C&W advises Korean fund, IGIS, on first Spanish acquisition.

Korean investment manager IGIS Asset Management has completed its first acquisition in Spain: Nestle’s Headquarters in Barcelona.

The complex, which was sold for €87 million by Meridia Capital, is comprised of five office buildings with a GLA of 27.607m² and 600 parking places. It is located in Esplugues de Llobregat, near Barcelona’s Avenida Diagonal where other multinationals like Bayer, Cobega or Codorniu are based. Nestle’s has had its headquarters in the building since the 1970s.

According to Juan Barba, Partner at Meridia Capital “with the disposal of this asset we continue divesting Fund II. Since acquisition only two and half years ago Meridia has delivered on the Fund´s value add strategy and has managed to carry out a refurbishment programme that has improved the facilities significantly. The buildings have raised high market interest. This successful disposal is yet another example that the Barcelona office market continues to be very active and that liquidity remains high”.

Ashurst, Cushman & Wakefield, KPMG & Colliers have advised the buyer whilst Uría Menéndez & Valliance Real Estate Advisors have advised the vendor.

About IGIS Asset Management

IGIS Asset management is an independent global real estate investment company which has rapidly become South Korea’s largest independent real estate fund manager. The vehicle has over $20Bn (€17Bn) in assets under management as at Q2 2018 and is seeking approval to list on the Korean Stock Exchange by the first quarter of next year.

IGIS has been selected by Korea’s National Pension Service and Korea Post for their value-add investment mandates in South Korea. The firm plans to establish the “biggest-ever exclusive co-mingled fund” in Korea with $350M.

About Meridia Capital

Meridia Capital Partners SGEIC, S.A. is an independent investment group with assets under management of c. €1 billion (including debt) and regulated by the Spanish Securities Market Commission (CNMV), which ensures the firm’s transparency with its investors and shareholders.

Meridia Capital’s real estate practice is comprised of a team of sector specialists based in both Barcelona and Madrid and led by Juan Barba who has previously been head of transactions at SAREB, principal at Doughty Hanson and general manager at Aareal Bank AG.