The business of US financial services group Blackstone would, at first glance, appear to be pretty simple: it buys up companies and assets that are in difficulties, in search of the biggest capital gain in the shortest time possible. 

UBS Asset Management's Real Estate & Private Markets business has acquired the retail gallery part of Las Rosas Shopping Centre in the San Blas district of Madrid, on behalf of a client for €57 million. The vendor, Hispania Retail Properties, a partnership owned by GreenOak Real Estate amongst others, acquired this center as part of a portfolio deal in 2014.

Following Santander’s rescue of Banco Popular, its JV deal with Blackstone to tackle €30bn of distressed real estate assets could prove a success story for both the bank and the private equity real estate giant.

Blackstone has bought a majority stake in a €30bn real estate portfolio owned by troubled Spanish lender Banco Popular. The announcement was made on the same day that EU regulators approved a rescue takeover of the bank by Santander.

Redevco Iberian Ventures, the joint venture between pan-European retail real estate investment management company Redevco and funds managed by global alternative asset manager Ares Management, has acquired Mercado San Miguel, the renowned covered gastronomic market in Madrid for €70 million. The seller is a consortium of private Spanish investors.

U.S. asset manager Blackstone has entered into exclusive talks with Banco Popular over the sale of a majority stake in the rescued Spanish lender's property portfolio, Popular said in a statement on Monday.

The Spanish economy accelerated at the fastest pace in almost two years, extending a recovery that shows no signs of abating. Output grew 0.9 percent in the three months through June after expanding 0.8 percent in the previous quarter, the National Statistics Office said Friday in a preliminary report. That’s the best reading since 2015 and matches the median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of economists. From a year ago, the economy accelerated 3.1 percent.

Axiare Patrimonio continues to implement its strategic investment plan, further bolstered by its excellent financial results. The Socimi reported a net consolidated profit of EUR 114 million in H1 2017, 36.1% above the EUR 83.8 million in H1 2016. The Socimi has again increased its EPRA NAV, which stands at EUR 15.3, 11.4% higher than 6 months ago in December 2016 and 61.9% higher than at its initial listing on the Stock Exchange in July 2014.

Hispania Activos Inmobiliarios closes its first half 2017 having registered gross rents of 78 million euro and a net consolidated profit of 185 million euro, which equals to €1.48/share. With 39 hotels and a total of more than 11,200 keys, Hispania has become the largest hotel owner in Spain. 

Aina Hospitality, through the Aina Investment Fund, has completed the acquisition of a 50 per cent equity stake in Breda Capital SL, which owns “The Grand Hotel Velazquez”, a 4-star hotel located in Madrid, Spain.

Grosvenor Europe (Grosvenor), one of four operating companies of the privately-owned international property group, Grosvenor Group, has acquired two new assets in the Chamberí district of Madrid, Spain. 

Bain Capital Credit this week bought almost €1bn of bad loans in Portugal and Spain, in a sign of rising demand for distressed assets across the eurozone despite lingering concerns over inconsistent national approaches to the problem.

CBRE Global Investors, in a joint venture with IBA Capital Partners, has acquired Gran Via 18, a 5,500 sq m prime freehold asset in Madrid City Centre. The vendor was a fund managed by TPG Sixth Street Partners.

Hard Rock International has proposed a multi-phase $2.3 billion casino-resort project to be built near the PortAventura World theme park located about 70 miles southwest of Barcelona.

There were circa €28.1bn (face value) of closed real estate loan and REO sales recorded in the first six months of 2017 across 36 transactions – up on the first halves of 2015 and 2016 – and there are a further €51.7bn of live transactions, particularly including major portfolios in Spain, Portugal, Italy and the UK. 

Starwood Capital Group, a leading global private investment firm, today announced that its Starwood Global Opportunity Fund X controlled affiliate has sold its interest in a collection of hotels across key leisure markets in Spain.  The assets are owned in a joint venture with Melia Hotels International, a leading Spanish hotel operator, which is retaining interest in the assets in the portfolio.

Italy and Spain are both large euro zone economies — after Germany and France, they rank third and fourth for GDP, respectively — that suffered in the global financial crisis and the euro zone sovereign debt crisis that followed, principally through the danger of contagion from Greece’s debt issues but also from economic recession, falls in business activity and sentiment, the imposition of austerity measures, and horrible rises in unemployment levels, especially among the young.

The similarities largely end there, for Spain took action and pulled itself up while Italy remains mired in relative political turmoil, economic sclerosis and financial inaction, seemingly unwilling or unable to dig itself out of the hole it finds itself in. Spain has seen recent years of 3 percent plus annual GDP growth, reductions in unemployment and a return of investor and consumer confidence, and is recovering. Italy has not. 

Avignon Capital, the European property investment firm, has sold Fontanella 6-8, a prime office and retail asset in Barcelona, for EUR65 million, producing a 135 per cent return on equity.

Redevco Iberian Ventures, the joint venture between pan-European retail real estate specialist Redevco and funds managed by global alternative asset manager Ares Management, has sold a portfolio of nine retail parks located across Spain for EUR193 million. 

Hispania has completed the acquisition of the Fergus Tobago Hotel on the island of Mallorca for a total of EUR20 million. The hotel is located on the front line of the Son Matías beach, Palmanova, an emblematic place on the island which is currently in the process of updating the hotel and the hotel surroundings.