Sareb Gets Rid Of And Sells Portfolios Valued At About €850 Million

24/12/2014 – Expansión

Madrid, Dec 23 (EFECOM) – Sareb, the company responsible for outputting many of the toxic assets of the Spanish banking sector, advances its divestment process and has allocated portfolios worth €847 million in the last period of the year.

The company has mainly allocated loan portfolios to large foreign investors that are backed by hotels, residential properties and homes, in addition to closing transfers of other rental properties and office buildings.

In a statement, the CEO of SAREB, Jaime Echegoyen, explained that the diversity of operations are a reflection of the wide range of the company’s portfolio and type of assets.

Amongst the transactions closed in the latter part of the year is the “Agatha” portfolio, which was partly allocated to a consortium led by investment fund, Hayfin, and partly to the investment firm, DE Shaw.

Hyfin has acquired 38 non-performing loans with a nominal value of €194 million secured by 29 buildings of rental housing, located mainly in Madrid, while DE Shaw has acquired 10 rental housing developments also located in Madrid and valued at €65 million.

Furthermore, the real estate company, commonly known as the ‘bad bank’, has recently allocated the “Olivia” portfolio to the investment fund, Hayfin, which is made up of seven non-performing loans with a nominal value at €140 million.

In this case, the loans are secured by a collateral of residential and commercial locations in the province of Valencia.

Alongside these operations, the statement said, Sareb is in the process of completing the project called “Kaplan,” with which it intends to year end get rid of loans to SME’s promoters with a nominal value of 234 million and guaranteed for the most part residential assets and land.

In addition, these operations have also been sold in the last few days to foreign lending investors at a nominal value of €133 million, which were part of the “Meridian” portfolio, secured by 26 tourist establishments in Spain, which amount to more than 2,700 rooms in operation.

The properties are located in six regions of Spain, although the majority are situated in the provinces of Valencia, Barcelona, Alicante, Almeria and Cadiz.

In parallel to these four transactions, Sareb recalls that it has recently closed the sale to funds managed by Blackstone of four office buildings in Madrid, located in the northern part of the city, leased with an average occupancy of over 90%.

It is only in this last operation that the company has finally gotten rid of nearly 40,000 square meters of office space for more than €81 million. EFECOM

Original article: Expansión

Translation: Aura REE