Bankinter and GMA launch new REIT, Atom Hoteles, in the Spanish alternative investment market
The bank and the property asset manager in the hotel sector finalised the launch of Atom, which already has an investment portfolio with over 500 million euros.
Today, the REIT, Atom Hoteles, has rung the symbolic bell on the floor of the Madrid Stock Exchange, marking the start of its listing on Mercado Alternativo Bursátil (MAB), the Spanish alternative investment market. Bankinter and Global Myner Advisors Hotels Capital Investment (GMA) finalised the design and creation of this real estate investment trust (REIT, or Socimi in Spanish), incorporated in January.
The company, Atom Hoteles, was designed as an investment vehicle mainly for a segment of Bankinter private banking customers who require stable annual returns with little volatility over the medium term in a very important sector in Spain. In February, the REIT culminated a capital increase and amassed funding of a total 247.8 million euros. Its shareholders include Bankinter Group (7.4% in total) and GMA (3.7%), in addition to a vast group of investors, who are mostly Bankinter private banking customers. These investors have an individual investment limit of 15% in share capital.
The bank will handle the strategic management of Atom Hoteles, which also includes attracting new capital for further investment. Meanwhile, GMA is the company managing the business, including all assets in which Atom Hoteles is investing.
During today's event, Eduardo Ozaíta, the REIT’s chairman and Bankinter’s managing director of retail and commercial banking, pointed out that Atom Hoteles ‘represents a step further in the bank’s strategy to create value-added products with a good balance of risk and returns for our private banking customers’.
GMA chairman and member of Atom Hoteles’s board of directors, Víctor Martí, stated that ‘at GMA, we are delighted to have Bankinter as a partner in this project that has allowed us to create a portfolio of well-diversified hotels in terms of locations, products, operators and contracts to go forward minimising risks with the greatest guarantees of success’.
Last July, Atom Hoteles signed a syndicated loan for 191 million euros with an international banking entity with which the REIT had landed the needed funds to fully execute the investment plan on 11 July, only six months after the entity was created.
In regard to the investments made so far, Atom Hoteles has acquired 21 hotel establishments. On 31 July, an independent expert appraised these assets, with a total 5,232 rooms, at 504.1 million euros.
This hotel portfolio is sound and well-diversified in terms of type, location and operators. It has long-term lease agreements with respected operators; fixed earnings that, in 2019, represented an estimated 83% of total income; as well as moderate affordability rates. With this income, stable recurring returns for the REIT in the long term are further guaranteed by the fact that most of the properties have been or will soon be renovated. This will minimise the need for future investments.
57% of these establishments are holiday hotels, with rest being considered ‘urban’ hotels. By autonomous region, 41% of the rooms in the establishments comprising this portfolio are in the Balearic Islands; 25% are in the Canary Islands; and 18%, in Andalusia.
73% of the establishments are operated by renowned hotel groups, like Meliá, AC Marriott and Hotusa. This includes AC Autograph Baqueira Ski Resort, Meliá Sevilla, Eurostars Rey Don Jaime and AC Ciutat de Palma.
With Atom Hoteles, Bankinter is enhancing a type of co-investment vehicle with customers that began at the end of 2016 when launching ORES Socimi; and continued with the creation of Helia in 2017 (a venture capital fund that invests in renewable energy) and VSTUDENT a few months ago, as a venture capital fund to invest in creating and managing student residences.
GMA is a property asset manager specialised in the hotel sector. It is made up of professionals who have over 20 years of experience in the international hotel property market and a considerable track record and prestige in the sector. It is able to generate value added in projects for its investors.
