Valderrama—Spain’s most famous golf course—has been bought by the owners of luxury resort and gated community La Zagaleta in a €40million deal.
The transaction includes a number of development plots located around the golf course as well as the Valderrama 2 real estate project set on 200 hectares of rolling hillside in nearby Castellar.
The development of a new championship golf course is included as part of the Valderrama 2 scheme and it will be designed and laid out by one of the leading and most prestigious specialist landscape architects in this field, pledged the La Zagaleta Group. The new course and associated homes will be of the highest standard, comparable to Valderrama itself—host of the 1997 Ryder Cup—and to the super-luxury villas and facilities at La Zagaleta in Benahavís.
In total, the new owners are expecting to spend €200 million over the next ten years, an investment that will give the Sotogrande and San Roque area a welcome boost.
Jacobo Cestino, Managing Director of La Zagaleta Group in Spain said: “This transaction confirms our position at the forefront of the high end luxury property market as well as connecting us to one of the world’s most prestigious golf brands. The company has not discounted the possibility of acquiring other luxury and lifestyle brands over the medium term.”
Although La Zagaleta has bought the golf course, the Royal Valderrama Golf Club is a separate entity that holds the concession to run the course until 2050.
The Zagaleta Group was established in 1991 and gives its name to one of Europe’s most exclusive, private and secure gated communities and resorts, extending over 900 hectares of which almost 500 hectares are green spaces. Facilities of the resort include a heliport, a country club—El Club de Campo La Zagaleta—two golf courses and an equestrian centre, all of which are for the exclusive use of residents and their guests. The company is currently building a number of new properties for 2016. The indicative price range for these will be between €12-14 million.
La Zagaleta today boasts more than 230 properties on plots ranging between 3000m2 and 10,000m2 that are valued between €5 and €25million each. The new development of Valderrama 2 will follow the same model of super-luxury and seven-star facilities catering for a wealthy international clientele, said Sr. Cestino.
At Holmes Sotogrande we see the deal as a very interesting fusion of two famous brands. These are exciting times for Sotogrande, with the new owners of the resort planning €1 billion in investment and the plans for the expansion of the La Reserva development well under way. La Zagaleta will bring the same ethos of quality and exclusivity that has already served Sotogrande so well, creating a groundswell of top luxury development that will see the resort’s status and appeal rise further.
By Jackie Cruz - Manifesto ·