BBVA negotiates the sale to Merlin of the 'Operation Chamartn' - La Provincia


BBVAnegotiate transfer toMerlin Properties 75% participationthat he has in the promoter society ofMadrid New North, known as 'Operation Chamartín', one of the largest urban development projects in Europe, as confirmed by Europa Press in sources close to the operation.

The transaction would be made through an exchange of shares. The bank would yield its percentage in the project to the largest socimi in the country in exchange for retaking a stake in the capital of this company, as reported by the newspaper 'Cinco Días', which advanced the operation.

In fact,BBVA could become an "important reference partner" of Merlin, of which Santander is currently the first shareholder with 22% of its capital.

According to the negotiations held so far, the entity that presides over Carlos Torres would gradually increase the initial percentage that he will take in the socimi depending on the development and consequent increase in the value of the project, according to those detailed to Europa Press.

For BBVA, the operation will entail thus separating directly from the project and continuing to cut its exposure to the real estate sector, although at the same time it would maintain a participation, although indirect, in it.

Also, the entity would become Merlin's partner again. The bank has already entered the capital of this socimi as a result of the merger in 2016 of this firm with Metrovacesa also through an exchange of shares, although BBVA, unlike Santander, subsequently sold its shareholding in the socimi.

Further,will strengthen the relationships that the bank and the socimithat Ismael Clemente directs since the establishment of this firm, when in 2014 he bought a lot of 880 BBVA branches to occupy them for rent.

On its side, Merlin, by virtue of the eventual transaction, will be reinforced as the largest listed company in the country, boosting its branch of offices, since it already has buildings of this type, in addition to shopping centers and logistics centers valued at 12,375 million .

Recent 'green light'

BBVA negotiates to transfer the 'Operation Chamartín' just when it has just reached the agreement of all the parties involved after more than twenty years of development and negotiation between the promoters and the three administrations that participate in the project, fundamentally laying the ground, the City Council of Madrid, the Community of Madrid and the Ministry of Development through Renfe and Adif.

The projectIt is planned to receive definitive 'green light' before the end of the yearwith the ratification by the Government of the Community of Madrid of the unanimous approval of the plenary session of the City Council last July.

The operation is promoted by Distrito Castellana Norte, a company in which BBVA has 75% that it negotiates to sell and the construction group San José, the remaining 25%.

The renamed 'Madrid Nuevo Norte' has an associated investment of about 6,000 million eurosand will involve acting on three million square meters of land, along an elongated strip of 5.6 kilometers in length that crosses the North of Madrid, from the vicinity of Plaza de Castilla to the M-40.

A distance similar to that which extends from the Plaza de Neptuno, in the center of the capital, to Plaza de Castilla, according to the promoters, is ratified.

The axis of the project is the remodeling of the Chamartín station, and the coverage of its beam of roads, on which the so-called 'central park' will be built, a green space of thirteen hectares.

This park will be the center of development, which is completed with a new business center that, together with the five towers, will turn the area into the new 'city' of Madrid, in addition to the construction of 10,500 homes, which mostly they would yield to administrations.

The forecast is thaturbanization works start at the end of 2020.The first phase of the complex is planned for 2028, although the entire development includes a 24-year execution schedule.

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