Tag: Bankia

Sareb Offers the Contracts of Altamira, Servihabitat & Solvia to its Rivals

17 June 2019 – El Confidencial

Sareb is on a mission to change its course. According to market sources, the bad bank chaired by Jaime Echegoyen (pictured below) has decided to put its contracts with Altamira (owned by doBank), Servihabitat (Lone Star) and Solvia (Intrum) out to tender two years before their scheduled renewal.

Even though the contracts are not due to expire until the end of 2021, Sareb is putting them out to tender alongside that of Haya Real Estate, which is due to expire at the end of 2019. This represents a boost for Cerberus’s servicer, given that its competitors will now also have to focus on retaining their own contracts rather than just bidding for Haya’s.

In the event that Sareb awards the contracts of Altamira, Servihabitat and Solvia to other entities, it will have to compensate the servicers since their contracts clearly establish early termination clauses.

Altogether, Sareb is looking at putting out to tender the management of €34 billion in loans and properties that it still has left in its portfolio. The four will have to submit their bids in the next few months, specifying which assets they want to manage and what commissions they will charge.

The largest mandate is that of Haya, which manages assets proceeding from Bankia, which accounted for 37% of the bad bank’s original assets. It is followed by Altamira, which manages the assets proceeding from Catalunya Banc, BMN and Caja 3 (29% of the total); Servihabitat, which manages the assets from NCG Banco, Liberbank and Banco de Valencia (19%); and Solvia,  which manages assets from Bankia (foreclosed), Banco Gallego and Ceiss (15%). Clearly, there is a lot at stake for these servicers.

Original story: El Confidencial (by J. Zuloaga & R. Ugalde)

Translation/Summary: Carmel Drake

Bankia Puts 3,000 Foreclosed Flats Worth €500M Up for Sale

4 June 2019 – El Confidencial

Bankia has put another problem asset portfolio up for sale as it continues to take the Spanish real estate market by storm in 2019. Project Jarama contains 3,000 flats worth €500 million and is one of the bank’s largest operations involving foreclosed assets to date.

The bank chaired by José Ignacio Goirigolzarri has engaged KPMG to coordinate Project Jarama, which is complicated by the fact that more than half of the assets have not yet been fully repossessed by the bank.

In those cases, rulings have been made in the courts to award the property to the bank in exchange for the defaulted debt, but the entity does not yet hold the deeds or the keys, and the final stage of the foreclosure process could take several months in each case.

This sale forms part of Bankia’s strategy to accelerate its strategic plan. At the beginning of 2018, it set itself the target of divesting non-performing assets worth €9 billion from its balance sheet. By March 2019, it had already sold €6.5 billion.

In recent weeks, it has sold a €300 million portfolio to Blackstone and a €150 million portfolio to Cerberus and Kruk.

Original story: El Confidencial (by Jorge Zuloaga)

Translation/Summary: Carmel Drake

Haya Real Estate Manages the Sale of Bankia’s Branch on Calle Serrano for €59M

6 May 2019 – Eje Prime

Haya Real Estate has managed the sale of Bankia’s former premises on Calle Serrano, 64, to the Prada group for €59 million. The premises have a surface area of 908 m2 and are distributed over three storeys.

Bankia will have to vacate the property within six months of the transaction being formalised and will be replaced by one of the Prada group’s brands: Miu Miu, Church’s, Car Shoe, Prada and Pasticceria Marchesi.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation/Summary: Carmel Drake

Debt Recovery Firm KRUK Prepares to Make its Real Estate Debut

18 March 2019 – Bolsa Mania

The debt recovery firm KRUK is getting ready to enter the real estate market. The company, which has already acquired debt portfolios in other segments (e.g. consumer loans) from entities such as Bankia and Unicaja, now wants to start buying real estate-related debt portfolios from the banks, servicers and Sareb.

Until now, the group has specialised in the unsecured segment in Spain. Last year, it acquired a portfolio of doubtful consumer loans from Bankia and a year earlier, it did the same with another similar portfolio from Unicaja. A few months ago, it purchased another from Carrefour’s financial arm.

Further afield, the company currently has a presence in Poland, Romania, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Germany, Italy and Spain, with the last two markets representing its priorities for the time being.

Original story: Bolsa Mania (by Elena Lozano)

Translation/Summary: Carmel Drake

The Sale of FC Valencia’s Mestalla Stadium Stalls Due to Divergent Price Expectations

6 March 2019 – Las Provincias

FC Valencia was hoping to close the sale of its Mestalla stadium by March of this year with the help of Deloitte, but a deal now seems a long way off after the comprehensive selection process undertaken by the audit firm failed to identify any bids that meet with the price expectations of the Mediterranean Club.

FC Valencia was hoping to obtain around €120 million for the plot, funds that it planned to use immediately to resume the construction of its new stadium, whose development has been suspended since February 2009 due to a lack of money. Three final round candidates were selected by Deloitte but none of their offers reached €100 million, let alone €120 million. In fact, all three bids fell well below, ranging between €70 million and €85 million.

