Tag: Asset Protection Scheme

BBVA & Sabadell Finalise Negotiations with the FGD to Sell their ‘Protected’ Toxic Assets

17 July 2018 – Expansión

The two banks are looking to remove their remaining damaged assets from their balance sheets. Sources in the sector calculate that the FGD will have to assume a cost of around €3.5 billion.

The Deposit Guarantee Fund (FGD) and BBVA and Sabadell are on the verge of reaching a definitive agreement that will allow the two banks to sell the majority of their damaged real estate assets that are protected by the FGD in order to clean up their balance sheets.

The fund will know exactly what the cost of the protection is and, in exchange, the banks will assume a greater percentage of the potential losses. Calculations from experts in the sector indicate that the cost that the FGD will have to bear amounts to around €3.5 billion.

The negotiations that have been going on for months between the heads of the FGD, led by Javier Alonso as the Chairman and Deputy Governor of the Bank of Spain, and BBVA and Sabadell, as well as the Ministry of Finance and the other financial institutions, are on the verge of reaching an agreement that will enable the two banks to get rid of the majority of their damaged real estate assets in operations similar to the ones undertaken by both Santander with Popular’s assets and more recently by CaixaBank.

The formula is the same: the two banks group together in a new company, or several new companies, the damaged assets and they sell the majority of the share capital in those companies to an investment fund, holding onto a minority stake that typically amounts to between 10% and 20%. In this way, the banks deconsolidate their real estate positions and their balance sheets look clean.

The problem that BBVA and Sabadell have had is that a large part of their assets to be sold are protected by a guarantee until 2021 whereby the FGD committed to bear the cost of 80% of any losses incurred, on the book value of those assets, when they were sold. This has been the case for the last few years (Sabadell has already sent three annual invoices to the FGD for losses over the last three years and BBVA has done the same for the last two years). And so that will continue until the end of the guarantee period.

Original story: Expansión (by Salvador Arancibia)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Sabadell Finalises Sale of €5bn in Real Estate Assets to Cerberus

12 July 2018 – Voz Pópuli

Banco Sabadell is finalising the largest real estate divestment in its history. The entity chaired by Josep Oliu (pictured below) is negotiating with Cerberus to close the sale of Project Challenger, a package of real estate assets worth around €5 billion, according to financial sources consulted by Voz Pópuli. Sources at Sabadell declined to comment.

Cerberus is thought to be negotiating a payment of around €2 billion, according to the same sources. The agreement could be signed within the next few days. The bank has been holding exclusive negotiations for several days with the fund chaired by John Snow and led in Spain by Manuel González Cid, although it has not ruled out the possibility of other candidates also presenting offers, including Lone Star and Bain Capital.

Project Challenger comprises properties – homes, developments and land – that Sabadell foreclosed during the crisis. The assets are not covered by the Deposit Guarantee Fund (FGD), and so their sale is relatively simple, provided the negotiations do not run aground in the coming days.

Goodbye to real estate

In addition to Project Challenger, Sabadell has launched three other operations in the last few months to free up its balance sheet of toxic assets. It has already closed one of those deals: Project Galerna, which the bank sold to Axactor, as revealed by this newspaper.

In addition to Galerna, Sabadell has Project Makalu underway, with €2.4 billion in problem loans; and Project Coliseum, with €2.5 billion in foreclosed assets. These three portfolios are covered by the Asset Protection Scheme (EPA), which the bank received in exchange for taking over CAM. For this reason, their sales depend on the negotiations currently underway with FGD.

Sabadell is expected to make a decision regarding the future of its real estate over the coming weeks to reveal a radically different image of the bank at the presentation of its half-year results, which will take place at the end of this month.

For Cerberus, this agreement would see it consolidate its position as one of the largest funds with real estate assets in Spain, alongside Blackstone – which took over the property of Popular and Catalunya Banc – and Lone Star, which signed a billion euro agreement recently with CaixaBank.

Meanwhile, in Spain, Cerberus controls the platform Haya Real Estate, which it has tried to list on the stock market, albeit unsuccessfully; and it is close to signing the acquisition of Anida and BBVA’s property, pending approval from the FGD.

