FREO has made its first acquisition in Spain purchasing Orion, a modern office asset in the well regarded sub-market of Manoteras in the Spanish capital. The property was acquired from German fund manager Triuva, formerly IVG Institutional Funds.
Orion is a 7,369 sqm office building located in the heart of the popular office sub-market of Manoteras, to the north of the Madrid CBD. Manoteras is one of the most sought after office districts of Madrid by both occupiers and investors due to the area’s excellent accessibility and the high quality of office space on offer. Investors that currently hold assets in Manoteras include Blackstone, Lone Star, AXA Real Estate, IBA Capital Partners and the SOCIMIs (Spanish REITs) Merlin Properties and Trajano Iberia.
The property is leased in its entirety to a number of international occupiers including ACS Group, SACYR and Whisbi Technologies.
FREO will be responsible for executing the asset management business plan and will focus on refurbishment of the building to improve its aesthetics and to support tenant retention and rental growth prospects.
The Spanish real estate market is becoming very competitive because of a lack of product and the large number of investors looking at opportunities in the country. In addition the strengthening economy is supporting rental growth (8.2% in Madrid and 8.5% in Barcelona over the last 12 months) which is further supporting the investment case for Spain currently.