9 December, 2021
by Europi Property Group
Europi Property Group and Kefren Capital Real Estate launch €150m JV investing in Madrid & Barcelona offices
Swedish real estate investor, Europi Property Group, together with Kefren Capital Real Estate has launched a new joint venture focused on well located office assets in key Spanish ‘innovation & knowledge hubs’, Madrid and Barcelona. Initially, the JV will seek to invest €150m in high quality, grade A office assets.
Europi and Kefren, have also recently completed on the seed asset for the strategy in Barcelona. Esplugues 225 is a 9.5k sqm, high quality, grade-A office asset in a strategically important location for occupiers. Anchored by Servihabitat, a wholly owned subsidiary of La Caixa, the asset provides high quality space for occupiers at an attractive price point in a strong and improving micro location. Europi and Kefren will be focused on enhancing the ESG credentials of the asset, as well as holistically improving the tenant environment to provide a best in class, fit for purpose and sustainable space tailored to modern and future occupier needs. Buigas and Dress & Sommer have acted as legal and technical advisor to the Joint Venture in the acquisition of Esplugues 225.
The JV is targeting well located offices within Madrid & Barcelona, due to their attractive market dynamics and appeal to a wide range of occupiers and investors alike. The JV has an identified pipeline focusing on assets that will benefit from active asset management, regarding improvements to ESG credentials, occupancy, building specification and tenant environment. The JV aims to add a further two or three assets in the near term. Both Madrid and Barcelona present a compelling story for new and incumbent businesses looking to relocate to or within these cities. A high quality of life, high skill workforces, strong national and international transport links and relative affordability indicate outsized job and population growth will persist compared to European peers. Additionally, recent changes to working habits have caused multinationals and SMEs alike to rethink their office footprints because of emergent and accelerated trends such as ‘working local’ and the decentralization of office space. This has presented interesting situational opportunities across the submarkets in both cities.
Jonathan Willén, CEO of Europi comments:
“This is a milestone for Europi, Esplugues 225 is our first direct investment in Spain within a high-conviction strategy alongside our excellent JV partner Kefren Capital Real Estate, who have a long successful track record as well as best-in-class asset management capabilities. Both Barcelona and Madrid are attractive ‘knowledge & innovation hubs’ with attractive macro profiles relative to European peers. We continue to seek appropriate further add-on opportunities”.
Pelayo Primo de Rivera, CEO of Kefren Capital comments:
“We are delighted to form this Joint Venture with Europi and are already looking to add more assets soon to the portfolio. We have been active in the office space for the last years. This JV marks an important step in the development of our strategy as a value-add investor in Spain. Our mission is to create workspaces which are attractive to its occupiers and respectful with the environment. We intend to obtain the maximum ESG certifications for the assets in our portfolio”.
