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El Corte Inglés Doubles its Assets for Sale to €3bn & Invites Preliminary Offers by End of March
11 March 2019 – El Confidencial
El Corte Inglés has set a deadline of the end of March for interested parties to submit their preliminary bids for its real estate assets. Moreover, it has increased the perimeter of the portfolio from the initial value of between €1.5 billion and €2 billion to €3 billion.
ECI engaged PwC at the end of 2018 to help it define the perimeter, which comprises non-strategic assets, primarily land, offices, logistics platforms and stores.
The portfolio can be divided into three batches, based on on the liquidity of the assets: assets in good locations and with the possibility of being sold quickly (liquid) account for around one third of the perimeter; intermediate assets represent around 15% of the total; and just over half of the portfolio comprises assets that are not very liquid or that are located in complicated areas.
The aim of the sale is to use the funds raised to reduce the distribution group’s debt, which amounted to €3.8 billion at the end of 2017, equivalent to around four times its EBITDA of c. €1 billion.
Original story: El Confidencial (by Jorge Zuloaga & Ruth Ugalde)
Translation/Summary: Carmel Drake