We have the ‘REIT’ to party!
To commemorate the anniversary, on 28 October CESINE/Metros2 organised a conference held at the Palacio de la Bolsa in Madrid with the participation of the main players in the sector. Speeches by Jesus Gonzalez, director of BME Growth and Jose Maria Alvarez, president of Cesine Editorial, gave way to a brief presentation by Enrique Losantos, CEO of JLL Spain who provided a status update on the sector in Spain. This was followed by a round-table with Pere Viñolas CEO COLONIAL, Miguel Ollero Corporate General Manager Merlin Properties and Joaquín López-Chicheri Executive Chairman Vitruvio moderated by Alfonso Brunet, Managing Director Castellana Properties.
The law that ultimately made REITs possible came into force on 27 December 2012 and was created with the aim of stimulating a real estate investment recovery in Spain after the 2008 crisis. The objective was to provide a favourable tax regime for companies acquiring and developing urban real estate for lease. If these properties met specific requirements (eg,distribution of 80% of profit via dividends, minimum capital of 5 million euros, listing on a regulated market or SMN, etc).
In the words of Domingo Garcia Coto, Director of BME's Research Department: "Over the lpast 10 years, SOCIMIS have made a positive contribution to maintaining and reorganising the balance and value of real estate activities in the Spanish economy. A sub-sector that, for more than a decade now, has contributed around 15% of GDP for Spain’s Services sector and 10% of total GDP, with a Gross Value Added of close to 32,000 million euros per quarter".
Specialising in different types of assets, from the leasing of homes and shopping centres to student or retirement homes, these companies have found the necessary financing on the BME Exchange to boost their corporate activity and fulfil their expansion plans. In fact, BME Exchange is the leading market for these types of companies in Europe, with 84 listed companies.
Four SOCIMIS are currently listed on the traditional market: Árima, Inm. Colonial, LAR and Merlin Properties, with a total capitalisation of 8,068.52 million euros. While 80 SOCIMIS, with a combined capitalisation of 14,624 million euros, have found their place on BME GROWTH.
SOCIMIs fundind activity through BME
Supporting both retail and institutional investors, SOCIMIs have established themselves as an attractive and efficient vehicle for professionalised real estate investments, with the market's own liquidity and a policy of constant dividend distribution.
In the words of Jesús González Nieto-Márquez: REITs are clearly an option for an increasingly broad spectrum of investors. "Investment funds, pension funds, high income investors and retail investors are becoming common".
Their commitment to dividend distribution to shareholders has been clearly fulfilled in recent years.
Dividends distributed by Spanish listed SOCIMI
