Tag: BMN

Cerberus & Lindorff Compete for Bankia-BMN’s RE Business

14 February 2018 – Real Estate Press

Bankia has started talks with Haya Real Estate (Cerberus) and Aktua (Lindorff) to award the management of all of the real estate assets that it has incorporated into its portfolio following its merger with BMN (…), according to sources in the know. Bankia has been working with Haya since 2013 and BMN with Aktua, the former real estate arm of Banesto, since 2014.

The same financial sources indicate that Bankia is now in a stronger position to improve the conditions of its contract in light of the good times being enjoyed in the real estate sector. Although the technological integration of the two entities will not take place until 19 March, the authorities already approved the merger at the end of December.

In 2013, the entity chaired by José Ignacio Goirigolzarri awarded the business to manage and sell around €12.2 billion gross in real estate assets to Cerberus. That agreement comes to an end at the beginning of 2023. Haya Real Estate, the Spanish subsidiary of the US fund Cerberus, has become a major player in the real estate market in recent years. It manages debt and assets worth almost €40 billion and has engaged Rothschild to handle its upcoming stock market debut later this year. It also holds agreements with Sareb, BBVA, Cajamar and Liberbank.

In its failed attempt to go public, BMN got rid of its property manager Inmare in 2014 to focus on the traditional business. It then signed a 10-year agreement with Aktua.

Subsequently, the Norwegian fund Lindorff purchased Aktua in 2016. That company also manages the real estate assets of Ibercaja, amongst other entities.

Cerberus and Lindorff are re-enacting the battle fought last summer. Then, the funds were bidding to acquire the real estate subsidiary of Liberbank, Mihabitans. In the end, the US won those negotiations and was awarded the contract to manage Liberbank’s foreclosed assets for the next seven years.

Original story: Real Estate Press

Translation: Carmel Drake

A&M: Spain’s Top 5 Banks Cut Their Toxic Assets to Below €100bn

18 February 2018 – Voz Pópuli

Good news for the banks. The heavy burden of recent years, their exposure to real estate, is causing less concern, little by little. The work undertaken over the last year has allowed the large institutions to reduce their volume of problem assets (doubtful and foreclosed loans) to less than €100 billion.

That is according to the findings of a report from the consultancy firm Alvarez & Marsal based on figures at the end of 2017: the five largest banks (Santander, BBVA, CaixaBank, Sabadell and Bankia) decreased their toxic assets from €145 billion to €106 billion. That calculation does include the transfer of €30 billion from Popular to Blackstone – which will be completed within the next few weeks, – but not the sale of €13 billion from BBVA to Cerberus.

Taking into account the latter operation, the level of toxic assets held by the five largest banks amounts to €93 billion, having decreased by 36% since 2016. Those figures do not include exposure to other entities that also made significant efforts in this regard during 2017, such as Liberbank.

According to the report, after all of the events of last year, CaixaBank is the entity that now has the largest volume of problem assets on its balance sheet, with €27 billion. The group chaired by Jordi Gual has engaged KPMG to undertake a large divestment of its foreclosed assets, but that it is taking longer than expected.

The second-placed entity in the ranking is Santander, with an exposure of €25 billion, which in net terms (after provisions) amounts to €13 billion. Its CEO, José Antonio Álvarez, announced a few months ago that he expects to divest around €6 billion this year.

The third bank in the ranking is BBVA, with €21 billion, before the sale of €13 billion to Cerberus. Once that operation has been closed (scheduled for the end of the first half of this year), it will be the most healthy entity, with the highest levels of coverage.

Plans underway

Sabadell is another of the entities that has made the greatest efforts to liquidate its property in recent months. It decreased its balance from €19 billion to €15 billion in 2017 and is planning big sales this year, provided it receives approval from the Deposit Guarantee Fund.

Meanwhile, Bankia has actually increased its exposure, by integrating BMN, although it will not reveal its plans in this regard until it unveils its next strategic plan (at the end of this month).

The bulk of the work in the sector has now been completed. Nevertheless, the home straight still remains, which is what will be tackled this year, to a large extent. With this, the banks will be able to turn the page and dedicate their resources to granting credit rather than to covering past losses.

