Eduard Mendiluce directs Aliseda and Anticipa, two of the Blackstone group's real estate companies in Spain. The group has been concentrating in recent years on selling the assets it acquired from the banking crisis. He would like to invest more in Spain, but he considers that “it has become an uninvestable country” due to lack of legal security.
Blackstone has been in Spanish real estate for 10 years with Anticipa.
Yes, in July 2014 we purchased a portfolio of 3.6 billion euros of mortgages from Catalunya Bank from FROB. We have already digested it: we have 4,000 homes left. 10,000 paid and we securitized them; Of 24,000 we recovered the property with assignments in payment and in the rest we obtained the property at a judicial auction. We signed 12,000 rentals below the market and managed the job placement of 1,500 people. We have had a positive social impact that does not correspond at all to the image they have wanted to give of us.
Then they bought assets from Banco Popular.
In 2018, the Quasar portfolio, when Banco Santander bought the bank. There were 10.3 billion euros that we are still digesting: we have sold 50%. The positive thing is that it had a lot of land, 1,000 million euros, which is selling very well. We have 60 people doing urban management throughout Spain, and licensed and finalized land is very appreciated, because there is hardly any. We are the main land manager in Spain.
And finally recently they became managers of Sareb.
We have only been there for a year and we have half of their portfolio, 8.5 billion euros. We are very happy with the result and we have a very fluid relationship. In addition, we manage 1,000 million euros of assets from other investors such as CaixaBank. Anticipa and Aliseda offer their capacity to third parties, such as investors or family offices, to manage. We have a team of 850 people and the future of these companies is to be a relevant player in real estate management in Spain.
Now they are entering rehabilitation.
We have launched EFFIC, which is the largest rehabilitation agent in Spain: we manage the works to improve the energy efficiency of homes and process aid from Next Generation European funds to reduce your bill. We have a team of 60 people, we have done projects for more than 4,000 communities of owners and we already have 300 pre-approved waiting to receive aid from the funds. It is a unique opportunity: a simple intervention, changing windows, waterproofing the façade with SATE and installing solar panels and aerothermal energy if possible or improving the boiler costs about 10,000 euros per neighbor. 70% is covered by European funds and the rest can be paid in five years, because we have agreements with financial entities.
It seems, however, that these funds for rehabilitation are going very slowly.
The European program is 3.2 billion and initially expires in 2026. I hope it is extended or at this rate those funds will be lost. It would be necessary for the autonomous communities to provide more personnel and more resources to manage the requests. Or that they accept a self-declaration of responsibility from approved rehabilitation agents, as Italy has done, which is much more agile. Let the administration review the files at its own pace and sanction non-compliance, as it does when we file the income tax return. Now it is a very bureaucratic process, which lasts more than a year and a half. But Europe forces us to reduce CO2 emissions and 30% of them come from buildings, so in the end if we do not take advantage of the Next Generation funds, these rehabilitations will have to be subsidized by the State and the autonomous communities.
Does this activity fit the profile of what a “vulture fund” would be?
Blackstone is not a vulture fund. He is a long-term institutional investor. We manage millions of dollars of retirement savings for all types of workers, nurses, teachers... with the idea of maintaining them for years. Vulture fund is Gotham City, which makes a speculative operation in Grifols and makes cash within 24 hours.
You, however, announced the sale of the homes of your Socimis, Fidere and Albirana.
Yes, we had 16,000 homes for rent in two SOCIMIs that we had taken public, but starting in 2018, when we saw the excess regulation that was being done, especially in Catalonia, where 65% of those apartments were, we decided to sell them. when the rental contracts expire.
What are Blackstone's plans in Spain?
Blackstone invested 20 billion in Spain from 2014 to 2018, 25% of its investment in Europe. We continue to see opportunities here, we have liquidity and we would like to continue investing. But there is a lack of legal certainty and that is making Spain an uninvestable country.
In what sense?
The reform of the mortgage law, for example, has caused judges to suspend 70% of launches. Or the Catalan legislation, which forces large holders to offer a social rent to those who do not pay the rent. Or the new moratorium on the eviction of squatters or delinquent tenants. We are the only country in Europe in which the State has transferred the obligation to provide accommodation to families with few resources to private owners. This is not understood internationally and increases the risk premium of investing in Spain, and not only in the real estate sector.
What would you ask of the new Government?
Let him start really talking to professionals in the sector. But really, and not just to comply. There must be a change in mentality: international investors are not the problem of access to housing, but rather part of the solution. If President Pedro Sánchez wants to build 180,000 homes, he will not be able to achieve it if he does not rely on the private sector. The sector, through the Asval association, already offered to replicate the Dublin model: transfer thousands of homes to the State, with rents below the market, for 25 years so that they could be allocated to vulnerable families. They did not accept that proposal. Another option would also be to offer him land, and build homes there and rent them to him at a reduced price for 65 years. They could be managed by the autonomous communities, or by Sareb or the private sector if they prefer. Public administrations do not have the land to build all the affordable housing needed in stressed areas. Without international investors, the housing problem in Spain has no solution.
