Tag: asset sales

Sabadell to Sell Solvia As It Unloads Real Estate Assets

30 August 2018

Banc Sabadell is taking offers for Solvia after ruling out placing it together with portfolios of real estate assets.

Unlike Santander and Caixabank, which unloaded most of their real estate assets when they transferred their portfolios of properties to investment funds, Banc Sabadell kept Solvia out of its sale of assets to Cerberus, which was concluded in July. Now, however, the Catalan bank is taking offers for its subsidiary, with an eye on wrapping up the sale within a few months.

Sources in the financial industry told Economia Digital that Sabadell, which is chaired by Josep Oliu, has decided to finalise the sale of its real estate assets through a partial or total sale of its servicer, Solvia. Although it has not yet initiated a formal sales process, the bank reportedly hopes to finalise the deal during the last four months of 2018.

“We are not a property firm, it is not our line of business,” Jaume Guardiola, CEO of Sabadell, has stated on several occasions when asked about the future of the bank’s real estate assets and its property firm, Solvia. Market sources had speculated that Solvia would be sold off together with the bank’s portfoli0 of property, land and related loans. However, Solvia remained in the bank’s hands.

Sabadell decided to leave the property firm out of its sale of the bank’s three property portfolios, worth 11 billion euros. Two of the three were eventually acquired by the venture capital fund Cerberus. The bank held on for a higher price for the servicer and hopes that the asset will help in the sale of the portfolio of properties that it still possesses, which is worth about another €2 billion.

That decision was made just over a month ago, but Guardiola’s position seems to have won, and the bank has put the sale of its property firm on the table again. The idea is that the company will be sold without any included assets, and the sale will be restricted to Solvia’s network and operations, in addition to its roughly 800 employees.

Sabadell has not yet received any formal offers, although Solvia is expected to draw some interest, considering that it is one of Spain’s biggest servicers. Several investment funds are investing in the country’s property market and could be interested in acquiring a servicer.

Solvia, in the hands of a fund?

All the large funds that have acquired real estate assets in Spain already have subsidiary property firms. Cerberus, which bought assets from BBVA and Sabadell, has Haya Real Estate. Apollo, which acquired Santander’s assets, owns Altamira. Lone Star owned Neinor, though it subsequently sold it, it will also acquire Servihabitat when it completes its purchase of 80% of Caixabank real estate assets. Lastly, Blackstone owns Anticipa.

However, other funds are making smaller purchases and could be interested in a property firm such as Solvia to help unload their property holdings in the future. Oaktree, which has acquired several buildings, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) and Bain Capital are all possible buyers.

Sabadell waves goodbye to its real estate business

This summer, Banc Sabadell sold a good part of its real estate assets. Of the three large portfolios it had on sale, two went to Cerberus and the third to Deutsche Bank. The assets sold to the investment fund were valued at 9.1 billion euros, while the portfolio that Sabadell sold to the German bank had assets worth €2.4 billion.

Sabadell applied a 57% write-off on the sales, a figure below previous large sales by BBVA and Santander, where the discount exceeded 60%. The banks that waited most, such as Caixabank and Sabadell itself, benefited from the growing interest of investors in Spanish property to sell their holdings at a higher price.

Original Story: Economia Digital – Xavier Alegret

Translation: Richard Turner

 

The Gran Hotel Velázquez, on Sale for More Than 60 Million Euros

2 March 2016

The Salazar family continues its process of selling off hotels, one that began in 2014 with their eviction from the Hotel Ada.

Madrid’s hotel market is at a fever pitch. This Tuesday, the sale of the Villa Magna hotel, on the Paseo de la Castellana, to the Turkish Dogus Group was announced. Just 300 meters from the Madrid’s central avenue, another well-known property has come on the market. The Gran Hotel Velázquez is up “For Sale,” asking for more than 60 million euros.

Owned by the Corporación Hispano Hotelera (which is in turn owned by the Salazar family), the investors who have made offers for the property have been rebuffed by the family, which is nevertheless beset by debts. “They are asking for approximately 62 million euros”, sources in the real estate sector explained to 02B. Meanwhile, those same sources believe that a fair price for the asset would not exceed €35 to 40 million.

An old-fashioned property

Although the location and the building are very attractive, it would be necessary to adapt the building, bringing it up to modern standards. Some call it “old-fashioned.” Others added that the property could be called, “vintage, if not just old.” The 435,000 euros per room requested by the Salazar brothers would require significant additional investments to remodel the establishment.

