The Colonial Listed Real Estate Investment Companies (SOCIMI) continues with its divestment plan. The firm announced this Friday the sale to Estinvest Properties, the ‘family office’ of the family that leads the Catalan pharmaceutical group Esteve, three floors of an office building located at number 27 Paseo de Recoletos, in the city of Madrid. . As highlighted by the listed company in a statement, the operation has been closed for a value of more than 19 million euros for the 2,000 square meters (m2) of the property, acquired by the firm between 2019 and 2021.
The firm frames this operation in its asset divestment program, a strategy that also included the sale of the Madnum residential complex, in Méndez Álvaro (Madrid), for 130 million euros and which raises the transactions closed by the listed company to 150 million euros with a premium of 5% above the last appraisal, highlights Colonia.
The company highlights that the movements made to sell the assets have been completed “successfully”, with the sale of 723 million euros in assets corresponding to 12 buildings in Madrid, a small store in Barcelona and two assets in Paris. The firm highlights that this program has increased the group’s liquidity to around 2,903 million euros. Juanma Ortega, Chief Investment Officer of Colonial, states that Colonial has managed to direct “investor interest in the city of Madrid towards one of its assets with an advantageous operation” and that allows the listed company to “recycle capital.”
Colonial has had the advice of the international real estate consultancy JLL. Ignacio Sobrino, director of National Investment at JLL Spain, states that “with this operation, we have been able to capture the interest of local actors with a long-term vision who value the current and future potential of office assets in the city of Madrid.” .
Devaluation of activities
In the last year, Colonial has suffered from the devaluation of real estate assets, particularly in the office segment, which has led to losses in value due to the fear that the dynamics of teleworking will leave workspaces deserted.
In 2023, real estate assets lost 13% in value compared to 2022 to 11,336 million euros – or 9% in like-for-like terms, that is, in comparable terms -, according to the group’s annual accounts.
