Bankinter Investment closes a deal to buy the Montepino logistics asset platform from CBRE Global Investors, through a SOCIMI (REIT) with bank customers

Bankinter has reached another milestone in its alternative investment strategy with a large real estate deal. Its Investment Banking division, Bankinter Investment, has agreed to purchase the Montepino logistics asset platform from CBRE Global Investors’, value-add fund European Value Partners 2 (‘EVP2’ or ‘The fund’). The Fund owned 95% of the portfolio together with the Valfondo Group, the platform's manager and owner of the remaining 5%.  The acquisition will be completed through an alternative investment vehicle that Bankinter Investment will create specifically for its private banking and institutional customers.

Valfondo will reinvest the sale of its stake in the new vehicle, maintaining a 5% stake, and will remain as manager of the platform. Montepino will be the largest logistics real estate SOCIMI in Spain.

The SOCIMI, Bankinter Investment's new investment vehicle, will have only Bankinter's private banking and institutional customers as shareholders. As with the 14 alternative investment vehicles launched by Bankinter Investment in the last five years, Bankinter will co-invest in the SOCIMI with its customers, becoming the company's main shareholder (6.4%), together with Valfondo, which will exceed 5.1% of the Socimi.

Montepino's portfolio comprises 22 logistics assets, with a gross area of 865,000 square metres and 13 projects under development with which it is expecting to exceed 1,200,000 sq m of developed land and 500,000 sq m of new GLA over the coming years and 1.2 billion euros in gross asset value. Through this agreement, therefore, the company is consolidating a long-term project, which is investing in sustainability, quality and innovation while also strengthening and reinforcing the financial capacity it guarantees to its tenants and operators to undertake future projects.

Montepino is thus becoming the largest listed REIT that specialises in logistics and is funded by local capital, allowing private and institutional investors to invest in the best logistics portfolio in Spain.

Potentially, the Socimi could be listed on the BME Growth market in the future. A market that already includes other companies with the same characteristics that Bankinter has launched together with managing business partners, such as ORES Socimi and Atom Hoteles.

Signing the agreement represents the end of an open competitive process involving other international entities, which Bankinter Investment has been able to close after several weeks of negotiations.

The joint venture between CBRE Global Investors and  Montepino was launched in 2017 with development projects and standing assets totalling 245,000 sq m. Over the past three years, aligning with the funds strategy of creating core assets in supply constrained markets, a stabilised prime portfolio exceeding 865,000 sq m was built.

To have closed one of the largest logistics transactions, not only for EVP2, but also for CBRE Global Investors to date, has been a monumental team effort and the closing today brings a successful conclusion to  this transaction for Bankinter, CBRE Global Investors and Valfondo.

 

A successful alternative investment strategy.

 

Together with managing partners, Bankinter Investment has launched a total of 15 investment vehicles in the last five years, including the one announced today. The vehicles created to date have had a successful journey and have garnered strong demand among Bankinter's private banking and institutional customers. They are:

-Venture capital funds that invest in renewable energy: Helia Renovables I, II, III and IV. With regard to Helia I, Bankinter recently announced a sale agreement with the Canadian group Northland Power Inc. for about 1.1 billion euros in a deal that will be carried out this year.

- Socimi Ores, together with its version for the Portuguese market (Ores Portugal), which is focused on the acquisition and management of commercial real estate assets and has been listed on the MAB since 2017.

- Socimi Atom, which invests in hotel assets and has been listed on Spain's alternative stock market (the MAB) since 2018.

- The VStudent Aulis venture capital fund (since 2018), which focuses on land acquisition opportunities in the student residence sector for subsequent development and management.

- The Titán fund, which, since 2019, invests in infrastructure in northern Europe.

- The MVB Fund, a pioneering fund of funds that, since 2019, invests in the highest-potential technology companies in Silicon Valley and for which Bankinter has partnered with entrepreneur and new technologies investor, Martín Varsavsky.

- The Rhea Secondaries fund, launched at the end of 2020, which invests, in a fund of funds format, in the European venture capital sector, mainly by acquiring existing shares in other funds.