At first, the owners of the Gran Hotel Velázquez confirmed that the property has been on sale “for a while.” However, other sources at the firm then stated that they had no information on the possible sale and that any statements to the contrary were “rumours.”

The hole of the Salazars

The Salazar brothers have been divesting themselves of their hotels since 2014. In May of that year, they left the Ada Hotel – currently owned by Único Hotels – evicted for failure to pay rent to Real Gran Peña. A year later, in March, the Hotel Maria Elena went to Hotusa while Asturias went to Platinum Estates in May.

The former owners of SOS Cuétara, the current Deoleo, are awaiting a court appearance regarding fraud allegedly committed in 2008. A €213-million loan ended up on the balance sheet of another the group’s company. For that, a judge confiscated their passports and imposed a fine of 93 million euros. Also, the magistrate seized its assets to guarantee a €360-million security.

A hotel bubble

The Gran Hotel Velázquez is just one example, but prices have skyrocketed in Madrid. “A bubble is forming,” warns Bruno Hallé, a consultant at Magma HC. “Threats of a possible moratorium generate uncertainty and consequently the value of real estate increases.” Also, growth is not commensurate with the pace of occupancy and prices in the capital.

Meanwhile, an investor says: “They’ve put this price on to see if someone bites.”

Original Story: Cerodosbe – Carles Huguet

Translation: Richard Turner

 

Bogaris to Place Torrecárdenas on Market for More than €160 Million Just Before Opening

13 August 2018

The shopping centre in Almeria has more than 60,000 square meters of GLA. Potential candidates for the acquisition must consider the lack of a track record for the new complex and a lawsuit filed by executive Tomás Olivo.

A new operation is targeting the shopping centre sector. Torrecárdenas, a new centre that will open its doors at the end of October in Almería, will go on sale in coming weeks with an estimated valuation of 160 million euros. Bogaris, the owner of the project, has decided to put it on the market before its opening and the resolution of a lawsuit filed by the executive Tomás Olivo, who is challenging the construction license granted for the complex.

Torrecárdenas will have a gross leasable area of more than 60,000 square meters and, just over two months before its inauguration, already has an 85% occupancy, from operators such as Primark, Inditex, Media Markt, Sfera, Mercadona and Yelmo. The centre will have about 20,000 square meters of retail park and about 42,000 meters of shopping gallery.

The complex, with several elements inspired by film production, was designed by the architectural studios of Chapman Taylor and Arapiles Arquitectos. Along with the stores, the centre will have more than 3,000 parking spaces.

Sector sources note that, with a purchase price of 160 million euros, the centre will offer a return of between 6% and 6.5%, considering a net income of around 2.5 million euros per year. Savills-Aguirre Newman will be exclusively in charge of the sale and is confident that it can be concluded before the end of the year.

Specializing in the development of large commercial, logistics and industrial areas, Bogaris has developed more than 700,000 square meters of GLA in 94 projects in Spain, Portugal, Bulgaria and Romania. The Seville-based company, controlled by the Charlo family, has developed other shopping centres such as the Aleste Plaza, in Seville, and the Loures shopping mall, in Portugal.

Possible buyers

Sources close to the sales process cite operators such as Castellana Properties, ECE and the alliance between Sonae Sierra and JT Real Estate as potential buyers of the new centre. However, not too many potential buyers are expected to appear.

While the high occupancy is one of the centre’s advantages, the disadvantages include the lack of track record for the new centre in Almeria, since it is being put on sale before its opening, and the litigation surrounded the construction license granted by the Almería city council.

Last November, the city council paid 2.6 million euros to Bogaris complying with a ruling that determined that a new reparcelling project had to be carried out on the centre’s land. The lawsuit, filed by Mr Olivo, is now with the Superior Court of Justice of Andalusia.

Original Story: EjePrime – P. Riaño

Translation: Richard Turner

 

 

Villar Mir Sells its 32.5% Stake in Canalejas to OHL for €50 Million

14 August 2018

Grupo Villar Mir has left the Canalejas project (Madrid), selling the 32.5% that it held in the development to its subsidiary OHL for 50 million euros. In this way, Canalejas will be equally owned by OHL, which already had 17%, and Mohari Limited, a company controlled by the Israeli executive Mark Scheinberg. Villar Mir sold 50% of Canalejas to Mohari in February 2017 for €225 million.

The transaction also includes the acquisition, by OHL Desarrollos, of the credit rights agreed to by Grupo Villar Mir with regards to the project for €9.8 million.

