113
113
  • Transaction / Assets
    Expresso's Headquarters in Lisbon Sold to Novo Banco
  • Seller
    Impresa
  • Buyer
    Novo Banco
  • € MM
    24.2

Impresa Sells Expresso’s Headquarters to Novo Banco for 24 million euros

14 June 2018

The company led by Francisco Pinto Balsemão sold the Expresso’s headquarters in Paço de Arcos, Lisbon, to Novo Banco, in an operation valued at 24.2 million euros.

Impresa sold the building where the company’s publications are produced, including the newspaper Expresso, to Novo Banco. With this sale and leaseback, the company led by Francisco Pinto Balsemão pocketed 24.2 million euros, while negotiating a ten-year lease.

“Impresa sold the Impresa building in Paço de Arcos to Novo Banco, leasing the property for a period of ten years,” the media company said in a statement sent to the Securities Market Commission. “The amount involved in the operation was 24.2 million euros,” it added.

A lease was included in the negotiated sale, and the owner of SIC and Expresso will start paying monthly rent to the new owner.

Impresa told ECO that part of the money from the transaction will be used to “finance the expansion of the Impresa building (the same one that was sold)”, but also solves another problem: “this operation will serve to pay a debenture which will reach maturity in the coming months (there is a 30-million-euro bond line that reaches maturity in November of this year).

It should be noted that last year, the company backed off from another €35-million bond issue, which had mainly been intended to roll over the existing debt. Impresa justified the decision citing recent changes to regulations governing the media sector, but market sources contacted by ECO stated that there was another reason: the operation failed to go ahead due to a lack of demand by investors.

Impresa reported a loss of almost 640,000 euros in the first three months of the year. Nevertheless, that result was an improvement for the company, which lost 2.8 million euros in the same period last year, before it had sold its portfolio of magazines. In the quarter, the company continued to reduce costs and debt, though revenue also fell.

Original Story: Economia Online – Rita Atalaia

Translation: Richard Turner