Barings and Salas form €100m Spanish residential joint venture

Barings and Spanish real estate group Salas have formed a new residential partnership with a planned investment of over €100m.

Barings, which is investing on behalf of a mandate with an unnamed US investor, has formed the partnership to target opportunities in Madrid and Barcelona in the build-to-rent (BTR) and build-to-sell (BTS) sectors.

The new venture has acquired two BTS assets in the greater Barcelona region, marking the initial investments for the partnership aiming to invest over €100m and develop more than 600 units.

The two initial schemes will comprise 85 units in total. Salas will manage the full development process.

José Carlos Torres, MD and country head, Iberia, at Barings Real Estate, said: “The demand for high-quality, modern, energy-efficient new homes in Spain’s two major metropolitan areas is enormous.

“Forming joint ventures with experienced and well-respected developers in the living and logistics sectors is one of our preferred ways of working, and so it is a pleasure to have formed this relationship with Salas, given its rich heritage and experience in the residential sector.”

Gunther Deutsch, MD and head of European transactions at Barings Real Estate, said: “The living sector is one of Europe’s most attractive growth areas, and it is expected that Spain has demand for 217,000 new households per year going forward, with the majority in the Madrid and Barcelona provinces, where supply represents less than 50% of the demand.

“Besides this strategy, we are looking to deploy capital across the living – whether that’s for BTR, BTS or purpose-built student accommodation – and logistics sectors in our core markets across Europe, such as Iberia, the UK, France, the Netherlands, Italy, Germany and the Nordics.”

Manel Rodríguez Murillo, CEO of Grupo Salas, said: “This partnership with Barings is a significant step forward for Salas, enhancing its capabilities to satisfy the growing housing demand for rent and for sale.

“We wish this alliance with Barings will be long lasting and will allow us to continue leading the development of new homes based in quality, sustainability and innovation.”

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