As the company explained to the CNMV, this price could be adjusted upwards to reach a maximum of €60 million (an additional €10 million). depending on “possible capital gains generated in a subsequent sale of these shares.”

Reduce debt

This operation will allow Grupo Villar Mir to continue reducing its debt. The Spanish industrial corporation sold 12% of the Spanish construction company last July for €98 million, reducing its stake in OHL to 38% compared to its previous 50%.

The Canalejas project will feature the Canadian luxury chain Four Seasons’ first hotel in Spain, a commercial complex and exclusive homes. The complex will bring together seven historic buildings, some of them built at the beginning of the 19th century, in a single unit, through an investment of 525 million euros.

Expansion – Rebecca Arroyo

Slovak Developer J&T Wins Bid for Acquisition of GranCasa and Two Other Shopping Centres

7 August 2018

The Bratislava-based firm has allied itself with Sonae in the acquisition of the Zaragoza complex and others in Bilbao and Santander.

The Slovak real estate firm J&T is preparing for its arrival in Spain with the purchase of three shopping centres, including GranCasa, Zaragoza, in an operation with the Portuguese group Sonae Sierra, estimated at 500 million euros. Sources in the sector confirmed yesterday that J&T, in alliance with Sonae, had outbid the German company ECE for the three complexes and that it will finalise its purchase of the portfolio after completing the corresponding due diligence. The assets also include the Max Center in Bilbao and the Valle Real in Santander.

Sonae, under pressure by its partner in the three centres, CBRE Global Investors, was obligated to sell, though maintaining its intention of continuing to hold a stake. The newspaper Expansión reported yesterday that the Bratislava-based J&T owns 90% of the joint venture created for the purpose with Sonae, while Sonae owns the remaining 10%. Their proposal is said to value the portfolio at approximately 525 million euros, a figure that exceeds ECE’s competing bid. Sonae declined to issue a statement regarding the potential acquisition, limiting itself to saying that “we only discuss finalised transactions.”

The Portuguese group Sonae Sierra took over 50% of GranCasa in 2002, five years after its inauguration, and has been responsible for its management since 2003. The shopping centre located in the Actur, Zaragoza, has more than 200,000 square meters, 80,000 of which are for commercial activity where 170 stores are in operation. There is also a Hipercor, which is not included in the transaction.

GranCasa recently underwent a 12-million-euro investment in a new leisure and restaurant area, which was inaugurated in June. The new space, which measures 10,132 square meters, increased the mall’s offerings to a total of 21 restaurants and five kiosks, complementing existing leisure facilities that include a cinema and gym. The shopping mall’s managers noted that major restaurant chains are or will be maintaining a presence there, including VIPs Smart, Gino’s, The Strad Club, KFC, Muerde la Pasta, Fran Beer and Frutolandia, among others.

Referring to that investment, Alexandre Pessegueiro, head of Asset Management at Sonae Sierra, said GranCasa’s new leisure and restaurant area “is a clear example of how to anticipate changes in consumer models in a sector such as restaurants, in which customers demand an increasing level of differentiation and quality.”

The other two complexes included in the transaction are Max Center, a shopping centre that opened in Bilbao in 1997, and which underwent remodelling in 2000. The shopping mall tenants include Inditex, H&M, Cortefiel, Foster’s Hollywood and La Tagliattela. The centre also has a cinema (Cinesa) and a leisure space next door, Max Ocio.

The third asset is Valle Real, a commercial centre in Santander that opened in 1994 and that in addition to having some of the above brands as tenants, also has a hypermarket of the French chain Carrefour.

The Buyers

J&T Real Estate is a well-regarded Slovak real estate company that has 21 years of experience. The company is headquartered in Bratislava, has 300 employees and a presence in five countries.

Sonae Sierra, which will hold onto 10% of the group, provides services to investors and develops real estate projects anchored in the retail sector. It owns more than 40 shopping centres with a market value of around 7 billion euros and has 83 managed and/or leased shopping centres with 2.5 million square meters of gross leasable area and about 9,300 stores. Sonae currently works with more than 20 co-investors and joint ventures, associating with operators and fund managers for each venture.

Original Story: Heraldo – Luis H. Menéndez

Photo: Guillermo Mestre

Translation: Richard Turner

Santander Looking to Sell €6 Billion in Real Estate Assets This Month

9 July 2018

Banco Santander has placed a €6-billion portfolio of real estate assets on sale and is aiming to finalise a deal to transfer the assets before August begins, sources close to the process reported.

