Colombia’s Santo Domingo family reduces stake in Colonial

Photo of Alejandro Santo Domingo, Director & President of Aguila Ltd. fourth largest shareholder of Spanish REIT, Colonial.

The Santo Domingo family bet heavily on Spain’s property sector in 2014 through the acquisition of a 7.5% stake in Spanish REIT Colonial which has gradually grown to reach 8.8% in summer of 2019. The family’s c. €100 million investment, in the midst of Spain’s property recovery, helped the property group reduce debt and return to the path of growth.

Five years later, having grown its stake to €400 million, Alejandro Santo Domingo’s investment vehicle, Aguila Ltd., has begun to unwind its position in the company. Aguila Ltd began selling shares in August and has continued doing so during September, reducing its stake to 5.684% and positioning itself as the fourth largest shareholder in the company.

Currently, the Spanish REIT’s three largest shareholders are the Qatar Investment Authority with a 20.207% stake, Mexican beer billionaire Carlos Fernandez who owns an 18.384% stake and Spain’s Puig family with a 5.708% position. Blackrock and Deutsche Bank are also significant shareholders in the REIT with 3.02% and 2.551% stakes respectively.

The Colonial Group closed the first half of 2019 with a recurring net profit of €69M, an increase of +66% compared to the same period of 2018. The group’s EPRA Net Asset Value grew to €10.52/share resulting in a year-on-year increase of +16%, which together with the dividend of €0.20 per share, led to a Total Shareholder Return of +18%.

The listed property fund has a portfolio of offices in Madrid, Barcelona and Paris which continues to capture strong rental growth and an upward trend in pricing with the gross asset value of the Colonial Group amounting to €11.798M (€12.390M including transfer costs), representing a like-for-like increase of +9% year-on-year (+4% in 6 months).