Original story: Voz Pópuli (by Jorge Zuloaga)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Bankia To Start Financing Property Developers Again as EC Restrictions End

2 January 2018 – Inmodiario

From 1 January 2018, Bankia will be able to launch new lines of activity after the restrictions, established by the Restructuring Plan that the entity signed with the European Commission five years ago, were lifted. These activities will represent the levers for commercial development in the new growth phase that the entity is now embarking on.

José Ignacio Goirigolzarri, President of Bankia, has confirmed that “we are starting a new phase of growth after leaving behind a successful restructuring phase that we have now completed”. And he added that “the lifting of the restrictions imposed by the Restructuring Plan opens up new business opportunities for us and places us alongside our competitors once again”.

Over the last five years, and as a result of the commitments taken on to enable it to sign the Restructuring Plan (which allowed it to receive aid), Bankia was not allowed to operate in certain activities, such as financing real estate developments or companies with access to capital markets.

With the new objectives in mind, the entity has incorporated a Property Development Division into its new organisation, which was approved recently. It has appointed Alberto Manrique to lead that business and he will report directly to the Business Banking Division, led by Gonzalo Alcubilla.

Manrique joined the group in 1988. Since then, the industrial engineer, who holds a degree in ‘ETS de Ingenieros’ from ICAI, has taken on several positions of responsibility. Most recently, he has carried out different tasks within the Business Banking sphere, such as the corporate management of the business branch network in the centre of Spain, the management of the Structured Finance and Syndicated Loan product teams and taking responsibility for the online business channels.

The new management team will be responsible for developing financing for property developers at a point when the cycle is recovering, “with growth expected for at least three or four years, during which time we expect that around 150,000 new homes per year will be built”, says Manrique.

One of the other new lines of activity that Bankia will develop from 1 January 2018 onwards will be to grant long-term financing to large corporations with access to capital markets, inside and outside of Spain, as well as to finance projects and acquisitions, activities that have been limited in recent years.

In addition to these new lines of activity for the coming year, the growth phase that Bankia is now starting will be marked by its ability to take advantage of the enormous growth opportunities that result from the increase in the client base that the entity has experienced in recent years and as a result of the process to integrate BMN, which consolidates the resulting entity’s position as the fourth-largest bank by assets in Spain.

Original story: Inmodiario 

Translation: Carmel Drake

Spain’s Banks Sell RE Assets Worth €52,000M+ In 2017

2 November 2017 – Cinco Días

According to all of the experts consulted, there is no doubt that the operation carried out by Santander in August, involving the sale of €30,000 million in property to Blackstone, marked a before and after in the formula for the financial sector to get rid of its real estate deadweight.

That operation significantly boosted the total amount transacted in these types of portfolio sale operations this year. Taking into account those operations that already have been closed, as well as those that are currently underway, the transaction volume in 2017 will comfortably exceed €52,000 million. That figure contrasts with the volume recorded in 2016 (€22,000 million), even though this year (2017) was expected to be more modest in terms of transactions.

The new international accounting standard IFRS 9, which will enter into force in January, and which will toughen provisions for real estate portfolios, as well as the pressure from the Bank of Spain and, above all, the European Central Bank (ECB) for the sector to accelerate the sale of its NPL assets, have served as a trigger for the banks to accelerate the sale of their foreclosed land and properties.

The heads of Spain’s largest banks (Santander, BBVA, CaixaBank, Bankia and Sabadell) have said, during the recent presentations of their results for the first nine months of the year, that their objective is that property will no longer weigh down on their income statements by the end of 2018 and, in some cases, by a year later, at most (…).

By way of example, Bankia has two very different financial operations underway, but international funds are the interested investors in both cases. One involves the upcoming sale of between 7% and 9% of the entity’s share capital, a placement that is expected to be carried out during the month of November and whose buyers will be institutional investors.

The other operation will involve the sale of several real estate portfolios. One of those, for €100 million, goes by the name Jets; and another, amounting to almost €2,000 million, is known as Giant, comprises property from Bankia’s own balance sheet and maybe some from BMN, the entity that it will integrate into its perimeter at the end of the year (…).