Original story: Voz Pópuli (by Jorge Zuloaga)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Santander Puts €6bn in Real Estate Assets Up For Sale

30 June 2018 – Cinco Días

Spain’s banks have put their foot down on the accelerator to end the property hangover once and for all. And there is no letup. On Thursday, CaixaBank announced that it had reached an agreement with Lone Star to sell it 80% of its problem assets, including its real estate platform Servihabitat, worth €7 billion altogether, which means that the fund will disburse around €5.6 billion for the property of the Catalan entity (based on the valuation as at October 2017).

This operation caused CaixaBank’s share price to soar on Friday, rising by almost 7%, and closing trading with an increase of 3.32%, to reach a value of €3.706 per share.

Sabadell also saw its share price soar on the stock market after closing the sale of a portfolio of non-performing loans worth €900 million to the Norwegian fund Axactor. That was Project Galerna, the smallest portfolio of the four containing foreclosed assets and non-performing loans that the bank has put up for sale, and whose deadline for the presentation of binding offers ended last Wednesday.

The bank’s objective is to close the sale of the four portfolios in a competitive process with a value of €10.8 billion over the next two weeks, before it presents its results for the first half of the year. Despite that, the Catalan bank will not be able to deconsolidate from its balance sheet more than €5 billion, equivalent to the largest portfolio comprising problem assets proceeding from the bank itself.

The other portfolios, whose contents came from CAM, cannot be removed from its balance sheet until the Deposit Guarantee Fund (FGD) reaches an agreement with the banks and Brussels so that the losses that these sales generate are not included in the public deficit. The stumbling block with these portfolios is that they are backed by an Asset Protection Scheme (EPA), in which the FGD initially assumes 80% of the losses generated by the operation, and Sabadell the remaining 20%, although the channel being considered to resolve this problem leaves those percentages to one side.

The market, on the news of the sale of the Galerna portfolio and the existence of seven offers in total for the purchase of almost all of the entity’s property, reacted with a rise of 4.7%. Although by close of trading the increase had dropped to just 1.74%, the third largest of the selective, to finish with a share price of €1.4355.

Santander has joined these operations, by placing up for sale foreclosed assets worth €6 billion, almost all of the property still held by Santander España. A spokesperson for the bank declined to comment on the operation.

The advisor on the sell-side is Crédit Suisse.

This macro-sale is the second largest operation that the group chaired by Ana Botín (pictured above) has ever undertaken and could be its last, given that this final disposal will allow the group to get rid of almost all of its real estate.

Indeed, Santander starred in the first macro-operation involving the sale of real estate assets one year ago. Last summer, it surprised the market with the sale in a single operation of all of the property proceeding from Banco Popular, around €30 billion, to Blackstone, with whom it created a company in which the US fund holds a 51% stake and the bank chaired by Ana Botín owns the remaining 49%.

That operation put pressure on the rest of the sector, which started to replicate the formula. The second to repeat the formula, in fact, was BBVA, with the sale of €13 billion to Cerberus.

Sareb is also now sounding out the market regarding the sale of gross assets worth around €30 billion (around €13 billion net). Nevertheless, the bad bank must wait for the green light from the Government to be able to carry out that operation, given that Sareb is an institution that depends on the Executive. It was created to unblock the former savings banks that received aid for their property, which is why it will try to maximise the value of any operation that is undertaken in order to return the public aid.

Original story: Cinco Días (by Ángeles Gonzalo Alconada)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Sabadell Receives 7 Offers to Liquidate its Doubtful Debt

28 June 2018 – Expansión

In the end, seven international funds have presented offers to Banco Sabadell to be awarded one or more of the four portfolios that the entity has put on the market this year to liquidate almost all of its problem asset balance. The funds in question are Cerberus, Lone Star, Blackstone, Oaktree, Deutsche Bank, Bain Capital and CPPIB, although not all of them have bid for all of the assets, given that three of the funds are only interested in the foreclosed properties and the four others only want to purchase the non-performing loans (NPLs).

On the advice of KPMG and Alantra, Sabadell has set itself the objective of divesting toxic assets worth €10.8 billion this month, before the summer. That figure is equivalent to 72% of the bank’s total problem assets, which amounted to €14.9 billion at the end of the first quarter. Of that total figure, €7.5 billion are doubtful balances and €7.4 billion are foreclosed.

