Allianz enters Spanish office market with €155m loan

Allianz Real Estate has closed its first lending deal in the Spanish office market with a €155 million loan as part of a wider portfolio refinancing deal.

The fixed-rate, long-term loan has been written to LaFinca GA, a real estate company which is majority-owned by Spain’s Grupo LaFinca and the North American fund Värde Partners.

Overall, LaFinca has sourced a €395 million refinancing of its office portfolio from a club of international banks, with Société Générale acting as global coordinator and agent in the transaction. LaFinca GA will focus on managing and growing its existing portfolio while refinancing various older facilities.

Allianz opened a Spanish office in the last quarter of 2016 to focus on direct and indirect investments and lending. The LaFinca deal is Allianz’s third direct real estate debt transaction in the country, following a retail deal and a pan-European portfolio financing which included Spanish property.

LaFinca GA’s business comprises around 230,000 square meters, which is more than 90 percent occupied. Assets include La Finca Business Park, Cardenal Marcelo Spinola Business Park and Martínez Villergas Business Park in Madrid.

“Grupo LaFinca has demonstrated over more than 40 years of experience its capacity to develop high quality offices endowed with the conditions demanded by the companies of today, so we are fully confident in the value of our investment, and we hope to expand our relationship with them in the long term,” said Miguel Torres, Allinz Real Estate’s head of Iberia.

“Having a partner like Allianz Real Estate, with a long-term vision and financial soundness, endorses our company and our ability to successfully manage our assets,” commented Susana García Cereceda, chairman at Grupo LaFinca and LaFinca GA.