• Transaction / Assets
    Oitante Sells Banif's Former Headquarters
  • Seller
    Oitante
  • Buyer
    Jardins Sottomayor
  • € MM
    24

Oitante Sells Banif’s Headquarters for Approximately €24 Million

28 November 2018

The vehicle that took on Banif’s troubled assets following the bank’s resolution in late 2015 concluded the sale of the building that was the bank’s former headquarters on Avenida José Malhoa earlier this month. The property was put up for auction with a minimum price set at 24 million euros, but the sale was finalised for an amount below that. The name of the buyer was not disclosed.

Oitante, the vehicle that took on what was left of Banif’s troubled assets following the bank’s resolution in late 2015, finalised an agreement earlier this month to sell the building that had been the bank’s former headquarters on Avenida José Malhoa. The Jornal Econômico discovered that Oitante had received a total of 15 proposals for the property and sold the asset to the highest bidder, whose bid exceeded the property’s book value by 10%.

Of the 15 offers, a dozen were over 20 million euros. The property was put up for sale – via the property fund – for a minimum of 24 million euros, though the sale was finalised for an amount below that, according to reports. The name of the buyer was not disclosed.

Oitante put Banif’s historic headquarters up for sale in September. The building was one of the assets included in the portfolio that the company, which is helmed by Miguel Barbosa, expects to sell off by the end of the year, to pay 40% of the debts (about 117 million euros) it took on three years ago. In an interview with “Expresso” in September, the executive stated that the “objective is to maximise the pace of real estate sales and company holdings to pay 40% of the debt this year and to avoid having to ask for a cent from the Resolution Fund, as has been the case so far.”

Oitante entered into a servicer contract at the end of 2017 with the Spanish fund manager Altamira to manage a group of properties (an approximately €1-billion portfolio) and a portfolio of NPLs. The agreement will allow Oitante to accelerate the sale of some of the assets it inherited from Banif, which includes residential and industrial real estate.

Altamira, which is owned by the American Apollo fund (85%) and Santander (15%), has a five-year contract with Oitante at the end of which, the servicer is expected to have sold most of the assets.

Original Story: Jornal Econômico – Maria Teixeira Alves

Translation: Richard Turner