This volume of non-performing assets, which is weighing down on the entity’s balance sheet, has been packaged into four portfolios called Challenger (€5 billion), Coliseum (€2.5 billion), Makalu (€2.4 billion) and Galerna (€900 million). Just over half, €5.8 billion, are assets inherited from the purchase of CAM, and, as such, they form part of the Asset Protection Scheme (EPA). As a result, the divestment of three of the portfolios (Coliseum, Galerna and Makalu) must first be approved by the Deposit Guarantee Fund (FGD), which is the entity that will cover 80% of the losses generated by those protected portfolios.

Original story: Expansión (by Sergi Saborit)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Sabadell Engages Alantra to Sell 2 Portfolios Containing €8bn in Foreclosed Assets

11 April 2018 – El Confidencial

Banco Sabadell is in the running to try to complete its real estate clean-up this year, and to this end, has engaged Alantra to sound out the market to sell two portfolios known as Project Coliseum and Project Challenger, comprising €8 billion in foreclosed assets, which the entity has already started to show to potentially interested parties (…)

This move forms part of the plan designed by the financial institution at the end of last year to remove almost €12 billion in toxic assets from its balance sheet through the sale of a number of portfolios. The first two are already on the market and amount to €3.4 billion, but the main courses are about to be served.

In order to speed up the process, the entity chaired by Josep Oliu has opted to create a portfolio containing mainly Sabadell risk and another, subject to examination by the Deposit Guarantee Fund (FGD), containing properties proceeding from the former CAM, which are protected by the Asset Protection Scheme (EPA).

The first, according to financial sources, is going to comprise a gross volume of more than €5 billion, whilst the second will amount to around half that figure, at just over €2.5 billion, and it will need the approval of the FGD, given that it will have to cover 80% of the losses.

Sabadell closed last year with €8.0 billion in foreclosed assets and €5.7 billion in non-performing loans, according to the real estate exposure data submitted to the CNMV – Spain’s National Securities and Exchange Commission – and its average coverage ratio currently amounts to 55%.

The large buyers that Alantra is currently sounding out include the major funds that typically participate in these types of operations, such as Apollo, Lone Star, Blackstone and Cerberus, according to the same sources.

This potential divestment joins the two portfolios that Sabadell already has on the market: Project Galerna, which comprises €900 million in non-performing loans; and Project Makalu, comprising €2.5 billion in assets from the former CAM, according to Voz Pópuli. In both cases, KPMG is advising the sales process.

Moreover, as El Confidencial revealed, Solvia, the servicer arm of Sabadell, has decided to join the housing boom and create its own property developer, Solvia Desarrollos Inmobilarios, containing €600 million in land and unfinished developments.

The entity wants to grow this new property developer by signing agreements with different companies, funds and family offices interested in delegating the management and development of its land and developments.

If it manages to bring all of these plans to fruition, Sabadell will follow in the footsteps of Santander and BBVA, which last year completed their real estate clean-ups with the sale to Blackstone and Cerberus, respectively, of the bulk of their toxic properties. That would leave CaixaBank as the last major bank that still needs to make a significant move to comply with the guidelines set by Europe: to remove a decade of crisis from its balance sheet.

Original story: El Confidencial (by Ruth Ugalde)

Translation: Carmel Drake

BBVA & Sabadell Hold Delicate Negotiations with the FGD to Sell Their Assets

5 February 2018 – Expansión

BBVA and Sabadell want to remove from their balance sheets the damaged real estate assets that they still own as a result of their acquisitions of Unnim and CAM, respectively. Those assets, which have a book value of around €16 billion in total, are temporarily protected by an Asset Protection Scheme (EPA), which, was granted at the time by the Deposit Guarantee Fund (FGD) so that the two banks would take on the business of the former savings banks, which had filed for bankruptcy. The negotiations that the two banks are now holding with the FGD share significant difficulties that cannot be solved easily, although they also have notable differences.

The European Central Bank has been putting pressure on the supervised entities to remove any damaged assets that they still own from their balance sheets, as soon as possible, because it understands that their maintenance reduces the banks’ ability to make profits and lets the doubts continue to hang over the real health of the entities. Now that the ECB considers that the worst of the crisis is over and that the banks are reasonably capitalised, it wants to clear up all the doubts. He has granted a period of five years for these problems to be resolved, although, in reality, it wants them to be sorted in a shorter timeframe: within three years.

