El Corte Inglés reactivates its divestment plans in non-strategic real estate and puts thirty assets up for sale for a figure that would be around 700 million.
The main real estate consultants, such as JLL, Savills, Cushman & Wakefield, BNP Paribas, Colliers, Knight Frank or CBRE, are in charge of leading the sale processes of each of these buildings, which the group of department stores expects to culminate in the third quarter of this year.
Among the assets, mostly offices and commercial premises, is the so-called Torre Titania, better known as Torre Azca, in Madrid, a 103-meter-high building with 27 floors, including five underground, which was erected on the site in the one where the Windsor Tower was located; as well as the Portal de l'Àngel shopping center in Barcelona. Together, both would have a market value that would exceed 550 million euros.
In Barcelona, there is also a 15,000 sqm office building located in 22@. And in Madrid there is also a shop for sale at number 3 Calle Magallanes, which has a tenant with a 10-year contract; and two buildings in front of kilometer zero: number 10 Puerta del Sol, with 4,853 sqm that comprise a mixed commercial-hotel use, and currently has as tenants a restaurant by chef Alberto Chicote and a chain sports store; and number 6 Maestro Victoria, a 1,857 sqm premises, which houses a pet store and whose use also includes the office segment.
Another of the emblematic properties in the El Corte Inglés portfolio that is coming onto the market is the centenary Gaybo building in Malaga. Located at number 11 Calle Héroe de Sostoa in the capital of Malaga, next to the AVE station, it has more than 5,000 m2 on one floor and has been leased for two years to the State Tax Agency, which signed a contract lease for five years, with the possibility of renewing another two years.
In parallel, the distribution giant will also divest in 40 lower value properties, such as car parks or flats distributed throughout the country. In this case, Aliseda will be in charge of finding a buyer for these assets.
The company's objective is to reduce its debt, which amounted to more than 3,800 million in 2020, by 60%; improve its ebitda by 40% by 2026 compared to before the pandemic, to 1,700 million, and double the net result it obtains in 2021, results that it has not yet published.
