The residential, office, industrial and commercial sectors were particularly active in the Spanish real estate market in November. Veganarcea acquired a residential building in Madrid’s Salamanca district, the Spanish state acquired an office building in Madrid Río for around €60 million, Patrizia bought a warehouse under construction in Toledo for €56 million from Pavasal, and Saint Croix acquired the Sexta Avenida shopping centre in Madrid, among other transactions.
On the corporate front, negotiations between Värde and Neinor Homes for the new-build developer Vía Célere were noteworthy. In addition, companies such as RetailCo, a subsidiary of Banco Santander, Goldman Sachs’ Newdock and Hipoges Iberia announced new hires.
Companies
In early November, news came out that the new-build developer Neinor Homes was negotiating the acquisition of its competitor Vía Célere, which would allow it to acquire some 1.7 billion euros in assets. However, at the end of the month, it became known that Värde, the fund that owns Vía Célere, had broken off negotiations with Neinor.
Also at the beginning of November, the investment firm Capreon announced that it was studying a potential first acquisition in Spain. George Minns, CEO of the holding company owned by the Noé family, explained that the company is preparing to invest in the Spanish real estate market.
In the middle of the month, Blackstone and other creditors of Haya Real Estate joined forces to renegotiate with Cerberus. The investment funds Tikehau, Invesco and Alcentra, in addition to Blackstone and Cerberus, formed a monitoring committee to renegotiate the servicer’s debt.
Merlin Properties also presented its quarterly results, where it highlighted that groups such as Indra, Airbus and Toys “R” Us are among its latest major tenants. Merlin signed a series of new office, logistics and shopping centre leases between July and September.
At the end of the month, Urbas announced that it was finalising the sale of build-to-rent projects for €100 million and is preparing new residential and shopping centre investments. It also launched a new development brand, AD Home, through which it expects to deliver 4,000 homes by 2024.
On the other hand, Sareb mobilised the courts to allow its bonds to have negative yields. The so-called bad bank filed a declaratory/constitutive lawsuit before the Madrid Courts of First Instance against six banks and one company.
It has also been announced that the CEO of AQ Acentor will leave his position at the developer. Sven Schoel, until now head of the German fund manager Aquila Capital in Spain and CEO of its developer AQ Acentor, has agreed to leave the company.
Residential
At the beginning of last month, KKH Properties put the first flats of its new development, the Mandarin Oriental Residences Barcelona complex, on sale through roadshows in London, Miami, Moscow and the Middle East.
In mid-November, the Veganarcea group bought a residential building in Madrid’s Salamanca district. The 2,500 m2 building is located at 19 Naciones Street and has 20 flats, an office and a shop.
A few days later, news was released that Blackstone was studying the sale of its most sought-after residential property in the centre of Madrid. Castellana 68 is located in the fourth most expensive neighbourhood in the capital, with prices above 7,000 euros per square meter.
The German fund Rockstone also entered the luxury housing market in Spain. The joint venture’s first project will be refurbishing a building next to the Canalejas Centre. Prices for the flats are expected to start above one million euros.
Offices
Urbas moved its Madrid headquarters to a building three times its size in early November. The company left its complex in Calle Santa Cruz de Marcenado to move to the Gobelas 15 building in La Florida.
A week later, the Spanish state acquired an office building in Madrid Río for 60 million euros. The property, owned by AEW, was purchased turnkey from the developer Insur and has never been rented.
At the end of November, Grupo Emperador offered 400 million euros for prime properties belonging to El Corte Inglés. The Philippine holding company intends to acquire the Titania Tower, leased to EY, or land acquired from Adif.
Industrial and logistics
At the beginning of last month, Patrizia bought a warehouse, currently under construction, in Illescas (Toledo) for 56 million euros from Pavasal. The asset will have a total of 92,000 m2 and can be divided into up to six independent modules.
A few days later, OPEA Partners announced that it was selling an entire industrial estate in Castilla-La Mancha. The estate has a total surface area of 700,000 m2, including common and green spaces, and 550,000 m2 of gross leasable area (GLA).
At the end of November, Hines revealed that it is preparing to build a large-scale logistics project at the site of Airbus’ former factory in Madrid. The company is studying the acquisition of a plot of land for industrial use that will join the Airbus complex acquired last year to create a major logistics facility in the airport area.
Retail
During the first days of last month, Boadilla del Monte put out to tender a plot of land for developing a shopping centre in Madrid. A supermarket is to occupy 75% of the building area, which is 2,800 m2.
A few days later, Siamese Dream acquired a portfolio of TargoBank branches in Marbella, Málaga, Benalmádena, Barcelona, Jerez de la Frontera and Vigo. The transaction was closed for between four and six million euros.
AAt the very end of the month, the socimi Saint Croix acquired the Sexta Avenida shopping centre in Madrid. The asset has a gross leasable area of approximately 17,000 m2 and has more than 420 parking spaces.
Land
The Belgian group Los Menceyes acquired a 150,000 m2 plot of land in Tenerife at the beginning of November for 20 million euros. Two luxury hotels, housing and a store will be developed on the site.
Hotels
In the hotel sector, the Anpora Group acquired the Hilton Alexandra hotel for 32.5 million euros at the beginning of the month. The asset, located very close to Passeig de Gràcia, has 116 rooms.
A few weeks later, Blasson Property finalised its acquisition of the Punta Negra hotel in Mallorca. The firm created by Antonio Pan de Soraluce, Francisco Meliá and Enrique Benjumea will invest 180 million euros in the hotel, operated by the H10 chain.
Student residences
At the end of November, a French SCPI bought a 56-room student residence in Granada. The deal was a sale & leaseback agreement with Students Suites Europe, which will operate the home.
Alternative assets
Hines reached an agreement with HM Hospitales to lease 1,000 m2 of retail space in its Valdebebas 125 project in Madrid. Likewise, the coffee & bakery chain Santa Gloria leased another 149 m2 in the complex.
Recruitment
In terms of the most important appointments, it is worth mentioning that, at the beginning of November, Rafael Bou joined the board of Persépolis Inmboliaria. The managing partner became a member of the board after a year working for the socimi.
A few days later, Santander’s RetailCo subsidiary hired executives who previously worked at Deloitte and CBRE. Ignacio Cantó joined as project manager and Carlos Herrera as asset manager.
A week later, Goldman Sachs brought on Fátima Sáez to lead its new logistics division. Sáez will coordinate investments worth one billion euros, projected by Newdock for the next three years.
In addition, Hipoges Iberia renewed its board of directors. Hipoges’ Spanish division was strengthened with the addition of Eugene Kyim and Giovanni Spingardi to the company’s board.
Finally, Blackstone reinforced its Aliseda and Anticipa teams with professionals from Orange, Altamira and in-house talent. Eugenia Garrido, Head of Digital Marketing at Orange until a few months ago, took over the corporate marketing management of Anticipa and Aliseda, among other appointments.