The sale of the Apple portfolio will allow the group chaired by Ana Botín to finally relieve the burden property-related assets have placed on its operations in Spain. Last summer, shortly after acquiring Banco Popular, Santander reached an agreement to sell Blackstone some 30 billion euros in real estate assets held by the rescued bank.

At that time, Santander opted to create a joint venture with the US fund, 49% owned by the bank, a formula that is “very likely” to be repeated in the current transaction, the sources consulted by Efe agree.

Banco Santander, which has declined to comment on the possible transaction, charged its executives with finalising the huge sale by the end of this month, sources close to the process added. Although there is significant appetite in the market for such assets, it will nevertheless be a major challenge to get it done in such a short time.

Original Story: Eleconomista.es – EFE

Translation: Richard Turner

Sonae Bids to Buy Back Shopping Centres in Spain While Selling Three in Portugal

15 June 2018

The group, pressured by its partner, put three shopping centres on sale in Spain. It plans now to bid to keep the three on its own in a deal valued at €500MM, achieving liquidity through the sale of similar assets in Portugal.

The shopping centre giant, Sonae Sierra, has decided to go to the market twice in one go. The company, whose hand has been forced by its partner, the fund manager CBRE Global Investors, has started the process of selling Gran Casa (Zaragoza), Valle Real (Cantabria) and Max Center (Vizcaya) in Spain.

However, several sources confirmed that the Portuguese group does not share the American fund’s desire to sell, although it has had to accept the sale after the completion of the original investment period. The company has now decided to bid for the three shopping centres itself, with the advantage that it already owns 50% of the capital.

In parallel, and perhaps as a way to obtain liquidity, Sonae has decided to sell RioSul Shopping, a mall with 44,475 square meters of gross leasable area in ​​the Portuguese city of Seixal (Setúbal), where it and its partner, Rockspring, each own 50% of the capital in deal that began in 2006.

The company has also put two other complexes on sale, both of which are located in the city of Porto: Arrábida Shopping, which has 60,733 square meters, and Gaia Shopping, with 59,695 square meters. Sonae declined to comment on the matter.

The two parallel transactions are expected to continue until the end of the year, since the sale of the three Spanish centres, entrusted to CBRE and JLL, is expected to conclude in the last quarter of this year.

The portfolio has been valued at 500 million euros, and Sonae would need about 250 million to buy CBRE’s participation.

The divestment of the three Portuguese centres, though no sales figure has been provided as the official launch of the sale of Gaia and Arrábida is still being prepared, is expected to exceed this figure comfortably.

In all these cases, the Portuguese giant is a shareholder through the Sierra Fund, a vehicle where Sonae shares interests with several international investment partners.

Sonae Sierra has a portfolio of 46 shopping centres scattered throughout Europe and South America, totalling 1.9 million square meters of gross leasable area and a market value of 7 billion euros.

In Spain, the company owns the Área Sur (Jerez, Cádiz), Dos Mares (San Javier, Murcia), Luz del Tajo (Toledo) and Plaza Mayor (Malaga), as well as the Gran Casa, Max Center and Valle Real.

Original Story: El Confidencial – Ruth Ugalde

Translation: Richard Turner

BBVA Sells €1-Billion Portfolio of Development Loans to Canadian Fund

16 June 2018

The bank’s real estate exposure in Spain will fall to almost nil by the end of this year, after having been reduced by some 21 billion euros over the last two years.

BBVA is taking its last steps in its quest to eliminate the risk stemming from the toxic assets it inherited from the swift end of the real estate bubble. Yesterday, the bank finalised the sale of a portfolio of loans to developers valued at approximately 1 billion euros to the Canadian pension fund CPPIB, sources in the financial industry stated.

It is the largest sale of a specialised portfolio of loans to developers in the Spanish market. The developments included in the transaction, baptised Sintra, can be found throughout Spain.

The financial institution had been probing the interest of opportunistic funds since the end of 2017, looking to rid itself of a portfolio valued at a gross amount of about 1.5 billion euros, as reported by Expansión. Large funds, such as Lone Star, Blackstone and Apollo, were believed to have been interested in such credits, which are tied to real assets.

PwC advised the bank on the transaction. Official sources at BBVA declined to comment. With this latest sale, BBVA will reduce its exposure to the real estate sector to almost nothing. Pressure from national regulators and the need to free up provisions added to the bank’s efforts to sell off the toxic assets.

