International law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has advised Hispania Activos Inmobiliarios, S.A. on its €500m initial public offering on the Madrid, Barcelona, Bilbao and Valencia stock exchanges.
Hispania is a recently incorporated Spanish company that intends to invest primarily in residential properties, offices and hotels in Spain. Hispania will be externally managed by Azora Gestión SGIIC, S.A.U., acting as investment manager. It is a company forming part of the Azora Group, one of the leading independent Spanish real estate asset managers with over €2bn of assets under management. Through the services of the investment manager, Hispania aims to source opportunities from SAREB (the Spanish “bad bank” for real estate-backed loans and property assets), financial institutions, public administrations and large corporates and developers, among others. Hispania aims to return value to shareholders after a period of holding and actively managing such assets.
As part of the transaction, Freshfields also assisted Hispania with the negotiation of cornerstone investment agreements with global financial investors who agreed to commit an aggregate of €314m in the offering. Hispania’s shares were admitted to trading on Friday.
Commenting on the IPO, Freshfields partner Armando Albarrán said: ‘This is a particularly exciting transaction as it shows confidence returning to the Spanish market, particularly from international investors.’
The Freshfields team was led by corporate partner Armando Albarrán and senior associates Joe Amann and Alfonso De Marcos in Madrid, supported by London partners Sarah Murphy and Jonathan Baird. Advice on tax aspects was provided by Madrid tax partner Silvia Paternain.