When it acquired Popular, Santander launched a procedure to remove all of the real estate assets of its subsidiary from the balance sheet, by reaching an agreement with Blackstone to create a mixed company, in which the US fund holds the majority stake and where Santander has parked assets with a theoretical value of €30 billion. Liberbank has done the same, for a much small sum, retaining just 10% of the capital in its new company.

Meanwhile, BBVA has reached an agreement with Cerberus to transfer €13 billion to a company in which the bank will hold a 20% stake. Of those assets, a significant part, around €4 billion, correspond to assets proceeding from Unnim, which have a guarantee from the FGD for 80% of the losses that may be incurred at the time of their sale.

Meanwhile, Sabadell wants to divest assets worth €12 billion, which sit in a portfolio that is still subject to an EPA that will end in 2021, with the same guarantees as BBVA’s. The difference in the size of the two portfolios is clear.

That is where the problem arises. To close the operation, the FGD needs to accept that it will assume the losses incurred at the time of the sales. And even though its resources have been contributed exclusively by the financial institutions themselves, the public body does not have sufficient funds to assume those losses and whereby avoid grounds for dissolution.

Differences

In reality, the portfolio proceeding from Unnim does not cause excessive problems for several reasons. Firstly, it is smaller and, therefore, the loss to be assumed is considerably reduced. Moreover, according to sources in the know, the FGD has already recognised a coverage for those assets that is pretty close to the market value at which they could be sold (…).

The case of Sabadell, however, is different because the size of its protected portfolio is much larger. It started off at €22 billion and now amounts to just over half, around €12 billion. Sabadell considers that the real value of its assets is approximately half their theoretical value (…) but the FGD (…) maintains that the provisioning need is much lower, around 35% of the book value of those assets.

The difference in criteria between the two parties is important. In figures, it means that there is almost €1.8 billion that separates them and that, of that amount, if it is confirmed in the end, the FGD would have to assume almost €1.5 billion. That would be impossible in the current conditions, because it would mean that the body that guarantees the deposits of banking clients up to €100,000, would have to declare itself bankrupt or, as it has done on other occasions, impose an extraordinary surcharge on its shareholders, domestic entities, to balance its accounts and cover the hole (…).

A solution

But, on the other hand, the FGD is also interested in closing the chapter on asset protection schemes as soon as possible because, until that happens, it will be very difficult to progress with the construction of a European deposit guarantee fund, which is the third leg of the banking union. Indeed, it is not being built precisely because of reluctance being shown by the countries in the north to assume the problems of the past (…).

For this reason, sources close to the conversations confirm that they are now focusing on a possible solution that goes beyond the current moment. The FGD may be interested in reaching an agreement that would entail the possibility of accounting for the losses not in a single year, but rather over a longer period of time, possibly three years. The next few weeks are important because the authorities want to close the conversations before the end of the month.

Original story: Expansión (by Salvador Arancibia)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Sabadell Considers Selling €1.8 bn Portfolio Whilst it Negotiates with FGD

1 February 2018 – Voz Pópuli

Banco Sabadell is preparing an artillery of divestments over the coming months. The entity chaired by Josep Oliu (pictured above) has been sounding out the market for several weeks now regarding the launch of what would be its largest sale of problem assets to date, worth €1.8 billion, according to financial sources consulted by Vozpópuli.

This operation, which still needs to be approved by the bank’s Board of Directors, would be the precursor to a mega-operation amounting to €12 billion that the entity is considering launching over the next few months, according to Expansión. Sabadell has three mandates granted to launch these divestments in 2018 with Deloitte, KPMG and Alantra.

Nevertheless, these sales have been held up by the Management Committee of the Deposit Guarantee Fund (FGD). The €12 billion that Sabadell wants to sell are precisely those covered by the Asset Protection Scheme (EPA) granted by the semi-public fund during the sale of CAM.

The Management Committee, whose members include bankers from some of Sabadell’s competitor firms, is questioning the sale of the €12 billion because of the hole it would cause in its own accounts. The FGD held equity funds of €1.6 billion at the end of 2016. The same thing is happening with BBVA. In that case, the FGD is considering whether to approve the accelerated sale of assets proceeding from Unnim’s EPA.

Two positions

This story is about two very different positions. On the one hand, Sabadell and BBVA want to bulk sell all of the problem assets that they inherited from the purchases of CAM and Unnim, respectively, in one go. In terms of the danger posed by the end of the EPA, they know that, like happened to Liberbank, when the guarantees end, the unsold assets will affect their capital ratios, by raising the denominator (APRs).

