Corio sold its last office (16,400 m² and 300 parking spaces) in Spain for € 52.1 million (income after costs) to AXA Seguros e Inversiones. As a result Corio’s Spanish property portfolio now consists of only retail properties. In the Netherlands, Corio purchased a shopping centre for € 14.0 million and sold three small shopping centres for a total sum of € 11.1 million.
The ‘Mar de Cristal’ office building is located in Madrid and was constructed in 1992 together with the adjacent shopping centre ‘Gran Via de Hortaleza’. Both properties (of the shopping centre only the gallery) were part of the so-called Trema-portfolio, which Corio acquired in November 2001. At that time the office was valued at € 39.0 million (excluding acquisition costs).
At the time of the acquisition, Corio anticipated that it would sell the ‘Mar de Cristal’ office in the near future, however, not in condition it was in at that time. In order to prepare the property for a possible sale, three areas were focused on:
1. Modernisation of the property to upgrade to current standards regarding the entrance security, fire safety regulations, air conditioning etc.;
2. The addition of two service areas (restaurant, bank) making use of already existing development licences;
3. Achieving 100% occupancy rate.
The efficient approach resulted in adding substantial value to the office between November 2001 and January 2004 for costs of no more than € 1.3 million. The above sale is a good illustration of creating a win-win situation for the buyer, tenant and seller. Corio used its knowledge and resources to upgrade the property to a well-equipped office building enabling the buyer to invest at a good yield at a low risk.
In December 2003 Corio purchased a shopping centre in Vinkhuizen (Groningen) for € 14.0 million. The 7,700 m² shopping centre has 240 parking spaces. The shopping centres in Beverwijk (Wijkerbaan), Deurne (Raadhuisstraat) and Ridderkerk (Vlietplein) were sold for € 3.0 million, € 3.1 million and € 5.0 million respectively.
Source: Corio
