During the event, Clemente gave explanations to the shareholders of the company's decisions during 2023. He highlighted Merlin's foray into the Malaga office market with a €20 million investment project and the search for the digitalisation of their assets. He added that the objective is that by 2028, 60% of the assets are digital (data centres and logistics linked to the online market) and 40% are traditional assets (offices, shopping centers and others)

Testing the market

"In Malaga we want to test the office market. That is why we have created a joint venture with a local office to build a 10,000 m2 office building, very close to the city's port and the AVE station”. The company will invest 20 million euros in this project, according to Merlin sources and reported by idealista. "It is going to be a marketing success," added the recently re-elected CEO of the SOCIMI, although he has shown caution when asked about the possibility of carrying out more projects in Malaga. "We have to put the cities in perspective. Now Malaga is compared to Barcelona, but the first has one million m2 of offices (including the offices that are in residential locations) and the second has 10 million m2. It is "It is important to gain presence in the city, but never become the only player in the market in the area," he clarified.

Data centres

Regarding data centres, Clemente announced to shareholders that he already has the license to build one in Lisbon, as advanced by idealista/news, in addition to revealing the company's next steps in this type of asset. The plan is to invest around 2,000 million euros to deploy up to 200 new megawatts (MW), funds that will come either from the entry of one or more interested parties (pension funds, family offices, venture capital funds) of a capital increase, the sale of assets or a combination of all these options.

He pointed out that the operation has not yet been designed. It will be the Board that will decide, before the summer and with the advice of Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs, which of the formulas offered by the REIT management team is the most appropriate.

The CEO has also reviewed the current state of the data centre plan, with 9 MW already equipped in Getafe (Madrid), Barcelona-PLZ and Bilbao-Arasur. With the new equipment that it will receive throughout the year, it will have a total of 33 MW this year, and in 2026 about 60 MW, closing the first phase. Subsequently, it will open an 80 MW center in Lisbon and extend the one in Bilbao to 100 MW in a second phase.

"We do not rule out that of the 300,000 m2 of land that we still have to develop in logistics, some could be used for the construction of data centres," Clemente acknowledged. A relevant fact when calculating the investment in this type of assets. "The land cannot cost you more than 5% or 10% of the investment. Right now a speculative fever is being generated with the land for this type of asset, so it is better that the land be your own and not have to buy it".