AXA Investment Managers - Real Assets (AXA IMRA) has purchased an 850-unit Spanish residential portfolio for €170 mln from Goldman Sachs and B Capital.
The 65,000 m2 portfolio, purchased on behalf of clients, comprises 28 residential buildings located in or close to the city centres of Madrid and Barcelona. 14 of the assets date from after 2005, while most of the rest have been refurbished since 2002.
'The acquisition of this high quality portfolio of residential assets reflects our firm belief in the residential markets in Madrid and Barcelona, where rental growth is beginning to gain momentum, and more widely where both demographic drivers and supply demand drivers are highly supportive,' commented Hermann Montenegro, head of asset management & transactions in Spain at AXA IMRA.
Although the portfolio is almost fully let, AXA IMRA is planning a number of asset management initiatives intended to create further value.
The investor said that the Spanish residential letting market was showing strong improvements in fundamentals. Further rental upside, driven by structural rental sector growth, is expected for the coming years, especially in Madrid and Barcelona.
AXA IMRA manages around €9 bn of residential assets across 10 countries. Over the last 12 months, it has invested on behalf of clients into residential portfolios in Finland, marking its entry into this market; in an urban residential development in Dresden, Germany; as well as The Beacon at Waugh Chapel, located between Washington DC and Baltimore in the US.
CBRE advised AXA IMRA.