CaixaBank, with around €18,000 million in at-risk assets, of which €10,000 million are NPLs, may also star in a similar operation to the deal closed by Santander with Blackstone within the next few months, according to two experts.

For the time being, all of the consultancy firms and investment banks agree that (with the exception of the sales processes already underway) the trend is to carry out much fewer placements of small portfolios and “to undertake a few, large sales instead”.

These same sources also agree that the investment funds (Apollo, Oaktree, Bain, Cerberus, Blackstone, Lone Star, Castlelake, Värde Partners, Lindorff, TPG and Goldman Sachs, amongst the most active) “are in a hurry to buy and the banks are in a hurry to sell”.

One of the large banks that has shown reluctance to sell its real estate assets until now, despite its bulky portfolio of foreclosed assets, has been BBVA. It has carried out some operations (refer to the table above) but it has been, together with Sabadell, the only entity that has not sold its real estate platform.

Nevertheless, the bank chaired by Francisco González has been holding exclusive negotiations with Cerberus for months regarding the sale of part of Anida (in an operation known as Sena). Specifically, it is interested in 20% of Anida Grupo Inmobiliario SL, which is equivalent to around €1,200 million, an operation for which it would pay approximately €300 million.

But several sources say that the bank is rethinking its sales strategy and in 2018, will be willing to put a much larger portfolio up for sale and whereby tackle an operation similar to the one closed by Santander, but this time with Anida as the protagonist.

Sources at investment banks and managers add that the upcoming regulatory changes affecting securitisations in Europe will also help to boost the sale of packages of property portfolios amongst investors (…).

Original story: Cinco Días (by Ángeles Gonzalo Alconada)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Bankia Analyses Block Sale Of Entire Real Estate Portfolio

7 November 2017 – El Economista

Spain’s banks do not want to pass up the opportunity that currently exists in the market to get rid of their toxic assets linked to the real estate sector as quickly as possible. Funds’ interest in acquiring properties and problem loans continues at the same level as during the summer, when Santander reached an agreement to transfer almost all of Popular’s real estate portfolio, worth €30,000 million in gross terms, to Blackstone.

BBVA announced a few weeks ago that it is negotiating with Cerberus to close a similar operation, although it did not share any details about the perimeter in that case. And now, it is Bankia’s turn to tread the same path and resume Project Big Bang to a certain extent, after it was suspended two years ago. The nationalised entity is currently analysing putting up for sale all of the real estate assets that it still holds on its balance sheet. The transaction would include the assets it inherits from BMN once both groups have merged at the end of this year.

This is one of the “strategic priorities” for the next few months, said Bankia’s CEO, José Sevilla, speaking recently at a press conference with analysts. He assured his audience that investors have an appetite for this type of large portfolio at the moment, unlike two years ago.

Just over €6,000 million of assets

The volume of the operation, if it goes ahead, in the end, will be significantly smaller than the deal closed by Santander, given that both Bankia and BMN have fewer foreclosed assets and doubtful debts. A significant part of their balances was transferred to Sareb in 2012 and 2013, under the framework of the bank rescue. Once the group chaired by José Ignacio Goirigolzarri has absorbed the Levante-based entity, it will have around €6,300 million in loans to property developers and foreclosed assets in total, a third of all the non-profitable assets – which include doubtful loans granted to other sectors.

Specifically, Bankia has €3,150 million in properties, with a coverage ratio of 34%, whilst BMN has €1,470 million, with provisions covering 28% of its risk. In terms of financing to property developers, the volume managed by Bankia amounts to almost €1,100 million and the amount handled by the bank led by Carlos Egea amounts to approximately €600 million.

Commercial focus on companies with a service platform

Between now and the end of the year, Bankia is going to place its commercial focus on the business segment, for which it has created a platform for services that complement financing. According to the director of this business, Gonzalo Alcubilla, access to loans is no longer a concern for companies and so now, they are asking about how to enter new markets and secure new clients to increase their turnover.

