Ex-Aguirre Newman duo launches Madrid asset manager

Two Aguirre Newman executives, along with a former Deutsche Bank boss, have announced the launch of a new Madrid-based real estate asset management company.

Former Aguirre Newman directors Wynn Williamson and Hortensia Bermejo Rodriguez have joined forces with Fernando Acuña, former CEO of Deutsche Bank Credit and founder of Taurus Iberica, to establish Aura Asset Management, new structure targeting residential and office investment opportunities in Spain.

'With Aura Asset Management we aspire to become one of the main residential and commercial real estate investors in Spain,' Williamson told PropertyEU. 'This new company benefits from a team of more than 20 professionals focused on deal analysis, execution and management and makes use of a proprietary database of over 1 million assets from REO and private clients.'

The company has already raised equity commitments of over €50 mln from a number of hedge funds and private equity investors, Williamson added. 'It is an exciting time in Spanish real estate and we are very enthusiastic about our investment strategies and the deals that we are working on. We are currently managing an initial ‘cherry picked’ bank-repossessed portfolio and we are in the process of acquiring more.'

The company will focus on the acquisition of selected residential units, largely from banks, while sounding out potential opportunities in the office sector. Williamson said that the company intends to hold the assets through the new Spanish tax-efficient REIT structure, which is known as SOCIMI. 'We are planning to convert the structure holding the assets to REIT status as this does offer certain tax efficiencies,' he noted.

Commenting on Aura AM's investment strategy in Spain, Williamson that that the company will seek to cherry-pick assets within the banks' portfolios before the are officially put up for sale. 'The residential portfolios that generally come to market through the banks involve very low-quality assets. Our strategy is to select assets before they are marketed for sale. We have a complete database of residential sales carried out by the banks in Spain as well as an overview of banks' portfolios. We can monitor exactly what is happening in the market,’ he added.

For the past months, the business partners have been advising Spanish and international banks on the disposal of residential flats, assisting in the underwriting of more than €1 bn in commercial and residential deals. 'More recently there has been a massive change in the sector and there is tremendous interest in residential assets at the moment. This is the right time to start being more active on the investment front,' Williamson commented.