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BBVA Puts €2.000 Million Of Bad Debts On Sale

12/08/2014 – Expansión

BBVA intends to carry out the largest sale of a portfolio of defaulted loans of individuals and SMEs in Spain since the beginning of the financial crisis. The bank presided by Francisco González has made the first steps towards transferring more than €2.000 million in this type of loan, which will be a landmark event in the sector.

Up until now, the largest transaction completed between banks and foreign investment funds was the one carried out by Catalunya Banc, when it transferred €1.480 million in defaulted loans to the Malaysian investor Aiqon Capital.

One of the main characteristics of the sale by BBVA, known as Project Saturn, is that the majority of the loans are very old, so the funds will offer less money for them.

Unlike other banks, which sell bad debts soon after they are classed as such, BBVA opts to spend a lot of time working to recovery the unpaid loans itself.

Apart from this transaction, the bank is among the least active in the sale of defaulted loans. In the last few years it has always sold portfolios with a lower volume than the sector average. For example, four months ago it sold €180 million of defaulted loans to the Swedish investor Intrum Justitia, and last year it handed over a portfolio of €300 million of defaulted consumer loans to the investment fund York Capital and to Savia Asset Management, the firm of Javier Botín, son of Santander’s president.

Original article: Expansión (by J.Z. Madrid)
Translation: Aura REE