Why Spanish RE companies are contemplating IPOs

As commercial property recovers, it's becoming a trend

Madrid (Credit: Ángela Ojeda Heyper/Flickr; Pixabay)
Madrid (Credit: Ángela Ojeda Heyper/Flickr; Pixabay)

The spate of Spanish real estate companies considering initial public offerings comes as the country’s commercial market is catching the eye of investors in a big way.

Since 2007, when the local market crashed, Spanish banks began selling off their real estate assets and some of the biggest buyers eager to take in the beleaguered companies included Blackstone Group and Bain Capital.

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Fast forward 10 years and, in 2017, private equity investors’ interest is ramping up even more: Bloomberg reports Cerberus Capital Management bought 13 billion euros worth of foreclosed property (mostly in Catalonia); Blackstone shelled out about 5 billion euros for Banco Popular Espanol’s assets, which were formerly valued at about 6 times that price; and Bain along with Oceanwood Capital Fund Management bought about 600 million euros worth of non-performing real estate-backed loans from Liberbank.

With all this interest, many firms are deciding the time is ripe for an IPO and Cerberus, owner of Madrid-based Haya Real Estate, is one of the most recent to contemplate the move, according to reports from Bloomberg. Other companies committed to launching IPOs include Metrovacesa, launching next month, and Testa Residencial Socimi, which intends to list this year. [Bloomberg]Erin Hudson