Four out of Five Institutional Investors Globally Invest in at Least One Alternative Asset Class

Research for Preqin’s latest “Investor Outlook” has found that four out of five institutional investors invest in at least one alternative asset class. Private equity, hedge funds and real estate are the most targeted alternative asset classes, with over half of investors having an allocation to each of them in their portfolios. Although the benefits vary significantly between asset classes, common reasons cited by investors for holding allocations to alternative assets include diversification, high returns, reliable income streams and inflation hedging characteristics.

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Hotels in Spain and Portugal Enjoy Revenue Growth

Southern Europe reported a demand increase of 4.2 percent year-to-date October 2014, with the highest occupancy change (+3.6 percent) of all sub-regions in Europe.

As supply showed low year-over-year growth of 0.6 percent, average daily rate (+3.7 percent) and revenue per available room (+7.4 percent) were able to pick up and display a positive performance outlook for year-end 2014 and the start of 2015.

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Blackstone nabs €135m of Spanish offices from CBRE core fund — Private Equity Real Estate

The New York giant has used opportunistic capital to purchase almost 1 million square feet of Madrid and Barcelona office space from a core fund of CBRE that is in exit mode.

Blackstone has purchased a 942,000 square foot core office portfolio in Spain from CBRE Global Investors for its latest European opportunity fund.

Neither side of the deal would reveal the price paid for the four asset portfolio, however it is believed Blackstone paid in the region of €135 million for the properties.

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Spanish recovery spurs SOCIMIs

This year may well go down in history as the one in which Spain’s recovering commercial real estate sector finally threw its arms around the REIT. After just under half a decade of wrangling, Spanish REITs, or SOCIMIs (sociedades cotizadas de inversión en el mercado inmobiliario) are now a reality.

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Spain: Expect some retail outlets to come onto the market in prime areas in large cities early next year

Angel Garcia, whose family has sold hand-tailored shirts since 1857, will be shutting his shop on Madrid’s Gran Via in the New Year after his landlord decided to raise the rent almost 10-fold. 

At the stroke of midnight on Dec. 31, a rent-control rule introduced under Spanish dictator General Francisco Franco comes to an end, spelling financial turmoil for thousands of small store owners.

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Spain: Residential construction is picking up and selling fast in prime areas of Madrid and Barcelona. Prices started to rise slightly in those prime areas too

On a busy street in the heart of Madrid, Juan Jose Perucho shows where he is going to raise one of the tallest residential blocks seen in the capital, on a piece of land equal to five-times the size of a football pitch area which he bought from Madrid’s subway in November.

‘We have sold-out the developement faster than ever’, said the chief executive of real estate firm Ibosa referring to a 25-storey tower with a swimming pool and hanging gardens. ‘I have never seen anything like that during my 24 years in the business’.

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Foreign money comes back to Spain

Last year, according to the World Investment Report 2014 by the UNCTAD, Spain received more foreign direct investment (FDI) than countries as the United Kingdom, Germany or Holland: up to $39,167 billion (52.4% more than in 2012). Who are boosting the investment activity? The so-called vulture funds are the ones that first noticed Spain’s “possibilities”: Lone Star, Cerberus, Burlington, GreenOak, Colony, Fortress or H.I.G –most of them North Americans.

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Madrid Land Market Hot In November

More than anything else, land values drove up house prices in the boom, so it’s not surprising the Spanish land market has been hit hardest in the bust. But if the land market in Madrid is anything to go by, buyers are coming back to the market in prime parts of Spain. November was the best month for land transactions in the capital since the bubble burst.

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The falling oil price and declining euro could aid Spain in possibly surpassing its 2% growth target for 2015

The plunging oil price is giving an unexpected lift to Europe’s crisis-battered southern periphery as decreasing fuel costs help spur demand. 

Spain, Europe’s fourth-largest economy, could add as much as 1 percent to annual growth with oil prices between $80-90 a barrel, the government said. Italy, which is in its fourth year of recession, stands to boost GDP 0.3 percentage points with a sustained $10 oil price drop, according to BNP Paribas SA. 

“There’s no doubt lower oil prices will act as a stimulus to growth in the region,” Frederik Ducrozet, a Paris-based economist at Credit Agricole, said by phone. “Greece, Spain, Portugal and Italy would be clear beneficiaries.”

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Commercial Real Estate Investment in Spain: Very good transaction levels in 2014. But who is buying what?

Among the 236 real estate deals sealed in Spain during the first nine months of the ongoing year, noteworthy are the purchase of the Edificio España building by China’s richest man Wang Jialin who paid €265 million for it, and the €2 billion amount invested year-to-date by local REITs (known as Socimis).

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