Pimco Said to Compete With Perella for Spanish Real Estate

Pacific Investment Management Co. is one of three bidders chosen to make final offers for an office and shopping-mall complex in Madrid’s business district, two people with knowledge of the matter said.

Pimco, in partnership with Talus Real Estate, is competing against Perella Weinberg Partners LP and a third bidder, according to the people, who asked not to be identified because the talks are private. Bids may be about 140 million euros ($193 million) and are due by March 14, the people said.

The Castellana 200 property -- two office buildings totaling 20,300 square meters (219,000 square feet) and a 6,200 square meter retail mall -- was put up for sale by banks including Banco Santander SA, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA and the Bankia Group.

Pimco, one of the world’s largest asset managers, is joining Blackstone Group LP and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. in investing in Spanish real estate as the economy recovers. Government policy changes have made the property market more attractive to overseas investors.

Officials from Pimco and Perella Weinberg declined to comment.

Pimco, based in Newport Beach, California, will own as much as 12.5 percent of Lar Espana Real Estate Socimi SA after the company sells shares to the public for the first time next month. Lar Espana will become a Socimi, Spain’s version of a real estate investment trust.

Property Buys

Investment firms including Blackstone and Goldman Sachs have been buying real estate in Spain after home prices fell more than 45 percent from their 2007 peak. Grupo Lar, along with Fortress Investment Group LLC, bought more than 1,000 homes from Spanish bad bank Sareb in December for 146 million euros.

Investment in Spain by funds, private-equity firms and financial-services companies totaled 13.9 billion euros in 2013, according to Madrid-based debt-restructuring firm Irea. About 37 percent of the money was spent on real estate assets and that figure is expected to increase this year as special emphasis is put on the property market, according to Chief Executive Officer Mikel Echavarren.

Source: sfgate.com