SPAIN
Millenium Hotels has bought three iconic Spanish hotels for €131 million and has plans to convert them into five-star hotels.
It has purchased the Carrera de San Jerónimo, 9 and 11, the old Hotel Asturias in Madrid and Gran Hotel Meliá Bilbao, in Bilbao.
The old hotel Asturias is in one of the Spanish capital’s most exclusive areas, in front of the Four Seasons Canalejas complex.
The Meliá, designed by architect Ricardo Legorreta, is in front of the Euskalduna Conference Center, the new San Mamés stadium, Doña Casilda Park, and the Nervión River.
Continued investment in Spanish hotels
Millenium Hotels currently owns seven top-quality Spanish hotels with outstanding locations in major cities. It plans to continue investing in similar assets until the portfolio is worth close to €500 million.
The two historic and emblematic 19th century buildings at 9 and 11 Carrera de San Jerónimo, next to Plaza de Canalejas, Puerta del Sol, and the city’s top museums, cost €82 million.
Millenium Hotels says the Spanish hotels transaction is one of the most significant in 2019, not only due to the amount of the investment, and the quality of the assets, but also because it completes and perfectly complements the area’s other five-star accommodations.
The properties were purchased with fully renovated structures, partially renovated interiors, and all Spanish hotels operation licenses and building permits valid.
Javier Illán, the president of Millenium Hotels, says, “This property perfectly reflects our company’s investment focus, which is based on acquiring emblematic properties in the prime areas of major cities, in this case an extraordinary location in one of the most exclusive areas of Madrid with an even brighter future, as is the case with Plaza de Canalejas, which is today one of the capital’s leisure, cultural, and culinary centers.
“The condition of the property and the price paid, which compared to recent transactions entails an approximate price of €400,000 less per room, allows us to implement our value added and general value strategy for the property by undertaking a large project that will allow the property to recover its former glory. The sum of these variables will provide us with a significant profitability ratio, both due to the returns expected from hotel operations and due to the high intrinsic value that an iconic property like this one creates.”
Hotel Meliá Bilbao
The hotel Meliá Bilbao complements the investment plan in Bilbao, after having acquired Hotel Gran Vía 4 in Bilbao at the beginning of 2019, which will be operated by Radisson, under its luxury brand Radisson Collection.
The Meliá Bilbao is inspired by a piece by Basque sculptor Eduardo Chillida. Its magnificent facilities and services include 211 contemporary rooms; a number of culinary spaces, a Wellness Center including a gym, semi-outdoor heated pool, and several saunas.
Javier Illán says, “This acquisition strengthens our portfolio with an asset that entails a consolidation of our presence in a city like Bilbao, which given its location, cultural wealth, culinary might, and business prosperity makes it one of the Spanish cities with the best tourism potential and a city that is currently more appealing in terms of the profitability and value it has to offer.”
Millenium Hotels portfolio of Spanish hotels consists of Vía Castellana in Madrid, Lucemtum in Alicante, Plaza Magdalena and Plaza San Francisco in Seville, Gran Vía in Bilbao, and now the old Hotel Asturias in Madrid and Meliá Bilbao.
MILLENIUM HOTELS Real Estate is a SOCIMI real estate investment corporation whose business focuses on four and five-star hotel assets in fast-growing areas.
Scotland office deal is group’s first in the UK
UK
Futureal Group, a leading real estate developer and investor in Central and Eastern Europe, has bought the Spectrum Building in Glasgow.
The transaction, which was completed by Trinova Real Estate, marks a significant milestone in Futureal’s expansion into Western Europe.
The iconic stainless-steel clad Spectrum Building is in the heart of Glasgow’s central business district on the corner of Blythswood Street and Waterloo Street. It offers more than 6,800 square meters / 74,000 square feet of office and retail accommodation.
The offices are occupied by tenants, including Arthur J Gallagher, Hays Recruitment, Hogg Robinson and Resolvecall. The retail units are let to Subway and Bright Horizons Nursery.
Sam Resouly, Partner at Trinova Real Estate, says, “We are delighted to have acquired Spectrum on behalf of Futureal in our first deal together in this partnership – in particular we are looking forward to executing an exciting business plan with Futureal on their first UK office asset. The fundamentals of the Glasgow market are particularly attractive and supportive of the business plan, and we are looking to reposition the asset to capture a number of opportunities.”
First direct acquisition in the UK
The purchase of Spectrum Building represents the first direct acquisition in the UK for Futureal. The company is looking to expand its portfolio across Western Europe, which has grown to more than 100 projects with a total value of €3 billion and an area of over 2 million square metres. Futureal has already gained strong presence in Central and Eastern Europe, in particular the Hungarian and Polish markets, with further activities in Spain, Germany, Romania and the United States.
