Telefonica looks to raise 90M from sale of Chile HQ

Telefonica’s Movistar Chile subsidiary is selling its Santiago HQ as part of an ongoing review of non-strategic assets.

The 34,000m² iconic HQ is located in the central Plaza Italia and includes two adjacent buildings on Avenida Providencia and Bustamante. CBRE has been hired to conduct the sale and leaseback transaction.

The Chilean subsidiary reported second-quarter revenues down 3.8 percent year on year on an organic basis to €487 million, attributed mainly to regulatory impact, although fixed revenues grew for the first time in the last 10 quarters, by 1% to €214 million. The company’s operating income before depreciation and amortisation (OIBDA) was EUR 170 million in the quarter, down 1.9% year-on-year, while the OIBDA margin came in at 34.8 percent, up 0.6% from the year-earlier period.

Telefónica also agreed recently to sell its headquarters in the Spanish region of Catalonia to Filipino billionaire Andrew L. Tan, who already owns Madrid’s Torre Espacio.

Andrew L. Tan is the Chairman of the Alliance Global Group, a diversified global conglomerate which, in addition to a substantial property portfolio, owns the Emperador spirits group which includes whiskey brands such as Whyte and Mackay, The Dalmore, Jura in addition to a portfolio of world-renowned brandies like Domecq and Fundador. The Filipino businessman has a net worth of $2.7 billion, according to Forbes magazine.

His property arm, Megaworld, is expected to pay €150 million for 
the Barcelona property known as «Diagonal 00». The deal takes the form of a sale&leasebackoperation as Telefónica intends to continue in the 34,000m² asset and honour its lease obligations until 2060.

The Spanish based telecoms multinational, which is chaired since 2016 by José María Álvarez-Pallete, purchased the building from state-owned CZFfor more than €129 million in 2014. Now, five years later, Telefónica has seen an opportunity to reduce part of its debt with the funds generated by this divestment.