Four Foreign Funds Willing to Buy Bankia Inmobiliario

22/09/2014 – Expansion

The worlds four biggest funds strive for assets included in a real estate fund of Bankia, formerly Madrid Patrimonio Inmobiliario, which manages property worth €300 million. Cerberus, Blackstone, Starwood and a Goldman Sachss fund take part in a bidding known as Project Lake.

Most of the properties at stake are offices and retails situated in Madrid and in Barcelona.

Among the finalists, Cerberus is said to be the favorite. Last year, the U.S. fund acquired Bankia Habitat – and re-named it Haya Real Estate – and therefore it has some knowledge about the assets on sale.

Blackstone has been also tiredlessly betting on Spain over the past year. For instance, it bought the real estate servicer and €6.4 billion in loans from Catalunya Banc.

In turn, Goldman Sachs cannot boast of many investment projects in the country. Usually, the fund makes use of services of a local manager, such as Azora.

Although the last candidate, Starwood, is one of the leading real estate funds in the world, it has not sealed large deals in Spain.

Bankia expects to cut in delinquent loans by €3 billion in 2014, according to Efe, instead of originally planned €2 billion.

 

Original article: Expansión (by J. Zuloaga)

Translation: AURA REE

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