Early success

BBVA’s gross exposure to real estate stood at €15.352 billion as of March. Taking into account the sale to the Canadian pension fund and a separate transfer of assets to a company controlled by the fund Cerberus, the bank’s risk linked to property will be reduced to just €1.352 billion. That is €20.783 billion less than at the end of 2016.

The bank will thus achieve its goal of reducing its real estate exposure almost entirely a year and a half ahead of schedule.

BBVA has been one of the most active financial institutions in real estate sales since the beginning of 2017. The most relevant transaction was the bank’s agreement with the American fund Cerberus to create a joint venture in Spain. The operation was negotiated last November and is expected to be finalised in September.

The real estate assets covered in the agreement include some 78,000 properties with a gross book value of €13.billion. Cerberus will control an 80% stake in the company, while the bank will hold on to the remaining 20% while managing to shed the toxic assets from its balance sheet.

However, BBVA has also negotiated several other major real estate transactions. In mid-2017, the bank sold the Jaipur project, another portfolio of loans to developers valued at 600 million euros (total gross debt at nominal value), to Cerberus.

The bank has also reduced its exposure to companies linked to the real estate market. This was apparent in Metrovacesa’s IPO this year, which relieved the bank of its 27% participation in the company.

37% of product sales are conducted online

BBVA has doubled the group’s digital sales. In the first four months of the year, 37.5% of the financial institution’s total sales were conducted through digital channels.

The bank is doubling down on its digital strategy, foreseeing “accelerated and consistent” growth in the number of its customers that access the bank’s products through these channels, it announced yesterday.

The trend has led the bank to bring forward its objectives in its digital transformation. The financial institution expects that 50% of its customers will access its services using digital means by the end of this year or at the beginning of 2019.

In March of this year, when the bank presented its most recent audited accounts, BBVA had 19.3 million customers who used mobiles to access the bank’s products and services, an increase of 43% compared to March 2017. That is equivalent to one-third of its total customer base.

Now, the bank expects to reach the milestone of having half of its customers accessing using digital means.

At the moment, the bank has 24 million customers that access digitally, equal to 45% of its total customer base, a growth of 25% compared to March 2017.

Tangible benefits

The bank argues that its digital strategy has tangible benefits on its accounts by improving efficiency and boosting recurring revenues. In fact, the group is already profitable in all the markets in which it operates, including Spain.

BBVA justifies its digital focus stating that such customers acquire more products and stay loyal.

In fact, they have an abandonment rate that is 57% below that of traditional users. The biggest differences are in Mexico, Turkey and Spain.

Original Story: Expansión – R. Sampedro

Photo: JM Cadenas / Expansión

Translation: Richard Turner

Bain and Cerberus Vying to Take Over Hercesa

27 April 2018

The company, which has more than forty years of experience in the sector, has already attracted the interest of the two investment funds, which would take over a business structure that has a presence in all market sectors.

A long time player in the Spanish real estate market has put itself up for sale. The Hercesa Inmobiliaria group, which has more than forty years of experience in the sector and which has a presence in all market sectors, has received offers for the company starting at 150 million euros. Up to five investment funds have already expressed an interest in the compan. Bain and Cerberus are considered the two principal contenders, industry sources told EjePrime.

The group, of which the Cercadillo family is the majority shareholder, set a deadline for the submission of applications that ended today. That will be followed by analyses of the company, due diligence and negotiations. The company commissioned KPMG for its valuation prospectus. The group declined to comment on the sale.

Hercesa’s real estate activity is primarily focused on the residential sector, although it also has industrial, tertiary and management assets in its portfolio. Also, the company has had a presence outside of Spain since 2004, having carried out projects in Portugal, Romania, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Poland, Morocco, Ecuador, Mexico and Panama.

In the residential market, the holding also owns the manager Hi! Real Estate. Created in 2014, it is the base of the group, which in its forty years of experience has delivered more than 21,000 homes and, at present, is selling 2,600 properties in developments distributed between the Community of Madrid, Malaga, Valladolid and Guadalajara, where its headquarters are located.

However, one of the company’s assets that may of the greatest interest for the funds who want to develop in Spain is their portfolio of land mortgaged with banks. Hercesa has land holdings throughout the Spanish Levant, Andalusia, Madrid and Guadalajara.

In addition to the manager, the group has a developer, Hi! Projects, as well as with the construction company Hi! Works and Services. The last known audit of the group, from 2016, shows revenues of 63.6 million euros and assets of €132 million. Also, the prospectus prepared by KPMG highlights a financial debt of fifty million euros, much of it related to the land mortgaged with banks, with which it has recently reached agreements for the creation of developments on the lands, due to the rebound of construction in the residential sector.

