All Market News: Spanish Real Estate Intelligence

11 June 2019 - Expansión

Quasar, the company created by Blackstone (51%) and Banco Santander (49%) to take over the management of Popular’s property portfolio, has injected €101 million into the company Platja Amplaries, which owns the Marina d’Or group’s apartments, parking spaces and land, to avoid its dissolution.

Platja Amplaries had run up losses of €170 million but Quasar’s cash injection has increased the company’s share capital to €108.3 million. The company’s assets were reportedly worth €285 million when it was created in 2011, but their value had fallen to just €85 million by the time Quasar took ownership two years ago.

Original story: Expansión (by A.C.A.)

Translation/Summary: Carmel Drake

17 June 2019 - El Confidencial

Sareb is on a mission to change its course. According to market sources, the bad bank chaired by Jaime Echegoyen (pictured below) has decided to put its contracts with Altamira (owned by doBank), Servihabitat (Lone Star) and Solvia (Intrum) out to tender two years before their scheduled renewal.

Even though the contracts are not due to expire until the end of 2021, Sareb is putting them out to tender alongside that of Haya Real Estate, which is due to expire at the end of 2019. This represents a boost for Cerberus’s servicer, given that its competitors will now also have to focus on retaining their own contracts rather than just bidding for Haya’s.

In the event that Sareb awards the contracts of Altamira, Servihabitat and Solvia to other entities, it will have to compensate the servicers since their contracts clearly establish early termination clauses.

Altogether, Sareb is looking at putting out to tender the management of €34 billion in loans and properties that it still has left in its portfolio. The four will have to submit their bids in the next few months, specifying which assets they want to manage and what commissions they will charge.

The largest mandate is that of Haya, which manages assets proceeding from Bankia, which accounted for 37% of the bad bank’s original assets. It is followed by Altamira, which manages the assets proceeding from Catalunya Banc, BMN and Caja 3 (29% of the total); Servihabitat, which manages the assets from NCG Banco, Liberbank and Banco de Valencia (19%); and Solvia,  which manages assets from Bankia (foreclosed), Banco Gallego and Ceiss (15%). Clearly, there is a lot at stake for these servicers.

Original story: El Confidencial (by J. Zuloaga & R. Ugalde)

Translation/Summary: Carmel Drake