Bankia is watching this process closely given that the football club still holds debt with the financial institution (mortgaged on the land). Time is running out for the football club. According to the timetable agreed with the Town Hall, the stadium on Cortes Valencianas must be finished by May 2021 and the former Mestalla demolished by 2023.

Original story: Las Provincias (by H.E. & C. V.)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Bankia Entrusts the Sale of 3 NPL Portfolios Worth c. €1bn to KPMG

3 March 2019 – El Confidencial

Bankia is on course to fulfil one of the objectives of its strategic plan a year early. Two years ago, the entity set itself the target of divesting almost €9 billion from its balance sheet between 2018 and 2020, and last year alone, it sold problem assets worth €6 billion. With the sales forecast for this year, it is set to achieve its goal a year ahead of schedule.

In this context, the entity is launching the sale of three portfolios, worth around €1 billion, with the aim of selling them in the middle of this year.

The largest portfolio, worth around €500 million, comprises doubtful property developer loans; the next, worth around €200 million, contains unsecured debt; and the final one, worth several hundreds of millions, has yet to be defined. All three have been entrusted to KPMG for their sale.

Despite its huge efforts last year, Bankia still has around €8 billion in doubtful loans and €3 billion in foreclosed assets on its balance sheet.

Original story: El Confidencial (by Jorge Zuloaga)

Summary/Translation: Carmel Drake

Cerberus Looking to Top Blackstone as the Largest US Investor in Spanish Real Estate

7 February 2019

Cerberus has a plan for Spain: the fund is looking for continued growth in the country. So, the US fund is putting together one of the most powerful teams in the Spanish real estate industry. Its goal in the medium term is to triple its investments in residential development, continue to grow its logistics business and start a new front in the rental business.

Cerberus has already invested more than 10 billion euros in Spain and now wants to exploit new lines of business such as rentals and logistics. The fund also has plans to leverage its development operations through the acquisition of more land and after buying Inmoglaciar. Blackstone, in total, has already invested more than 26 billion euros in Spain since 2014.

The American fund has generally avoided the limelight. In Spain, the fund has maintained a fairly low media profile, but that now seems about to change, as Gonzalo Gallego, who was responsible for the fund’s real estate investments in Spain, commented on Wednesday.

“We do not usually hold public events, and I think it’s a good time for a change. Cerberus has come to stay in Spain, we are 22 people dedicated to it, and it is already the second most important office in the world,” the representative said.

A look towards rentals

The change is also linked to the fund’s interest in expanding its investments in rentals. Mr Gallego stated that the sector is one of the pillars of the fund’s new strategy. Therefore, they have begun assembling a team dedicated exclusively to the sector.

Cerberus stated that the team consists of local experts who are seeking to “develop strategies that add value to their acquisitions.” The business will not be based solely on buying NPLs, though Mr Gallego stressed that the Spanish market has many such opportunities. “We invest in an asset by asset basis,” he said.

Another business the fund has experienced success with is REOs. Mr Gallego thinks that “they are wonderful.” “We know how to reposition and sell them to our investors; we work with almost 400 funds actively in the sale of these portfolios, it’s not a coincidence, it’s a strategy,” he explained.

Cerberus Real Estate believes that Spain still has enormous potential, although the current macro situation is forcing them to be more careful with their investments. “We are very optimistic regarding Spain, but some cold winds could freeze up some types of investments,” Mr Gallego said.

Opportunities and mergers

In the end, Cerberus believes that it has a ‘pipeline’ full of opportunities and that is why the fund is predicting an excellent year ahead, especially since there will be a “consolidation of the market” with “very important” corporate operations.

The North American fund came to Spain in the middle of the financial crisis (between 2010 and 2012) with the objective of taking over banks and real estate companies, as it did in other countries. The first did not go well after some attempts with the older banks (cajas). However, the fund’s luck with real estate has been better. Cerberus already controls more than €50 billion in assets, from Bankia, Sareb, Cajamar, Liberbank and BBVA.

Its next acquisition could be the developer Solvia Desarrollo Inmobiliario (SDIN) of Banco Sabadell, which is selling land worth more than 1 billion euros. The bid for these assets has already begun, and financial sources claim that the fund has shown interest in them.

Original Story: Vox Populi

Translation: Richard Turner

Sabadell & CaixaBank in the Top 5 European Ranking of Toxic Asset Sales in 2018

29 January 2019 – Expansión

CaixaBank starred in the fourth largest toxic asset sale operation in Europe in 2018 whilst Sabadell starred in the seventh largest. And they were not the only transactions that the two entities undertook (…). In fact, both banks feature in the list of the Top 5 entities in Europe by volume of toxic asset portfolio sales last year, according to data collected by the analysis firm specialising in debt Debtwire.

All of that, despite the fact that Spain’s two largest banks, Santander and BBVA, had a much quieter 2018 than 2017, when the former undertook the largest sale of toxic assets in the country’s history, with the transfer of assets with a nominal value of €30 billion inherited from Popular to Blackstone. Meanwhile, BBVA placed part of its real estate business in the hands of Cerberus that same year.