In fact, Bankia currently rejects fewer than 10% of the loan requests its receives. In this context, it has created “Soluciona Empresas”, a pack of free digital tools that helps businesses take management decisions, such as advice regarding exporting overseas. The platform may be used both by companies that are clients of the entity as well as by those that are not, according to Alcubilla speaking on Monday at the presentation of the instrument. The tools are grouped together for three purposes: to sell more, manage risks and obtain resources.

Original story: El Economista (by Fernando Tadeo)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Bankia Considers Rapid Sale Of BMN’s Property Portfolio

13 October 2017 – Cinco Días

Bankia is currently considering how it will deal with the exposure to real estate through BMN that it will end up with following the planned integration of the two entities at the beginning of 2018. The bank chaired by José Ignacio Goirigolzarri is considering the rapid sale of BMN’s problem assets to one of the opportunistic funds that typically participate in these types of operations.

Goirigolzarri’s entity has already made contact with several of the intermediaries that typically advise on these types of transaction, according to sources familiar with Bankia’s intentions, to sound out the options available. These intermediaries include large consultancy firms and several investment banks. The bank has reportedly asked all of these companies to share their ideas about how to best handle a potential sale.

Bankia’s initial idea involves carrying out a rapid operation, similar to the deal undertaken by Santander in August, with the sale of the portfolio that it inherited from Popular that it transferred to the fund Blackstone in just six weeks. That agile move was very well received by the market.

Unlike in the case of Popular, BMN’s exposure to property is considerably less. The entity owns around €1,100 million in net foreclosed assets, according to data about the merger of both entities reported by Bankia in June. The entity has a coverage ratio of 28% over its foreclosed assets and 40% in the case of its doubtful debts (somewhat lower than the average for the sector, which stands at around 50%).

Moreover, of the total net foreclosed assets, 64.4% correspond to finished homes and 19.1% relate to land. In terms of the entity’s total loan book, which amounts to €21,900 million, only 2.7% relates to property developer loans.

The merger of Bankia and BMN was approved by the General Shareholders’ Meetings of both entities in September. The authorities are expected to declare their approval of the union in December and the definitive integration is forecast to take place at the beginning of 2018. The operation will be articulated through the handover of 205.6 million newly issued shares in Bankia to the shareholders of BMN, which effectively means assigning a value of €825 million to the latter (0.41 times its book value).

As such, BMN’s shareholders will hold 6.7% of Bankia’s share capital. Following the merger, Bankia will be the fourth largest entity in the country, behind Santander, BBVA and Caixabank (…).

Another of the differences compared to the operation involving Popular is that BMN does not have its own servicer. In the case of the bank acquired by Santander, it repurchased the 51% stake in Aliseda that was held by the funds Värde Partners and Kennedy Wilson, to subsequently include it in the operation that was then sealed with Blackstone.

In 2014, BMN sold its real estate asset management company Inmare to the servicer Aktua (controlled by the Norwegian fund Lindorff), to become strategic partners in the management of those assets.

The most likely scenario is that Bankia will execute the sale of the assets proceeding from BMN as the single transfer of a portfolio, given that it no longer owns a servicer. The entity chaired by Goirigolzarri declined to comment on any possible operation given that the merger has not yet been approved by the authorities (…).

The potential buyers will presumably include the usual suspects, such as Apollo, Oaktree, Bain, Cerberus, Blackstone, Lone Star, Castlelake, Värde Partners, Lindorff, TPG and Goldman Sachs.

Original story: Cinco Días (by Alfonso Simón Ruiz)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Sareb’s Socimi Will Debut On The MAB Before Year End

18 July 2017 – Expansión

The Listed Real Estate Investment Company (Socimi) being driven by Sareb, to enable it to put some of its stock of rental homes onto the market, will be called Témpore Properties. And, the vehicle is expected to make its debut on the stock market before the end of the year, once it has completed all of the procedures required by the Alternative Investment Market (MAB), according to a statement issued by the so-called bad bank.

Sareb has already completed the first steps by constituting the new company and engaging advisors to accompany it throughout the process, such as Renta 4, which will act as a global advisor, and Clifford Chance, which will render legal and tax advice to the project.