Meanwhile, the FGD is studying the impact that these operations may have and whether the contracts signed at the time allow such accelerated divestments.

Sabadell was one of the most active entities in the sale of problem portfolios last year, with the sale of Project Normandy to Oaktree and Project Voyager to the largest pension fund in Canada.

Original story: Voz Pópuli (by Jorge Zuloaga)

Translation: Carmel Drake

BBVA Prepares Sale of €1.5bn Property Developer Loan Portfolio

30 November 2017 – Expansión

The property sector / The second largest Spanish bank detects a large appetite from opportunistic funds for the real estate risk it has left over: €4.8 billion, after deconsolidating €13 billion of foreclosed assets.

BBVA is making steady progress to clean up its balance sheet. The entity is preparing the sale of a portfolio of property developer loans with a gross value of between €1.5 billion and €1.6 billion (31% of the total) after deconsolidating the risk associated with its foreclosed assets.

The group’s gross real estate exposure has been reduced to €4.8 billion in the form of property developer loans following the agreement with Cerberus to transfer €13 billion in foreclosed assets to a newly created company. BBVA’s plan is to sell one-third of its property developer loan portfolio to an opportunistic fund.

“It is going to be a very competitive portfolio”, said Javier Rodríguez Soler, Head of Strategy and M&A at BBVA, speaking to Expansión. In parallel to the operation with Cerberus, the bank has identified a large appetite from the big funds, such as Lone Star, Blackstone and Apollo, for loans linked to the property sector. The portfolio comprises finishing buildings, properties under construction and land.

Transfers to its subsidiary

The intention of BBVA is to reduce its risk estate risk to almost zero. The Head of Strategy said that the bank is looking to transfer another €1.5 billion of performing property developer loans to its Spanish subsidiary.

Many banks separated out their real estate businesses to curb the impact of the fallout from the burst of the bubble on their annual accounts. BBVA’s property unit lost €281 million during the 9 months to September this year, down by 10.9% compared to a year ago. Sources at the entity expect the real estate business to stop generating losses in 2018.

Yesterday, BBVA took a giant step to clean up its real estate-related risk. The bank has created a company together with Cerberus to transfer 78,000 properties with a gross value of €13 billion. 47% of the foreclosed assets are located in Cataluña, the historical heartland of Catalunya Caixa (CX) and Unnim, which were both absorbed by BBVA during the crisis. Some of those properties are social housing units, whilst some of those proceeding from Unnim are covered by an Asset Protection Scheme (EPA).

The US fund will own 80% of the new vehicle after paying BBVA €4 billion; the banking entity will own the remaining 20%. Haya Real Estate, Cerberus’s platform in Spain, will manage the portfolio of properties that the bank holds onto. The agreement also involves the transfer of 400 employees from Anida, the real estate arm of BBVA, to the joint company with Cerberus.

Original story: Expansión (by R. Sampedro and R. Lander)

Translation: Carmel Drake

BBVA Awaits FGD’s Approval To Sell €14,000M RE Portfolio To Cerberus

13 November 2017 – Voz Pópuli

The largest operation of the home stretch of 2017 is pushing ahead. BBVA and Cerberus are close to reaching an agreement regarding the sale of a large proportion of the bank’s real estate assets to the US fund. Financial sources consulted by Vozpópuli indicate that a deal may be signed within the next few weeks, between late November and early December.

One of the points still being discussed is the perimeter (of the transaction). The sources consulted indicate that what is on the table is the option of selling a stake in a new company with assets and loans worth €14,000 million.

The same sources add that an agreement could have already been reached if it hadn’t been for the crisis in Cataluña and the need for the Deposit Guarantee Fund (‘Fondo de Garantía de Depósitos’ or FGD) to give its approval. BBVA received an asset protection scheme (‘Esquema de protección de activos’ or EPA) for which the FGD committed to cover “80% of the losses resulting from a portfolio of assets worth €7,359.7 million”.

BBVA has real estate exposure on its balance sheet amounting to €17,774 million in total, according to the most recent figures. Of that figure, foreclosed assets (€11,937 million) and doubtful loans (€3,357 million) account for €15,300 million. Those loans and properties have a coverage ratio of more than 61%. For this reason, BBVA could sell them for 39% of their appraisal value without having to recognise any losses. Even so, the FGD would still need to approve any deal.

