projects, and the majority of the new contracts were signed for spaces released by companies relocating to new sites.

The largest operation of the year involved the sale of two plots spanning 40,000 m2 on the Plaza industrial estate.

Demand is expected to remain active this year, right across Spain, boosted, in particular, by the emergence of e-commerce, which will continue to drive demand for urban hubs spanning between 3,000 m2 and 5,000 m2.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation/Summary: Carmel Drake

VGP Buys a 40,000 m2 Logistics Plot in Zaragoza

7 March 2019 – El Vigía

The European supplier of logistics and semi-industrial buildings VGP NV has purchased 40,000 m2 of buildable land in Plaza, in an operation advised by CBRE.

As a result, the logistics specialist now owns 120,000 m2 of space on three adjoining plots in Zaragoza, as its expansion continues following its acquisition of 80,000 m2 in Fuenlabrada (Madrid) and 60,000 m2 in Valencia in 2018.

Original story: El Vigía

Translation/Summary: Carmel Drake

Pryconsa Plans to Build 1,500 Rental Homes

28 November 2018 – Eje Prime

Pryconsa is backing the residential rental sector after fifty years in the business. The construction firm is going to enter the market for the first time soon with the development of 1,500 new homes. For the time being, the company is awaiting the outcome of the regulatory changes that the Government is working on relating to the Urban Rental Law.

“It is quite tricky when the rules of the game change halfway through playing”, said Marco Colomer, President of Pryconsa. In this regard, the executive is closely monitoring the possible increase in the duration of rental contracts from three years to five years, as well as the possibility that Town Halls will place limits on house prices in areas that have experienced sharp increases.

Colomer said that the group already has two projects with licences and others with land reserves. Both the company and the pension fund that will become its financial partner are waiting for “the conditions to be ideal to be able to start development”.

Pryconsa’s plan involves constructing 1,500 homes in Madrid, as well as in other provincial capitals with more than 500,000 inhabitants, which is why it may have Barcelona, Valencia, Zaragoza and Sevilla in its sights.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake

Zaragoza Leads the Sale of New Build Homes in Spain

5 November 2018 – El Periódico de Aragón

Zaragoza is still leading the sales of new build homes in Spain. Last year, it was the third-ranked city in the country, after Madrid and Barcelona, in terms of sales volumes, with 800 transactions, and in 2018, it is maintaining that trend. In fact, during the second quarter of the year, the Aragonese capital recorded the sale of 305 new homes, exceeded only by Madrid. That is according to the latest report compiled by the real estate consultancy firm CBRE, which shows that the evolution of Zaragoza this year is even better than last year: 537 new build house sales were recorded during the first half of this year, and so all indications are that they will exceed the 800 units recorded in 2017.

According to the experts, pent-up demand during the years of the crisis, which forced many citizens to postpone their decision to buy a home due to the economic uncertainty, and the current supply of high-quality homes for sale at reasonable prices, are the main causes behind Zaragoza’s leadership of the sector.

Of course, the data is still light years away from the figures recorded before the crisis. “There is still a long way to go in the new build construction market”, said the Director of CBRE in Zaragoza, Miguel Ángel Gómez. During the peak of the real estate boom, 4,000 sales were recorded per quarter in Aragón, and 45% of those were in the new build segment, but that percentage has now dropped to 12%. The figures confirm that the reactivation of the sector is based almost exclusively on second-hand homes. “The supply of second-hand homes is enormous, for that reason, as property developers we have to offer a differentiated, high-quality product if we want to attract customers”, said the President of the Confederation of Construction Companies of Aragón (CEAC) and the Director General of the Lobe group, Juan Carlos Bandrés.

Data relating to the number of building permits that the Town Hall of Zaragoza is granting confirms the new build recovery: last year, 1,526 permits were granted, compared with 1,040 in 2015. This year, it seems that the number of permits granted is decreasing although we still have two months of the year left to run. Either way, the figure is well below the 3,150 recorded in 2009 and light years away from the 8,940 registered in 2006.

The experts also attribute the better performance of Zaragoza compared to other major cities in Spain to the fact that the community has managed to maintain “its own financial system” (Ibercaja), which continues to back the projects of property developers. “Here, there are more possibilities to take projects forward”, highlights Bandrés (…).

Original story: El Periódico de Aragón (by Rubén López)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Slovak Developer J&T Wins Bid for Acquisition of GranCasa and Two Other Shopping Centres

7 August 2018

The Bratislava-based firm has allied itself with Sonae in the acquisition of the Zaragoza complex and others in Bilbao and Santander.

