Media report: Swiss Life to invest in Spain
According to a report in the Spanish business newspaper Expansión, Swiss Life plans to acquire a portfolio of office properties in Madrid, Barcelona and Malaga.
Swiss Life intends to acquire 21 office properties from the real estate company Hispania at a price of around 510 million euros (577.7, million CHF), he said, reports Expansión citing "sources from the market" on August 9, 2017. The deal is about to be finalized, he said, and the parties just need to sign the contract.
16 of the properties are located in Madrid, with five more in Barcelona and Malaga. The portfolio has a total area of around 182,000 sqm, of which 21,300 sqm are located in the financial district of the Spanish capital.
According to the report, the properties are 84 percent leased, bringing in an average monthly rent of 13.80 euros/sq m (15.60 CHF/sq m). Hispania had valued the portfolio at 584 million euros (CHF 661.5 million) in its annual report for the first half of 2017. However, it said this still included the Aurelio Menéndez building in Madrid, which was sold in June for 37.5 million (CHF 42.5 million).
Hispania and its major shareholder Socimi, an investment company of the American investor George Soros, want to focus on the further development of the hotel portfolio and are therefore divesting the office properties.
Swiss Life does not comment on the report. As a matter of principle, Swiss Life does not comment on rumors and speculations in public, a company spokeswoman told the news agency AWP.
