"He has the vision to find innovative solutions and is an impeccable technical lawyer with a deep commercial vision."
Chambers Europe 2024
"A very good lawyer who has a great understanding of the bigger picture."
Chambers Europe 2024
"Long-standing reputation as a prominent real estate lawyer in Spain. He has demonstrable experience in high-value transactions."
Chambers Europe 2024
Band 1 – Real Estate (Spain)
Chambers Europe 2024
"Rafael Molina has a longstanding reputation as one of the most important real estate lawyers in Spain."
Chambers Europe 2023
"Rafa Molina is one of the most experienced and commerically adept lawyers we work with. Always pragmatic and looking for solutions in getting deals over the line."
The Legal 500 EMEA 2023
Rafael Molina is widely recognized as "the key driving force behind the firm's strong real estate transactional practice”. Sources say that "he's incredibly commercial" and add that "he has extremely good technical skills and is good at running his team and taking views."
Chambers Europe 2018
Profile
Rafael Molina represents Spanish and international clients in their most sophisticated transactions at the intersection of corporate, finance, and real estate law.
Leveraging more than two decades of experience, Mr. Molina guides international investors, developers, financial institutions, and promoters on negotiating a wide range of real estate transactions and corporate matters, involving:
Real estate M&A across asset classes, including hotels, data centers, retail and leisure centers, office buildings, logistics and industrial, and residential
Structured finance and securitizations
Single names, loan-to-own, and workouts and restructurings
He approaches negotiations with confidence and a sophisticated understanding of his clients’ interests, ready to devise complex structures that facilitate deal execution. Mr. Molina also regularly advises global private equity houses and investment funds on real estate as an asset class and related large-scale financing work.
Mr. Molina serves on the board of the University of Navarra.
Experience
Mr. Molina’s recent signature experience includes advising:
Real Estate M&A
Activum on:
Selling the Hard Rock Hotel in Madrid to Arlaes Management
Acquiring Hotel Nobu, located in Barcelona’s emblematic Torre Catalunya, from Selenta Group
Pradera on acquiring a portfolio of six hypermarkets and retail galleries leased to Eroski
Blackbrook Capital on acquiring a portfolio of 22 supermarkets
Cerberus on:
Acquiring 80% of BBVA’s real estate business
The takeover bid for 100% of the shares of Optimum RE, a Spanish REIT
Acquiring three logistics real estate assets across Spain from Invermik, with a total built area of approximately 100,000 square meters
The €3.4 billion acquisition of 80% of Banco Sabadell’s real estate portfolio
Apollo on creating a hotel platform and that platform’s acquisition of several hotels, including a hotel complex in Málaga from Meliá Hotels International
Intriva Capital Partners on acquiring the Hotel Byblos in Malaga from listed company Aycos Grupo Inmobiliario
Tristan Capital Partners on its joint venture with Acciona to develop an office complex in Barcelona
Finance
Activum on:
The financing to develop the first Hard Rock Hotel in continental Europe
The credit facility provided by Banco de Sabadell to refinance the acquisition costs and finance the development costs of the Hampton by Hilton Hotel in Barcelona
A syndicate of lenders on the financing for the acquisition of Aelca by Vía Célere, a Värde Partners portfolio company
A financial entity on the €150 million equipment lease receivables financing for Portuguese operator Liqui.do
Pictet on acquiring and subsequently financing two buildings in Paseo de la Castellana (Madrid)
Loan Portfolio Transactions
Cerberus on:
Acquiring a portfolio of consumer and SMEs NPLs secured by 2,300 real estate assets from Unicaja Banco
Acquiring and financing a portfolio of NPLs acquired to Kutxabank and CajaSur
A financial entity on acquiring a €300 million portfolio of performing and sub-performing consumer loans
Intriva Capital Partners on acquiring an NPL portfolio from Bankinter
Qualifications
Bar Qualification
England and Wales (Solicitor)
Spain (Abogado)
Education
MCJ, New York University, 1991
LLB, Universidad de Navarra, Pamplona, Spain, 1989
After a long period of heightened dealmaking, activity may be down, but this moment could present opportunities for cash buyers and opportunistic investors in multi-family, hospitality, logistics, and certain office markets.
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