The Slovak real estate firm J&T is preparing for its arrival in Spain with the purchase of three shopping centres, including GranCasa, Zaragoza, in an operation with the Portuguese group Sonae Sierra, estimated at 500 million euros. Sources in the sector confirmed yesterday that J&T, in alliance with Sonae, had outbid the German company ECE for the three complexes and that it will finalise its purchase of the portfolio after completing the corresponding due diligence. The assets also include the Max Center in Bilbao and the Valle Real in Santander.

Sonae, under pressure by its partner in the three centres, CBRE Global Investors, was obligated to sell, though maintaining its intention of continuing to hold a stake. The newspaper Expansión reported yesterday that the Bratislava-based J&T owns 90% of the joint venture created for the purpose with Sonae, while Sonae owns the remaining 10%. Their proposal is said to value the portfolio at approximately 525 million euros, a figure that exceeds ECE’s competing bid. Sonae declined to issue a statement regarding the potential acquisition, limiting itself to saying that “we only discuss finalised transactions.”

The Portuguese group Sonae Sierra took over 50% of GranCasa in 2002, five years after its inauguration, and has been responsible for its management since 2003. The shopping centre located in the Actur, Zaragoza, has more than 200,000 square meters, 80,000 of which are for commercial activity where 170 stores are in operation. There is also a Hipercor, which is not included in the transaction.

GranCasa recently underwent a 12-million-euro investment in a new leisure and restaurant area, which was inaugurated in June. The new space, which measures 10,132 square meters, increased the mall’s offerings to a total of 21 restaurants and five kiosks, complementing existing leisure facilities that include a cinema and gym. The shopping mall’s managers noted that major restaurant chains are or will be maintaining a presence there, including VIPs Smart, Gino’s, The Strad Club, KFC, Muerde la Pasta, Fran Beer and Frutolandia, among others.

Referring to that investment, Alexandre Pessegueiro, head of Asset Management at Sonae Sierra, said GranCasa’s new leisure and restaurant area “is a clear example of how to anticipate changes in consumer models in a sector such as restaurants, in which customers demand an increasing level of differentiation and quality.”

The other two complexes included in the transaction are Max Center, a shopping centre that opened in Bilbao in 1997, and which underwent remodelling in 2000. The shopping mall tenants include Inditex, H&M, Cortefiel, Foster’s Hollywood and La Tagliattela. The centre also has a cinema (Cinesa) and a leisure space next door, Max Ocio.

The third asset is Valle Real, a commercial centre in Santander that opened in 1994 and that in addition to having some of the above brands as tenants, also has a hypermarket of the French chain Carrefour.

The Buyers

J&T Real Estate is a well-regarded Slovak real estate company that has 21 years of experience. The company is headquartered in Bratislava, has 300 employees and a presence in five countries.

Sonae Sierra, which will hold onto 10% of the group, provides services to investors and develops real estate projects anchored in the retail sector. It owns more than 40 shopping centres with a market value of around 7 billion euros and has 83 managed and/or leased shopping centres with 2.5 million square meters of gross leasable area and about 9,300 stores. Sonae currently works with more than 20 co-investors and joint ventures, associating with operators and fund managers for each venture.

Original Story: Heraldo – Luis H. Menéndez

Photo: Guillermo Mestre

Translation: Richard Turner

Jevaso Buys 41,000 m2 Plot in Zaragoza from Porcelanosa for €10M

30 May 2018 – Eje Prime

Real estate operation in the logistical heart of Spain. The logistics operator Jevaso, which works for groups such as Inditex, has acquired a plot of land measuring 41,000 m2 in the Logistics Platform of Zaragoza (Plaza), which had belonged to Porcelanosa until now. The company has disbursed ten million euros for the land and will invest another €3 million on the renovation and expansion of the warehouse, which will span 13,000 m2.

Following the construction work, which will be completed in August, Jevaso’s facilities in Zaragoza will span 25,000 m2. Porcelanosa acquired the plot in 2005 and invested €22 million in the project.

Jevaso is going to use these facilities primarily for returns, ironing and drop-shipping, and initially, its main client is going to be Inditex. Over the medium term, the company plans to add another 12,000 m2 of space. Jevaso has three other warehouses, one that it owns and two that it leases. The aim of the group is to centralise its operations on the new site and hold onto just one of the existing assets, which is connected with Inditex.