- Singular deals in the real estate sector through acquisitions of trophy assets such as the building at Plaza Cataluña 23 (Barcelona), and the commercial spaces located at Calle Serrano 53 and Puerta del Sol 11, both in Madrid.

 

A successful portfolio: cutting edge and innovative for top-level operators. 

In recent years, Montepino has set historic records within Spain, managed to double its business portfolio in just three years – exceeding one million square m tres developed for logistics use – and absorbed 50% of real-estate demand in the logistics sector within the central zone of the Peninsula. Today, it has positioned itself as one of the largest logistics developers in the country and within the top ten in Europe.

One of the reasons Montepino stands out is its integrated in-house team, which allows it to place highly technologically sophisticated logistics platforms on the market in very tight timeframes, from as little as nine months, and with the clear intention of putting the logistics operators at the heart of the whole process. It is therefore unsurprising that its WAULT to break is over 8.3 years.

Montepino’s assets, which have an average age of under two years, consist of both Big Box or XXL logistics platforms and also last-mile platforms, and have been built in strategic, key locations for cutting-edge logistics. Moreover, 100% of Montepino’s projects have been awarded the LEED international quality and sustainability seal.

 

 

About Bankinter Investment:

Bankinter Investment is Bankinter's Investment Banking area, created six years ago; and it has just celebrated its first anniversary with this brand. In the last five years, it has successfully launched 15 alternative investment vehicles with committed capital of 3 billion euros, becoming a leading example of alternative investment in the Spanish market. Bankinter Investment has a portfolio of assets under management of more than 5 billion euros, including project financing.  Asset management in all vehicles has followed the model of partnering with an expert company in each investment segment of each fund or SOCIMI, such as renewable energies, the hotel sector, student halls of residence, infrastructures, commercial real estate, private equity and venture capital.

 

About Valfondo:

With 20 years’ experience, Valfondo is the leading logistic developer in Spain in delivering turnkey projects. The Spanish firm develops national and international solutions for the main providers of logistics services operating in Spanish territory, as well as for some of the leading companies in the tertiary and industrial sector. Its platforms and buildings have the highest international certificates and recognitions that guarantee their excellent sustainable constructions, as well as their energy efficiency. Valfondo’s highly qualified team works continuously to offer its customers innovative, unique and avant-garde solutions.

 

About Montepino:

Montepino Logística, which is managed by Valfondo Gestión, has become one of the largest logistics real-estate providers in Spain after almost two decades in operation. It provides solutions nationally and internationally for the largest logistics companies operating within Spain, as well as for some of the most up-and-coming companies in the tertiary and industrial sectors. Over the last few years, Montepino has managed to absorb 50% of real-estate demand in the logistics sector within the central zone of the Peninsula and developed a million square metres of logistics space.

In 2020, Montepino also became the largest provider of projects in Spain. For more information, please visit our website: www.montepino.net/en/

 

About CBRE Global Investors:

CBRE Global Investors is a global real assets investment management firm with $124.5 billion in assets under management* as of March 31, 2021. The firm sponsors investment programs across the risk/return spectrum for investors worldwide.

 

CBRE Global Investors is an independently operated affiliate of CBRE Group, Inc. (NYSE:CBRE). It harnesses the research, investment sourcing and other resources of the world’s largest commercial real estate services and investment firm (based on 2020 revenue) for the benefit of its investors. CBRE Group, Inc. has more than 100,000 employees serving clients in more than 100 countries. For more information about CBRE Global Investors, please visit www.cbreglobalinvestors.com

 

*Assets under management (AUM) refers to the fair market value of real assets-related investments with respect to which CBRE Global Investors provides, on a global basis, oversight, investment management services and other advice and which generally consist of investments in real assets; equity in funds and joint ventures; securities portfolios; operating companies and real assets-related loans. This AUM is intended principally to reflect the extent of CBRE Global Investors' presence in the global real assets market, and its calculation of AUM may differ from the calculations of other asset managers.