Futureal Group founder Gábor Futó says, “As part of our latest strategy, we intend to acquire further income-producing properties in major cities with a focus on asset repositioning. In addition to securing value-add projects like the Spectrum Building in Glasgow or the recently purchased Antares office building in Warsaw, Futureal Group is now also sourcing new opportunities outside of its traditional Central and Eastern European markets for the group’s commercial and residential investment and development businesses.”
CBRE advised Futureal and Trinova, JLL acted on behalf of the vendor.
LEG to buy 2,230 residential and commercial units
GERMANY
Housing company LEG is acquiring a portfolio of around 2,200 residential units and 30 commercial units in Germany.
The portfolio in Bremen, Oldenburg, Delmenhorst and Cuxhaven, which has a total rental space of around 140,000 square metres, is acquired from the Hanover-based Baum Group.
LEG aims to grow both within and outside its core market.
CEO Lars von Lackum, says, “We intend to continue to expand in nearby regions outside NRW in order to strengthen our portfolio. We are pleased to have acquired an attractive portfolio with a focus on north-western Germany for the second time this financial year now and to systematically establish a market presence there. This underlines LEG’s ability to make attractive, value-adding acquisitions even in the currently tight housing markets.”
The properties in the portfolio were constructed between 1920 and 2002. Extensive renovations have been carried out since 2015. Around 92% of the rental space is attributable to a total of 36 properties in Bremen and Oldenburg.
The apartments have an occupancy rate of around 98.5% and an average monthly rent of around €6/m². In the 2018 financial year, the portfolio generated rental income of €10.2 million (in-place rent). The parties agreed not to disclose the purchase price.
BNP Paribas Real Estate was given an exclusive mandate for the sale by the Baum Group.
The transaction is still subject to approval by the responsible antitrust authorities. Transfer of ownership is scheduled for 31 December 2019.
With around 131,000 rental properties and more than 350,000 residents, LEG is one of Germany’s leading listed housing companies.
The aerial image of Oldenburg is from Wikipedia and is reproduced under Creative Commons.
Five French hotels purchased for €181m
FRANCE
Angelo Gordon & Co and EQ Group has bought five French hotels from Gecina for around €181million.
The assets, which consist of the premises and business assets of five hotels in Paris, Boulogne, Bougival and Roissy, is from the Eurosic portfolio. The operation is in line with the strategy to divest non-strategic assets.
At the end of June 2019, Gecina owned, managed and developed property holdings worth €19.9 billion.
The group is building its business around Europe’s leading office portfolio, with nearly 97% located in the Paris Region, and a diversification division with residential assets and student residences.
Gecina is a French real estate investment trust (SIIC) listed on Euronext Paris.
Gide Partners Nadege Nguyen and Hugues Moreauadvised the purchasers on the transaction along with a multi-disciplinary team.
Clifford Chance and CMS Francis Lefebvre advised the sellers on legal and tax aspects respectively.
Source: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20191106005769/en/Gecina-finalizes-sale-hotel-portfolio-Angelo-Gordon and https://www.gide.com/en/news/gide-advises-angelo-gordon-eq-group-on-the-acquisition-of-5-hotels-from-gecina
Gloucester retail park fetches £54m
UK
Hammerson plc has exchanged contracts on the sale of St Oswald’s Retail Park, Gloucester, to a local authority for £54million.
The sale price reflects a net initial yield of 8.5%, and is 8% below the 30 June 2019 book value.
The 20,900 square meter park, in north Gloucester, offers a range of bulky goods, retail and leisure space over two terraces. Flagship tenants include Homesense, B&Q and Wren Kitchens.
Hammerson originally developed the site in 2005 and has since increased the overall number of units.
Following this transaction, Hammerson has achieved £577million of disposals in 2019, exceeding its minimum disposal target, of in excess of £500m, for the financial year. This includes the sale of a major stake in its Italie Deux flagship destination in Paris for £423m, announced in July, as well as additional retail park disposals.
Hammerson Chief Executive, David Atkins, says, “Despite a challenging investment market, we are successfully executing disposals in line with our priority to reduce debt and strengthen our balance sheet. These transactions also give us the flexibility to capitalise on the opportunities we see in the market, particularly with regards to our City Quarters pipeline, which is core to the future direction and success of our business.”
Source: https://www.hammerson.com/media/press-releases/disposal-of-st-oswalds-retail-park-gloucester/
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