At the end of last year, the company acquired another plot measuring 25,600 m2 in Meco (Madrid) with a warehouse spanning 9,000 m2 for €5 million. The group has budgeted an investment of €1 million for that renovation and is considering expanding it to 48,900 m2 over the medium-long term. Jevaso’s new site in Madrid is just 300 m away from the former, located close to Inditex’s operations.

In the cases of both Zaragoza and Madrid, the plots still have scope for more construction, whilst in A Coruña, the group has had to grow with new independent warehouses that have a surface area of 103,000 m2.

In total, Jevaso has six plants in A Coruña, Zaragoza, Madrid, Parets del Vallès (Barcelona) and Braga spanning 200,000 m2. The group employs more than 1,500 workers, moves 120 million garments per year and irons up to 350,000 pieces of clothing a day. The group generates revenue of around €60 million and expects to grow by between 10% and 15% this year.

Jevaso’s history dates back to 1983. Jesús Vázquez, whose family also worked in the textile industry, started his professional career in Samlor, one of Amancio Ortega’s first companies. In the beginning, Jevaso was a clothes manufacturing company dedicated to serving large Galician businesses, which expanded to offer ironing and labelling services. With the industrial relocation, the company turned its business on its head and integrated the logistics activity.

Original story: Eje Prime (by P. Riaño & I. P. Gestal)

Translation: Carmel Drake

German Logistics Giant Hansainvest Set to Invest €300M in Southern Europe

29 May 2018 – Eje Prime

The logistics business is looking to Spain to grow. The giant Hansainvest is preparing to carry out an offensive in the logistics sector in Europe and is planning an investment of between €200 million and €300 million in the logistics sector in markets such as Spain, the UK, Germany and France, according to explanations provided by the company. Its interest in Spain would represent the group’s entry into the country.

The group, which has just appointed Philipp Middendorp to lead the group’s logistics business, is going to start a new round of logistics assets purchases between now and the end of 2019 as part of its growth strategy. In addition to Southern Europe, the company is also going to focus on the Nordic countries and Poland.

According to the company, its wish list includes acquiring core and core plus properties, although “it will also look at possible alternative uses of properties”, explain sources at Hansainvest. “We intend to mainly buy traditional logistics assets, but we will also focus on the acquisition of projects under development”, they add.

“There is a great deal of demand for logistics assets from players in the domestic and international markets. The only way to keep making attractive investments in this context is to broaden our market approach”, they say.

The German logistics group’s asset portfolio comprises residential properties, as well as office buildings. The company also has buildings such as hotels, retail spaces and logistics assets, which is a business that it has decided to develop more over the coming months. In total, Hansainvest manages an asset portfolio worth more than €4.3 billion in 18 countries.

Lack of supply

Hansainvest is going to have to undertake a detailed study of the Spanish market and not let escape any opportunities that arise, given that one of the problems facing this business in the Spanish market is the lack of supply. This means that overall investment in the sector is going to fall by 20% in 2018, although it will still exceed €1 billion, according to a report from the real estate consultancy CBRE.

Leasing is also going to be a problem this year. In Madrid and Barcelona alone, absorption is going to decrease from more than 1.5 million m2 recorded last year to just over 1.2 million m2 this year.

The product shortage is going to lead to the generation of new, but insufficient supply in the two major capitals in 2018. In Madrid, 500,000 m2 of new space ix expected to come onto the market this year, compared with 342,000 m2 in Barcelona.

Nevertheless, cities on the rise in recent years in the logistics market such as Zaragoza, Sevilla and Valencia have minimal supply (…).

Rents on the rise

Of course, the high demand, limited supply and poor outlook for new developments are inevitably leading to an increase in rental prices. That is what happened in 2017, with growth of 5% in Madrid and Barcelona, and in 2018, prices may rise by even more. CBRE’s report points to increases of approximately 7% in the cost of prime assets in Madrid, where prices will reach an average of €5.60/m2/month.

In Barcelona, one of the most expensive cities in Europe in terms of logistics rents, the rental of high-quality warehouses could cost as much as €6.75/m2/month this year, up by 4% compared to 2017.

Original story: Eje Prime (by C. Pareja)

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

CaixaBank Sells Office Building in Valencia to Bancalé

9 March 2018 – Levante EMV

The Aragonese holding company Bancalé has just acquired an office building measuring more than 7,300 m2 on Avenida del Puerto in València. And it seems that the firm, which owns the electronic goods chain K-tuin, has put the building up for rent, as evidenced by the enormous sign that has been hanging from the façade for several weeks now.