Last year, Sabadell and CaixaBank took over the baton. The bank chaired by Josep Oliu is the Spanish entity that recorded the largest toxic asset sales in 2018, divesting assets with a nominal value of €12.6 billion. That figure placed it fourth in the ranking, behind only the Italian entities Monte Dei PAschi, Banca Popolare di Vicenza and Banco BPM.

Meanwhile, CaixaBank (…) was the fifth most active bank in the ranking, with toxic asset sales of €12.1 billion, just behind Sabadell.

Together with contributions from the other banks, with Bankia and Santander in high-ranking places, the Spanish sector divested toxic assets worth €43.2 billion in 2018, compared with €51.7 billion in 2017, which represented a decrease of 16%.

Nevertheless, neither CaixaBank nor Sabadell managed to keep Spain at the top of the podium of countries that divested the most toxic assets last year. Italy is the new leader with NPL sales of €103.6 billion (…).

In Spain, the loans and foreclosed assets divested by the banks are now in the hands of Cerberus and Lone Star, primarily, the two funds that purchased the most in Spain last year, with €15.8 billion and €13 billion, respectively.

Well behind them in the ranking is Axactor, which is typically more interested in smaller operations. And Blackstone, which was out of the ranking last year, after starring as the absolute leader in 2017, thanks to the operation that it closed with Santander, according to the report from Debtwire, which takes into account all transactions exceeding €100 million (…).

Original story: Expansión (by Inés Abril)

Translation: Carmel Drake

BNP Paribas Buys Agbar’s HQ in Barcelona for €60M

8 January 2019 – Expansión

The real estate arm of BNP Paribas has acquired the headquarters of the Agbar group located in Barcelona for more than €60 million. The building forms part of the office complex known as Distrito 38 and until now was owned by the US bank Goldman Sachs, which purchased it as part of a batch of assets in 2015 for €355 million.

It was one of the last operations to be closed in 2018 in Barcelona but it has not been published until now. The building used to be managed by Patrimony, the real estate firm founded by Jordi Tremoleda, and the previous owner was advised by Savills Aguirre Newman during the sale.

The property was designed by the Japanese architect Arata Isozaki and has a surface area of more than 16,200 m2. It was first occupied by Agbar in 2015, when that firm moved from Torre Agbar, the iconic building designed by Jean Nouvel, to this office complex located on Paseo de la Zona Franca in Barcelona, in search of a more functional building. In theory, the water management company said that it was going to be a temporary home whilst a new corporate headquarters was constructed, but for the time being, there is no information that a new transfer is being planned.

Agbar left Jean Nouvel’s tower after having agreed its sale with the fund manager Emin Capital, but that operation was not executed in the end and the Socimi Merlin Properties ended up acquiring the building at the beginning of 2017 for €142 million.

Despite being a recently constructed building, Agbar’s current headquarters has already changed owner several times. The office complex was designed by the real estate company Habitat, when that property developer was still owned by the Figueras family. The office development was then acquired by Caja Madrid and, in 2015, by which point it was in the hands of Bankia, it was sold to Goldman Sachs. Sources close to the US investment giant said yesterday that in just three years the bank has achieved a very profitable operation.

According to provisional data, as we wait for the final operations closed in 2018 to be published, Barcelona recorded a good year in terms of real estate investment, albeit below 2017. The consultancy firm CBRE estimates that the outlay on buildings could have amounted to €1.973 billion, compared with €2.177 billion the previous year. A large part of these operations (46%) correspond to the office sector, which accounted for investment of €906 million, compared with €757 million in 2017. According to the same report, 68% of the purchasers that invested in Barcelona were foreigners. And of the domestic investors, half were Socimis.

Original story: Expansión (by Marisa Anglés)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Bankia Signs Property Developer Loans Worth €450M in 2018

2 January 2019 – Eje Prime

Bankia is consolidating its return to the property development sector. The bank signed loans worth €450 million for the construction of homes during 2018, its first year back in the real estate business after the restrictions imposed by the European Commission, as a condition for saving the company from bankruptcy, came to an end.

During the year that just ended, Bankia signed several financing operations with real estate developers to construct 2,200 homes in total in Madrid, Cataluña, the Community of Valencia, Andalucía and the Balearic Islands. With these figures, the bank doubled the expectations that it had set itself when it re-launched in the real estate sector, according to reports from the entity in a statement.

Following the results of the first year, the entity chaired by José Ignacio Goiriogolzarri says that it is carrying out its activity “in accordance with the new standards of prudence in the real estate sector, which includes a requirement for adequate marketing stages and the comprehensive control of the development of projects”.

The €450 million financed in 2018 forms part of Bankia’s strategy to try to re-conquer the property developer sector and achieve a market share of 8% by 2020.

Bankia was rescued in 2012 with public aid and sanctioned by Brussels to refrain from participating in the real estate market for five years as a condition for receiving some of the capital that was used to rescue it from financial crisis.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake