MADRID, LONDON, January 30, 2018 – Habitat Inmobiliaria (“Habitat”), one of the leading companies in the development and sale of high-quality residential projects in Spain’s main cities, has strengthened its business after being acquired by Bain Capital Credit, LP, (“Bain Capital Credit”), from a group of financial investors.
This transaction gives an important boost to Habitat’s leading position in Spain’s residential development market. Since its foundation in 1953, Habitat has built more than 60,000 properties and it has one of the largest portfolios of new homes under development in Spain. The Company also has an attractive, ready-to-build and longer-term landbank of 2.5M square meters.
Bain Capital Credit has built a significant position in Spain, where it has acquired non-performing loans, leases and real estate valued at more than EUR 3.5bn since 2014. It plans to create a large real estate platform around the Habitat business. Bain Capital Credit announced in October 2017 that it is the majority owner of a JV that controls and manages a portfolio of repossessed real estate assets from Liberbank. Bain Capital Credit began buying non-performing loans, leases and real estate assets in Europe in 2011 and has since acquired assets in Spain, Italy, Portugal, Greece, Ireland and the UK.
“We believe Spain is one of the most attractive NPL and real estate markets in Europe and Habitat’s sizeable land plots in major cities are a great opportunity to expand our footprint in the residential development sector,” said Fabio Longo, a Managing Director and Head of Bain Capital Credit’s European non-performing loan & real estate business. “We see the potential for continued investment in Spain, particularly in the real estate and non-performing loan markets.”
“We are delighted that Bain Capital Credit is partnering with us and their operational expertise and deep knowledge of Spanish real estate will help us to enhance our business performance,” said Eduardo Carreño, General Manager of Habitat. “We plan to significantly increase our rate of delivery in the coming years to meet the high level of demand as the Spanish economy continues to recover strongly.”
“This is an exciting combination of the financial strength of Bain Capital Credit with the substantial expertise of Habitat Inmobiliaria,” said Brad Palmer, Managing Director and Head of European Portfolio Operations at Bain Capital Credit. “Our joint experience of sourcing land and development projects will allow us to re-build a major national developer.”
About Habitat Inmobiliaria
Habitat Inmobiliaria is a Spanish real estate company focused on the development and integral management of residential projects. Since its foundation in 1953, Habitat Inmobiliaria has developed and delivered more than 60,000 properties. It has one of the largest portfolios of new homes under development (1,072 units) of the Spanish real estate developers. Of projects currently being marketed and under construction, 80% of the properties have been sold (more than 700 homes). All the properties due for completion before June 2018 have been sold.
The company has a highly qualified team with extensive experience in the purchase and development of land, as well as in the promotion and sale of top-level real estate products in the main Spanish cities.
About Bain Capital Credit
Bain Capital Credit (www.baincapitalcredit.com), founded as Sankaty Advisors in 1998, invests up and down the capital structure and across the spectrum of credit strategies, including leveraged loans, high-yield bonds, distressed debt, private lending, structured products, non-performing loans and equities. Our team of more than 200 professionals creates value through rigorous, independent analysis of thousands of corporate issuers around the world. In addition to credit, Bain Capital invests across asset classes including private equity, public equity and venture capital, and leverages the firm’s shared platform to capture opportunities in strategic areas of focus.