According to sources at the company, the building was acquired from CaixaBank a few months ago, in an operation whose economic consideration has not been revealed. The property used to belong to Banco de València, which used to operate some of its services from there. However, the seven-storey building has been empty since 2012.

With the sale of the historical Valencian entity to CaixaBank for €1 in 2012, the building was taken over by Building Center, the real estate subsidiary of the Catalan bank. In 2017, it was finally sold, after it was put on the market and Bancalé made the best offer.

Sources at the group, which is headquartered in Zaragoza, and which comprises a family office linked to the businessman Juan Ramón Fabre, believe that they will be able to let the entire building to a single tenant. The offer includes the ground floor, which is currently occupied by a branch of CaixaBank. “The feeling we have is that there are no products like this in Valencia, with 7,000 m2 of office space available and concentrated in a single space”, say sources at the company. The new owners intend to invest in the building and will do so to adapt it to the needs of the client that rents it out.

With this operation, Bancalé has made its first incursion into the real estate sector in Valencia. The holding company has a real estate division, with offices in Madrid, Barcelona and Zaragoza. It is also a majority shareholder in a hotel investment vehicle that has a presence in Washington, New York, London, Brussels, Berlin and Cologne, according to its website.

Student halls of residence are another focus for the firm’s investment, as well as the logistics sector, where it owns assets in the Plaza de Zaragoza platform. In recent times, the group has also been positioning itself in the renewable energy field with projects in Aragón.

All in all, one of the most well-known facets of the Aragonese group is its chain of electronic shops K-tuin. Bancalé owns the network of 17 establishments in Spanish regional capitals, which sell Apple products and generate a global turnover of more than €150 million.

In addition, Bancalé has also had interests in the social healthcare field, specifically in Valencia. Fabre’s firm had a fleeting experience in the retirement home sector, as the owner of the La Seu nursing home, an establishment with 155 beds on Calle Gobernador Viejo in the old town. The Aragonese firm sold that building to Sanitas at the end of 2016, after experiencing problems with the management of the centre.

Original story: Levante EMV

Translation: Carmel Drake

Savills Aguirre Newman: Inv’t in Logistics Assets Exceeded €1.5bn in 2017

15 February 2018 – Expansión

Real estate investment in logistics assets exceeded €1.5 billion in 2017, up by 86% compared to the previous year. That figure includes the corporate operation involving Logicor.

The boom in e-commerce, combined with their attractive returns, have placed logistics assets in the spotlight for real estate investors. In this way, last year, the purchase of these types of properties reached a record-breaking €1.5 billion, according to the consultancy firm Savills Aguirre Newman.

That disbursement represents an increase of 86% compared to the previous year and is the highest figure ever recorded for these types of properties in the Spanish market. Nevertheless, the amount does include the corporate operation carried out by Blackstone. The US fund divested its logistics subsidiary, owner of 147 million m2 of space across 17 countries (including in Spain) to China Investment for €12.25 billion.

In the last three months of the year alone, investment in these types of assets exceeded €200 million.

Unlike other types of properties, such as offices, interest in these assets extends beyond Madrid and Barcelona. “The consolidation of economic growth and the gradual improvement in the fundamentals of the logistics market (demand, availability and rental prices) has continued to drive investment in the sector, which, due to the shortage of supply in Madrid and Barcelona, has shifted its interest to secondary markets, such as Zaragoza and Valencia”, say sources at the consultancy firm.

The large operations of the year included P3’s purchase of GreenOak’s portfolio for €243 million.

In fact, the high degree of interest has caused many investors to back the purchase of plots of logistics land for their subsequent development. “Operations involving logistics land, for the development of turnkey and at-risk projects, have become one of the cornerstones of the market. The high demand for space, combined with the shortage of finished products suitable for the requirements of specific demand, is generating a lot of interest in this product”, explain sources at Savills Aguirre Newman.

The boom in operations has already had an impact on the returns offered by these types of properties. “The initial rate of return for the most prime assets was below 6%, but during the course of the year, for some specific operations, the rate amounted to 5.5%, which means that the gentle upwards trend already observed in previous years is being maintained”.

Original story: Expansión (by Rocío Ruiz)

Translation: Carmel Drake