Insurance firm, Zurich, is selling a portfolio of 6 office buildings in Madrid and Barcelona

Zurich has mandated the sale of various office buildings and continues its traditional asset rotation strategy in Spain. Cushman & Wakefield and Savills have been mandated to market two portfolios comprising a total of 6 assets in Madrid and Barcelona. The total joint valuation is estimated at 120 million euros where properties can be sold together or individually.

Madrid Portfolio

The portfolio in Madrid has been mandated to Cushman & Wakefield and comprises 3 assets. These 3 buildings were part of a bigger portfolio Zurich acquired in 2019 from Blackstone for 164 million euros. Torre Mízar, in Calle Albacete is a 7,348 sq m office building occupied by Ilunion, Eysa and Paramount.

The other two assets are located in Calle Comandante Azcárraga 3 and 5. The first is the Oasia building, a 3,547 sq m office distributed on two floors, which is fully leased to Ilunion and Atladis with a WAULT of seven years. The building has BREEAM Very Good certification.

The asset in Calle Comandante Azcárraga 3 totals 5,145 sq m on five floors above ground and two basement floors with 202 parking spaces. It has a 72% occupancy and is let to four tenants, with a WAULT of about one year.

Barcelona Portfolio

In Barcelona, Savills has been mandated to market 3 centrally located office buildings. The most notable being the previous headquarters of Transmediterranea in Via Laietana 2. The asset totals 6,491 sq m and has been property of Zurich for 8 years. It is currently leased to the Department of Universities and Investigation of the Catalan government with a WAULT of 12.4 years.

Another of the buildings for sale is in Calle Estruc 9, between the Plaza de Cataluña and Portal de l’Àngel, is a flexible working space of 1,571 sq m distributed on five floors with a terrace. The asset was acquired by Zurich, through its real estate subsidiary REX Spain ZDHL, in 2018 in a sale & leaseback operation from Sum Capital Spain. The tenant is OneCoWork with this being its most centric coworking space in Barcelona and has a WAULT of 11 years.

The third asset is located in Via Augusta 18, and totals 3,985 sq m. The building is 100% leased to Asepeyo with a WAULT of 12 years.

Together with its disinvestment strategy, Zurich has made important acquisitions as part of its long-term rotational strategy.  In September 2020, through REX Zurich Spain, the insurance company acquired the asset in Calle Velazquez 34 from Grupo Rosales, this is an area known as Madrid’s ‘golden mile’.