Hines & Acciona forward purchases Madrid residential scheme

Hines, the international real estate firm, has signed a forward purchase agreement for a 31,000-square-meter multifamily rental residential scheme in Madrid, on behalf of the flagship Hines European Value Fund 2 (HEVF 2).

Located in one of Madrid’s fastest growing residential districts in the northeast of the city, the agreement to acquire the completed Valdebebas 125 scheme was agreed and signed off-market through the Hines local team in Spain from ACCIONA, listed on the Ibex 35 Spanish Stock Exchange.

Hines and ACCIONA worked closely together on the scheme design and specifications before signing the forward purchase agreement. ACCIONA will now develop and deliver the high-quality scheme, which is expected to be completed in 2022.

The project has been designed to obtain the highest environment certifications and Hines is committed to ensuring that the scheme will set a new benchmark for purpose-built rental residential real estate in Madrid.

Incorporating around 395 apartments of varying sizes for individuals, couples and families, Valdebebas 125 is located close to the train station and facing the new Valdebebas Central Park. It will provide a home for around 900 people. The community will also include 7,600 square meters of landscaped spaces with private leisure amenities, together with a supermarket, convenience retail and restaurants that will service the entire Valdebebas area.

“This transaction gives us an early entry into a nascent market in Spain benefiting from a demographic and lifestyle shift from home ownership to renting. At present, demand from the institutional investment community for well-located, high-quality purpose-built multifamily projects is significantly exceeding the volume of opportunities, so we are particularly pleased to have secured this asset,» said Vanessa Gelado, Hines Spain Country Head. “The project enables us to leverage the Hines expertise in this sector, where we have delivered over 2.4 million square meters of residential space globally, alongside our knowledge of the local Madrid market to ensure we first optimized all aspects of the project to deliver a scheme which meets demand and exceeds expectations of modern contemporary living in Madrid.”

Hines secured c.€637m of investor commitments at the first closing of HEVF 2 in December 2019, exceeding 50% of the € 1.25 billion total fund target. When factoring in leverage, the Fund is expected to have total purchasing power approaching €3 billion and is anticipated to be Hines Europe’s largest closed-ended fund to date.

“Our team in Spain have done a fantastic job in originating this market-leading value-add residential for-rent scheme in Madrid on an off-market basis for the fund. Once again, Hines is demonstrating the invaluable benefit of embedded local presence to secure major acquisitions in prime locations in Europe’s leading city markets,» said Paul White, HEVF 2 fund manager. “Alongside two further assets initial investments for HEVF 2 in Munich and London, we expect to execute transactions committing over €300m of the fund’s equity in Q1 2020, with several more deals developing well. We’re very happy at the pace and quality of pipeline in this opening phase of the fund’s investment period.”

HEVF 2 has been launched following full investment of commitments in Hines European Value Fund (HEVF 1), a core plus/value-add fund for which Hines raised €721 million of equity commitments in closings from July 2017 to August 2018, exceeding the original fund target size by over 40%. HEVF 1 has successfully secured a portfolio of nine investments in Germany, the UK, Denmark, Spain, Italy and Poland within less than two years of closing its first acquisition and ended its investment period.

Hines was represented by Colliers and DLA, with Jones Day acting for ACCIONA.

About Hines

Hines is a privately owned global real estate investment firm founded in 1957 with a presence in 219 cities in 23 countries. Hines has approximately $124.3 billion of assets under management, including $63.8 billion for which Hines provides fiduciary investment management services, and $60.5 billion for which Hines provides third-party property-level services. The firm has 148 developments currently underway around the world. Historically, Hines has developed, redeveloped or acquired 1,362 properties, totalling over 449 million square feet. The firm’s current property and asset management portfolio includes 514 properties, representing over 222 million square feet. With extensive experience in investments across the risk spectrum and all property types, and a pioneering commitment to sustainability, Hines is one of the largest and most-respected real estate organizations in the world. Visit www.hines.com for more information.

Since entering Europe in 1991, Hines has grown its European platform to include offices in 16 cities as well as a presence in 47 cities in 12 countries, with €18.2 billion of assets under management in Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Spain and the United Kingdom.

About ACCIONA

ACCIONA is a global group for the development and management of sustainable infrastructure solutions, especially renewable energy. Its activity covers the entire design, construction, operation and maintenance value chain. The objective of ACCIONA is to lead the transition to a low carbon economy, which puts technical excellence and innovation at the service of all projects to design a better planet. The company has a presence in more than 40 countries and develops its business activity under the commitment to contribute to the economic and social development of the communities in which it operates.