The need for consent from the FGD could delay any asset sale for several months. That is what has happened, on more than one occasion, to Banco Sabadell, such as with Project Normandy. It is worth remembering that the FGD’s Management Committee comprises not only regulators and Government members but also bankers, who do not want to spend even one more euro of their resources (…).

Although BBVA’s sale (known as Project Marina and Sena) is on track, the sources consulted indicate that it could all be thrown up in the air at any moment. “It would not be the first time that an operation that has almost been finalised dies off because of one of BBVA’s management committees or Board of Director meetings”, they say. The same thing is happening with Cerberus, one of the most inflexible funds when it comes to price: “Once the price has been fixed, it is very difficult to move it or play with counter-offers”, they add.

This operation has generated a lot of commotion amongst other opportunistic funds, many of whom were not invited to participate, and who have even indicated their displeasure to BBVA’s leaders. The negotiations between Cerberus and the bank arose after the fund’s President, John W. Snow (former US Treasury Secretary) cracked the whip over his own management team in Spain. He did so after Cerberus missed out on the sale of Popular’s real estate, which was awarded to Blackstone.

Snow himself decided to come to Madrid in person to meet with the President of BBVA, Francisco González (pictured above) and propose an operation similar in size to Project Quasar (Popular). Indeed, Cerberus purchased a €600 million portfolio from the bank in June, Project Jaipur, which gave rise to the current negotiations.

Although the operation still hangs in the balance, BBVA has never been as close to sealing an agreement like this one. There is a lot of optimism amongst the advisors to the operation, PwC and Linklaters. But, for the time being, anything can happen.

Original story: Voz Pópuli (by Jorge Zuloaga)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Liberbank Accelerates Sale Of Its RE Arm For €80M

20 July 2017 – Voz Pópuli

A defensive operation by Liberbank. The Asturian entity is accelerating the sale of its real estate company Mihabitans to strengthen its capital, according to financial sources consulted by Vozpópuli. The group led by Manuel Menéndez (pictured above), which declined to make comments, had been considering this possibility for months but has decided to fire the starting gun now, when the market’s focus has been placed on the entity. The prices being considered for this sale come in at just over €80 million.

The operation has been underway for several months under the watch of Alantra (formerly N+1). The subsidiary up for sale is Mihabitans Cartera, which Liberbank created in June last year. This company is responsible for managing the financial group’s homes and real estate debt. Liberbank has transferred some of its staff to the new entity. Its CEO is Víctor Sánchez, the Director that Menéndez entrusted to sort out the property portfolio at CCM following its purchase.

This sale, known in the market as Project Pipe, includes only the management of the real estate assets, a priori, and not their ownership. The idea is that it will take a similar form to the operation carried out by Santander with Altamira when Apollo purchased an 85% stake of that entity; as well as CaixaBank with Servihabitat, which is now controlled by TPG; and Popular with Aliseda.

According to the same sources, the process is in an advanced phase and several candidates have been selected to submit binding offers. The candidates include Lindorff, owner of Aktua; and Haya Real Estate, owned by Cerberus.

Crucial moment

These types of operations are undertaken to generate capital gains and strengthen capital. Given that they only manage properties, companies such as Mihabitans do not have any assets of their own other than their employees and the contract with the bank(s) that own(s) the properties. Depending on the contract agreed, the price may be higher or lower. In this way, Popular obtained around €700 million for Aliseda and Santander received €664 million for Altamira.

This sale comes at a key moment for Liberbank. Following the termination of CCM’s asset protection scheme (EPA), the group’s default rate soared in the last quarter and its capital decreased to 12%, above the levels required. Nevertheless, it is considering several options, such as the deal involving Mihabitans to strengthen itself and calm the market (…).

Liberbank has been compared to the entity that is now in the hands of Santander (Popular) in terms of its default rate, which in the case of the former amounted to 13% at the end of March. The objective is to bring it down below 7% within a year and a half. The entity had accumulated €2,951 million in doubtful debt and €2,414 million in foreclosed assets as at March, with a coverage (over the latter) of 40%. The sale of homes, which Mihabitans is responsible for, reached historical highs in the first quarter of €56 million (…).

Original story: Voz Pópuli (by Jorge Zuloaga)

Translation: Carmel Drake