Steady as she goes
Atenor is active in the entire real estate development process, from identifying and acquiring locations to developing and selling them, albeit with no direct involvement in construction. The focus is offices (74% of its portfolio). Exposure to its domestic market, Belgium, is gradually fading. We believe Atenor is well-positioned in European office real-estate development to take advantage of the underlying trend, with market demand increasingly shifting to assets with higher technical and quality standards. Atenor’s project pipeline has grown from 9 in 2009 to 28 in Q1 2020, with a portfolio currently at 1.2m m², driven mainly by internationalisation (Central Europe, and, more recently, France, Germany, Portugal). Expansion is focused on capital cities offering attractive growth prospects as well as quicker investment procedures, leading to higher portfolio rotation (from 6 years to 4.5 currently) and, hence, enhanced profitability. Atenor’s risk profile has also improved through internationalisation thanks to diversification, exposure to countries offering stronger growth prospects and shorter pre-building phases. With half of its portfolio located in European countries that are the least-impacted by Covid-19, Atenor seems well-positioned to ride the storm. The impact should also be limited given the length of a typical development cycle (4 to 7 years) compared to the duration of the lockdown and debt is well spread to 2025. Atenor trades at a 21% discount to peers despite higher growth prospects and higher ROE.
Atenor Group is a holding company. Co., through its subsidiaries, is a real estate developer that specializes in large-scale, urban real estate projects that meet strict criteria in terms of location, economic effectiveness and respect of the environment including office buildings, mixed used and residential complexes. Co. has acquired diversified know-how which it uses to design and build projects in Belgium and other countries throughout Europe.
Merodis Equity Research offers bespoke equity research backed by our extensive experience in equity markets at top-tier investment banks in London, Paris and Brussels serving institutional investors worldwide. Analysts at Merodis Equity Research have achieved #1 Extel rankings in the past for Benelux equity research.
Please note that we may have been mandated by the company to produce the research report (clearly indicated on the front page of the report), but that (1) our fees are not linked at all to our opinions and views, and (2) that we refund the company with the proceeds from the sale of our research as to remain 100% independent. This is an innovative business model, which we hope will contribute to improving the visibility towards worldwide investors of small & mid caps that deserve wider market attention and ownership.
Unfortunately, this report is not available for the investor type or country you selected.
Browse all ResearchPool reportsReport is subscription only.
Thank you, your report is ready.
Thank you, your report is ready.