Tag: bank syndicate

30 January 2015 – Inmodiario

Bami Newco, the real estate company controlled by Joaquín Rivero, which filed for bankruptcy in mid-2013, has now filed for liquidation, according to a ruling issued by the Commercial Court number 2 in Madrid. The company, which has debts of €652 million, proposed its liquidation under the Bankruptcy Law, after it was unable to reach a refinancing agreement with its lender banks.

Bami holds assets amounting to €726 million to meet its liabilities, according to a report published by the insolvency administrator in mid-2014.

The company was founded in 2007 after exiting Metrovacesa’s share capital, a real estate company in which Bami become the controlling shareholder following the takeover it launched in 2004.

The new real estate company voluntarily filed for bankruptcy after, at the end of 2012, Rivero and the Soler family also declared bankrupt the companies through which they channelled the stakes (16.6% and 15.6%, respectively) they then held in the French real estate company Gecina. In 2013, they sold the debt linked to those investments, which were guaranteed by Gecina’s own shares, to the funds Blackstone and Ivanhoé Cambridge.

The company voluntarily filed for bankruptcy after failing to reach a long-term refinancing agreement with its bank syndicate that would have given it the financial stability necessary to continue its activity.

The company has a portfolio of office buildings located in the North of Madrid, totalling 127,500 square metres, with an average occupancy rate of 90%, backed by long-term contracts with highly solvent clients, including several Ibex 35 companies. Moreover, the company had plans to construct two buildings in the “Adequa” business park, which would have resulted in an additional 27,000 sqm.

Bami closed 2012 with a loss of €15 million, as a result of the cancelation of its derivative hedges and the impairment loss it recorded on buildings that had not yet become operational.

Despite having paid the interest on its debt on a timely basis since its constitution, and although most of its debts were due to mature this year, the real estate company decided that filing for bankruptcy was essential, since without long-term, stable financing, the business will be unable to develop its property portfolio and carry out its projects.

Original story: Inmodiario

Translation: Carmel Drake