Billionaire Daniel Maté buys Telefónica’s Barcelona HQ

Spanish multinational telecoms giant, Telefónica, has completed the sale of its historic Barcelona headquarters to the Switzerland-based Basque entrepreneur Daniel Mate for €100 million.

The firm’s offices have 8,530m² of space set across 11 floors (above basement) and occupy an iconic property built in 1928 in the centrally located Plaza Catalunya.

Under the terms of the deal, Telefónica will begin paying rent as tenant including a retail space dedicated to their ‘Movistar Center’ which is open to the public on the three lowest floors. The retail space includes a flagship store area similar to the one the company has on Madrid’s Gran Via with interactive sections for consumers to test the latest developments in mobile telephony. 

Daniel Francisco Maté Badenes is a Spanish billionaire who owns approximately 3% of Glencore plc, a British–Swiss multinational commodity trading and mining company with headquarters in Switzerland. Daniel Maté has degrees in economics and law from the University of Deusto.

Maté’s property vehicle is known as Baech Inmuebles and made the local headlines in 2013 with its acquisition of nº3 of Madrid’s Gran Vía street which housed the headquarters of the General Registry of the Community of Madrid.

This is not the first time that Baech Inmuebles invests in real estate let to Telefonica having paid c. €50 million in 2016 for four assets with 7 year obligatory terms. The portfolio included General Yagüe 31 in Madrid, Paseo de Valldaura 66-74 in Barcelona, Calle Arrabal 23 in Santander and an emblematic 1926 property located in Zaragoza’s Paseo de la Independencia.