September 15, 2008 was the end of a global business cycle. Bankruptcy of the investment bank Lehman Brothers unexplained system failures. In the United States, mortgages with a weak credit profile were rated as top quality assets. 7,884 kilometers to the east, in a country where the crisis is unknown, and where “green sprouts” were detected before the last disaster, the most severe consequences would have been experienced, in the words of the then Economy Minister Elena Salgado. In the Zapatero government.
HE explosion housing bubble No definite date in Spain: Prices peaked in 2007, but housing production continued, albeit at a slower pace. In contrast, bankruptcy and creditor disputes, the first of which were up until 2008, were slow to come. Martinsa-Fadesa, one of the banners what was the golden shine (or decade) of the national ‘brick’ that is now 15 years old?
Martinsa-Fadesa was a union of two companies, Martinsa on the one hand and Fadesa on the other. The first, headed by Fernando Martín, absorbed the second, led by Galician Manuel Jove, Manolo on a €4,045m payout, of which 2,200 went to his friends, the founder and its largest shareholder.
Fadesa and Manuel Jove
The Fadesa y Jove empire began in their homeland, A Coruña. He started working as a carpenter, but after emigrating to Germany, he founded a renovation company that went bankrupt on his return. This would not be his first unsuccessful business venture. He later founded Fincas Galicia, which had the same purpose. Success came with Fadesa, which started by building houses in Galicia but quickly spread to the rest of Spain, Portugal, Morocco, Poland, France and Romania.
pallor premiere bag On 30 April 2004, valued at 1.442 million eurosbecame the second largest listed real estate company in Spain, after only Metrovacesa. There was such an expectation that at that time it was the third most traded stock on the national stock exchange in a single day. In 2006, the last financial year listed, it had a turnover of 1 billion 281 million euros and a profit of 159.9 million. chronicles of the time.
Martinsa and Fernando Martin
Fernando Martín was one of the other great kings of the “brick” before 2008, but for many he was the least-serving president of Real Madrid. reliable man florentino perezHe took over the presidency of the white club after his resignation.. It didn’t take long. Martín held that position for only two months, until he was dismissed by the board for treason while enjoying vacation in Florida.
The origin of Fernando Martín’s business empire was buying and selling land for a third party, where he learned about the real estate industry. His fame came later when he became the architect of Madrid’s Las Tablas and Montecarmelo neighborhoods, which, along with urban success, are among the places with the highest housing prices in the capital, particularly outside the city centre. Despite pursuing his ambitions to his wife and people, he closed the acquisition of Fadesa with the intention of creating Spain’s largest real estate giant.
Emerged beyond the ‘brick’ one of the largest shareholders of companies Such as Día, Unión Fenosa, Banco Santander or BBVA supermarkets.
Merger of Martinsa and Fadesa
In a sale, one has to sell and the other to buy. To understand why Manuel Jove decided to leave his company in favor of Martinsa, it is necessary to take into account his personal circumstances. In 2003, her eldest daughter died of a brain aneurysm at a very young age, only 37 years old; very familiar man.
The operation was closed at a dinner between Fernando Martín and Manuel Jove at Madrid restaurant La Dorada on September 28, 2006; however, it was not completed until June 2007. Martinsa would be the one to integrate into Fadesa, the opposite of the operation where Martinsa was the person purchasing Fadesa. This move was made with one purpose, Martinsa-Fadesa being a listed company, something that until now only Jove’s company was.
The fall of Martinsa-Fadesa
The joy did not last long in Martinsa-Fadesa. On 14 July 2008, just 382 days after closing its merger, payments were declared suspended. The group’s debt has reached 7,000 million euros, the largest bankruptcy in Spanish history, and has not even surpassed Abengoa’s final debt, estimated at around 6,000 million.
Why did the company go bankrupt so quickly? Besides, the main reason slowing down real estate marketMartinsa has entered into a syndicated loan agreement of 4,100 million euros to acquire Fadesa, a figure very close to its own funds.
The company emerged from bankruptcy in March 2011 with a plan to repay all borrowed capital within ten years. Later Martinsa submitted an amendment not accepted by creditorsIt led to the eventual liquidation in February 2015, which meant the final goodbye to the largest real estate company in the country.
What happened to the main characters?
Manuel Jove passed away in 2020 after a long illness. After handing over his Fadesa baton, he used all the money from the sale to start Inveravante, a specialized holding company. Invest in real estate, hotels, renewable energy and wines. Among its subsidiaries stands out Avantespacia, a residential developer that has developed its core business in Spain and also operates in Morocco, Mexico and Brazil; Attica21, a hotel chain; Terraselecta, consisting of a group of wineries and a cheese factory in different Spanish denominations; and Genera Avante, hydraulic and photovoltaic energy projects in Panama.
According to ‘El Cierre Digital’, Fernando Martín remains active despite being in the shadows and nearly died during the pandemic after contracting covid-19. ‘El Mundo’ reported that he once again developed real estate projects in Madrid and Andalusia with his children in 2018, and even the turnover of his companies exceeded 100 million euros. At this vital stage, bet on maximum discretion.