The subsidiary of the Santander Group dedicated to agriculture, Land Co, has opened a new housing company, as the company itself detailed in its latest annual accounts, those of 2021, recently filed in the Commercial Register. In addition to Metrovacesa (of which it is the majority shareholder), the bank now has another mainstay in the developer area.
“During fiscal year 2021, the Company has begun developing new real estate development activity on the lands where there has been real estate interest,” the Company’s financial statements read.
LandCo is currently developing 18 projects for a total of almost 600 apartments in different stages of development, as explained by the subsidiary of the Santander group. The company could launch more in the coming months eight projects for a total of 250 apartments.
This is how the real estate development activity started within LandCo, but as an additional activity to the main activity, the management and sale of land.
LandCo’s goal in residential development is to develop residential projects on plots that are not of interest to real estate developers due to their small size or location in smaller communities, or for which developer financing cannot be obtained for development.
Alberto Quemada, CEO of LandCo.
The real estate company continues to analyze additional properties that may be suitable for development projects, as well as the stopped and uncompleted works held in the manager’s portfolio.
Santander is currently present in direct residential development through Metrovacesa, of which it controls 49.4% of the capital, according to CNMV records. He is also a minority shareholder in Aliseda (affiliated with Blackstone), which manages the bank’s toxic assets for 30,000 million and also undertakes new construction. It also sells residential developments through Altamira Santander Real Estate (not to be confused with Altamira owned by DoValue).
Santander launched LandCo in 2019 as a novel initiative by creating a real estate agency for land management, this newspaper reported at the time. This company is responsible for advancing the town planning procedures for the property, which comes from the bank’s foreclosed portfolio. To steer the project, LandCo Albert Burnt as CEO, a manager with experience at Habitat Inmobiliaria, Quabit and Ferrovial Inmobiliaria.
The financial company chaired Ana Botin 13,000 assets transferred to this company. The gross value of the land portfolio is approximately 4,500 million and they are located in 3,500 different urban areas, according to the company’s website. These lots are classified as 45% finalist land, 40% working land and 15% rustic.
In Madrid they have land in future neighborhoods like Los Cerros and Valdecarros; in Andalusia in Rojas Santa Tecla in Málaga and in Villanueva del Pítamo in Seville; and in Valencia, for example, in Central Park.
Last year he registered 81% more
LandCo sales gain weight. The company – which was founded in 2019, although it had more significant operations as of 2020 – registered 81.5% more in 2021 than a year earlier, according to the latest accounts presented in the register. Specifically, it had a turnover of 94.27 million euros.
Losses also rose 121% to 77.61 million. The company is recording an impairment provision of 87.94 million in its financial statements at the end of this year to bring the book value of its real estate assets up to market value.
The largest land sale deal was in Andalusia (27.98 million), followed by Catalonia (13.3 million), Extremadura (10.9 million) and Madrid (10.1 million).