As EjePrime has learned, the company’s intention with this valuation prospectus is to sell the company by taking advantage of the upward cycle that the sector is experiencing and from which the investment funds want to take advantage. It would be, therefore, a new corporate operation in which, just as happened with Via Célere, which received an injection of funds from Värde, the future buyer could keep the current management team.

There have been other such agreements, such as the purchase of Aelca, also by Värde and Cerberus’ acquisition of Inmoglaciar. Also, Bain recently paid 220 million euros for Habitat and Baupost entered the prime residential sector with its purchase of Levitt, through Q21.

Original Story: EjePrime – J. Izquierdo

Translation: Richard Turner

 

Sareb Hires Goldman to Sell the Haya Portfolio: €30 Billion In Assets

30 April 2018

A change of scene is occurring in Sareb’s policies. The need to accelerate the sale of assets, together with the interest of large international funds in buying portfolios in Spain, have convinced Sareb to hire Goldman Sachs with an eye on selling its entire portfolio, currently managed by Haya Real Estate. That represents close to €30 billion of the entity’s non-performing loans, according to financial sources.

The choice of this portfolio is directly related to the date since Sareb’s contract with Cerberus’ subsidiary is the one that first that will come up for renewal, in June 2019. However, if the test that Goldman is already carrying out in the market achieves the objectives they are hoping for, Sareb could repeat the measure at a later point with the rest of the ‘servicers’: Solvia, Altamira and Servihabitat. Neither the financial institution chaired by Jaime Echegoyen nor the investment bank was willing to comment.

In its first contacts with potentially interested parties, which Goldman Sachs has already initiated, the US investment bank is offering not just the assets themselves, but also their management. This would place a potential buyer in a privileged position compared to those large funds that use servicers for their investments in Spain, such as Blackstone, Apollo and TPG. Cerberus itself, the owner of Haya, which has just acquired a portfolio of €13 billion in real estate assets from BBVA, is another example. Goldman recently notified Sareb of its confidence in being able to close the operation by next July.

Of these three investment giants, the first is the only one that lacks an asset management contract with Sareb. When the bad bank opened bidding to cede the administration of its assets, the US fund preferred to stay in the wings, as it had an interest in acquiring property as well. This desire was underlined but its recent purchase of ‘Qasar’, a portfolio of €30 billion of toxic assets from Santander-Popular.

Much as the Cantabrian bank has done, Sareb is analysing the possibility of structuring this macro-operation through the sale of a 51% stake, a percentage that would allow it to deconsolidate and reduce its gross share of the new structure to approximately €15 billion. However, the same sources point out that the final parameters of the deal are still to be defined and that Goldman is not the only institution that is working on potential deals to allow Sareb to accelerate its disinvestments.

In fact, Sareb has also employed the services of firms such as EY and CBRE within its Ebro Project, a mega-portfolio whose parameters may reach €10 billion gross in bad debts; PWC was hired for ‘Dune’, portfolio with €2.6 billion in unsecured loans; and Arcano is directing the sale of ‘Nora’, made up of €400 million in unpaid residential loans.

While waiting to see if Goldman is successful with its plans, Sareb has already begun to analyse the possibility that its next move: its next big sale of a portfolio that is currently in the hands of ‘servicers.’ Here the intention is to structure the bad loans by region, to expand the range of potentially interested buyers.

Coaxed by the need to accelerate the pace of its divestments, Sareb is rethinking its strategy of leaving the bulk of its sales to ‘servicers.’

Coaxed by the need to accelerate the rate of its divestments, considering that the bad bank was created with a life expectancy of 15 years, of which it has consumed a third, and conditioned by the consolidation process that these service companies have started, Sareb has begun to rethink if it makes sense to trust the bulk of its divestments to ‘servicers.’ It is now considering following the example of Santander and BBVA, and the bad bank is testing the waters with the mandate it granted to Goldman Sachs.

This transaction has raised questions regarding Haya Real Estate’s IPO, which was scheduled for this May and which has now been delayed until after the summer, at the earliest. Sources close to Cerberus, who have doubts about the American bank’s ability to successfully allocate a portfolio of this size in record time, left the possibility open that the IPO may be delayed until early 2019. Haya was initially valued at €1.2 billion.

Original Story: El Confidencial – Ruth Ugalde / Agustín Marco

Translation: Richard Turner