Aedas Homes, the developer with the largest number of completed houses in Spain last year, announced this Thursday that it has acquired Áurea Homes in a € 53.7 million transaction. The acquisition includes eight ongoing projects and seven ready-to-build land plots, located primarily in the center and north of the country, where the company, headed by David Martinez, will thus strengthen its presence. With this move, Aedas shows that it does not want to be left behind in the race that Neinor started in January last year by announcing its takeover of Quabit.
Áurea Homes concentrates the real estate business of the construction company ACR, which retains some of the nearly completed projects and some projects for long-term development. The operation announced last Thursday includes the integration of Áurea brand into Aedas, its team and 15 assets (eight properties and seven land plots). Already completed construction projects are among them - 167 houses located in Pamplona, Barakaldo (Bizcaia), Valladolid and Madrid. In addition, there are ready-made land plots (i.e. with the corresponding building permits), four of which are in Madrid, two - in Pamplona and one - in Mairena de Aljarafa (Sevilla). They are designed for a total of 512 houses.
“This first integration is driving our growth through the choice of land and projects of excellent quality, and it also expands our capabilities, especially in the north of Spain, at the optimal time for our company,” said David Martinez, CEO of Aedas. The manager emphasized the “state of the art” of the acquired assets, so he predicted “return on investment in a very short time”. Michel Elizalde, CEO of ACR Grupo, stressed that the sale “allows ACR to focus on construction business.”
Aedas forecasts for 2021 indicate the construction of 2,300 homes, but this figure may change slightly after the takeover of the Áurea business. However, Martinez's words about “first integration” confirm that the developer is still actively looking for investment opportunities in the market. While the deal is relevant to its protagonists, it is far from the one announced earlier this year by Neinor Homes, one of Aedas' main competitors, when it took over Quabit. The deal was valued at 370 million euros and involved the merger of two companies that delivered more than 2,400 houses last year, making the company the largest Spanish property developer to date.