Spanish REITs Veracruz & Almagro invest in Valencia & Madrid

Veracruz Properties SOCIMI, (ticker symbol “YVCP”), the Spanish REIT backed by the owners of the Banco Popular in the Dominican Republic has purchased two office buildings located in the town of Paterna (Valencia) with a total gross leasable area of 17,585m². The buildings combined, have 86 offices, 17 retail units (3,011m²) and 312 parking spaces. The assets are situated within the Táctica business complex, on Botiguers Street.

The €18 million acquisition has been carried out with a 15-year loan from Caixabank (50% LTV), with 5% of the company’s available cash and an additional 45% through participative loans. The loan has quarterly amortization and a variable rate with interest rate coverage for the entire duration of the loan contract.

The REIT entered the Spanish market in 2014 with the acquisition of 2 shopping centres in the region of Valencia (Plaza Mayor de Gandia & Plaza Mayor de Xàtiva). Additionally, the fund owns El Arcangel Shopping Centre in Andalusia and Parla Natura in the region of Madrid. Early in 2018 the REIT added two retirement homes which were previously owned by French investors, Omega.

Following this investment, Veracruz Properties SOCIMI S.A. has 101,000m² of GLA under management as at the 1st of July 2019 including 4 retail properties, 2 retirement homes, 3 office buildings and 1 plot of land.

The CEO of Veracruz Properties is Salvador Fondeur, an experienced finance professional who has been President of the Investment Committee of AFI Popular, S. A., the fund management arm of Banco Popular Dominicano, one of the Dominican Republic’s largest banks. The rest of the board of directors of Veracruz is formed by Spanish and Dominican professionals with over 40 years of experience in banking and real estate investment.

Also, this week, Almagro Capital SOCIMI, S.A., a Spanish REIT which specialises in reverse mortgages and senior housing has purchased a 313m² flat located in the Paseo del General Martínez Campos, in the neighbourhood of Almagro for € 1,200,000. The REIT is up 2% since IPO last January 2018.