Funds & Banks Join Forces to Bid For Eurohypo

10/02/2014 – Expansion

The sale of Eurohypo in Spain is reserved for high-flying vulture funds only. As the nominal value of the transaction reaches €4.500 million, some of the competitors, not used to the several-million investments, will have to seek partners. Them they find in banks.

Blackstone, the biggest private equity firm, alliated with Deutsche Bank. The U.S. Lone Star will pull together with Wells Fargo and its rival Bank of America is looking for a fund for itself. Also, Apollo (already having its own bank, Evo), Fortress, Cerberus and HIG are calling for attention.

The reason for the temporary alliances is not only the transaction´s scope (that is said to reach even €2.000 million), but also the content of the porfolio: up-to-date credits, that will have to be managed by a financial institution.

The Content

The portfolio is compound of €3.000 million in up-to-date loans and €1.500 in unpaid credits, inherited by Commerzbank´s real estate after the bubble burst.

The opportunistic investors lurk the assets at the edge of bankruptcy as they will end up as real estate property in collateral.

The Operation Octopus includes debts of Bami, Martinsa-Fadesa, Inmobiliaria Chamartín and huge shopping malls, like Zielo de Pozuelo or H2O de Rivas Vaciamadrid, both found in Madrid. The transaction will be advised by Lazard.

Other assets put on sale by Eurohypo are the ABC Serrano shopping center and the offices of the Unidad Editorial on the Avenida de San Luis Avenue, acquired by IBA Capital for €96 million at the end of 2013.

 

Original article: Expansión (Jorge Zuloaga)

Translation: AURA REE