ING’s Bravo: ‘Transactions of this size and quality are not common in Spain’

On 24 June, Dutch bank ING announced it had provided what it said was the largest ever financing within the Spanish logistics sector – a €470 million loan to refinance the Montepino logistics platform, following its acquisition by Bankinter Investment, Spanish lender Bankinter’s investment banking division.

The platform comprises 22 operational logistics assets with a gross area of 9.3 million square feet, plus 13 projects under development that are expected to exceed 12.9 million square feet. The platform has a gross asset value of around €1.2 billion.

On 14 May, Montepino had announced that Bankinter Investment had acquired property manager CBRE Global Investment’s 95 percent stake in the platform. Bankinter Investment had made the acquisition through an alternative investment vehicle created by Bankinter and Valfondo, the managing partner of the platform and owner of the remaining 5 percent. Montepino will be structured as a SOCIMI, the Spanish equivalent of a real estate investment trust. It will be owned by Bankinter, clients of the bank, and Valfondo.

In its announcement, Montepino said the deal was the culmination of a process in which Bankinter had competed with other international firms. It is understood that US investor Brookfield was the other finalist in the bidding for the portfolio.

ING’s five-year loan, provided at a 51 percent loan-to-value ratio, will finance Bankinter Investment’s acquisition of the platform and refinance Montepino’s existing debt. ING was sole underwriter and is in the process of syndicating the loan.

Julián Bravo, ING’s head of real estate for Spain and Portugal, referred to the transaction as a “dream deal” for the bank. He told Real Estate Capital that the quality of the properties, the variety of logistics types within the portfolio, and the strength of its underlying tenants, including Inditex and Amazon, made for an attractive transaction.

“These assets feature possibly the best quality construction standards in Spain,” he said. “Additionally, the developer is tenant-driven, so it builds in a tailored manner, adapting each property to its tenant’s needs by first identifying those needs and building accordingly.”

With an average age of no more than two years, Montepino’s assets include big-box facilities and last-mile warehouses in strategic locations. All properties meet BREEAM sustainability standards and have LEED certificates.

Bravo said the size of the transaction also appealed to ING: “Transactions of this size and quality are not common in Spain. This was a unique financing opportunity, with a top-quality sponsor, manager and tenant base, in a growth sector.”

The bank faced strong competition to finance the portfolio, including from international and local banks. According to Bravo, ING’s ability to underwrite the whole deal, and the fact that it identified the lending opportunity early in the sale process, helped it to win the mandate.

Bravo said ING had approached Montepino about a possible financing opportunity as early as July 2020. The fact that the eventual buyer, Bankinter Investment, had previously closed two financing transactions with ING also went in the bank’s favour, he added: “This gave them confidence we would deliver efficiently, so they decided to give us the mandate as sole bookrunner.

“The combination of this early identification coupled with the established relationship we had with the sponsor, and our expertise and track record in the sector, allowed us to win the mandate.”