Those experts have been joined recently by the real estate consultancy CBRE, which is working on the valuation of the properties that will be incorporated into this new divestment vehicle, and which form part of the portfolio that Sareb has for rent in the autonomous regions of Madrid, Cataluña, Andalucía and the Comunidad Valenciana.

The valuation of each one of the assets must be performed in accordance with the standards established by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), in line with the requirements of institutional investors.

€7 million debt repayment

Sareb has also repaid senior debt amounting to €7.05 million after having proceeded last week to rectify the asset transfer contract signed in 2013 with Banco Mare Nostrum (BMN), an entity that is currently involved in a merger process with Bankia.

The rectification, corresponding to a contract signed with BMN on 25 February 2013, become effective on 11 July 2017, through the early partial repayment of some senior bonds.

Specifically, 69 senior bond titles 2016 and 2017 were repaid, together with €153,596.80 in cash, according to a statement filed by the so-called bad bank with Spain’s National Securities and Markets Commission (CNMV) (…).

Original story: Expansión

Translation: Carmel Drake

BMN Sells €165M NPL Portfolio To Axactor

3 July 2017 – Expansión

Banco Mare Nostrum (BMN) is slimming down its portfolio of non-performing loans ahead of its integration with Bankia, so as to go into the merger in a more healthy position. In this vein, the entity chaired by Carlos Egea has sold a portfolio of non-performing loans with a nominal value of €165 million to the Norwegian debt management firm Axactor.

The portfolio, known as “Rigoletto & Valquiria”, comprises loans granted to individuals and small- and medium-sized companies backed by guarantees.

This operation is the culmination of a busy month (June) during which Axactor has completed three important acquisitions of non-performing portfolios (two from the Santander Group) with a combined nominal value of more than €600 million.

The Norwegian group is focusing its expansion strategy on Spain and does not rule out closing more operations of this kind later in the year.

Andrés López, Country Manager of Axactor in Spain has highlighted that the purchase of this portfolio “completes an excellent month of June and shows the great work being achieved by Axactor’s entire team in Spain”.

David Martín, also Country Manager of the firm in Spain, has highlighted that after weeks of hard work and effort, the goals have been achieved and “the targets have been exceeded”, whilst Endre Ranges, CEO of the company confirms that with this purchase the Axactor group shows the level of its commitment in Spain, a key investment hub within our expansion policy.

Listed on the Oslo stock exchange, Axactor began its pan-European expansion in Spain through the acquisition of ALD Abogados in December 2015 and Geslico in May 2016. Nowadays, the firm manages 925,000 files in Spain and debt amounting to more than €9,000 million. It has almost 500 employees and 9 regional offices around the country.

In the last year, Axactor has acquired portfolios of non-performing loans from several of the country’s financial institutions. In turn, its expansion through Europe’s most important financial markets has resulted in the acquisition of several companies specialising in debt management. In this way, during 2016 and the beginning of 2017, Axactor acquired the following companies: IKAS (Norway), CS Union (Italy), Altor (Germany), Profact (Sweden).

Original story: Expansión

Translation: Carmel Drake

Tomás Olivo Buys Cortefiel Building In Granada For €29M

3 July 2017 – Ideal

Last week, the owner of General de Galerías Comerciales, businessman Tomás Olivo, purchased the property known as the Cortefiel building on the corner of Reyes Católicos and Gran Vía, in Granada, owned until now by BMN. The price of the operation amounted to €29 million for a property that dates back to the beginning of the 20th century, which houses the aforementioned textile firm on the ground floors and offices on the upper levels. According to sources at Galerías Comerciales, the new owner intends to continue the lease contract with Cortefiel and subject the upper four floors to a “new renovation”, but no further details have been provided about the project at this stage.

The Cortefiel building – as it is known popularly – dates back to 1908 and at the time cost 500,000 pesetas. The property development group was formed by bankers Manuel Rodríguez-Acosta and Enrique Santos, architect Francisco González Arévalo and industrialist Juan López Rubio, amongst others, and the original idea was to use the property as a hotel to compete with the Victoria and the Washington Irving. But the Hotel Colón never took off and the building was later split into rental apartments. On the ground and first floors, La Paz warehouses set up shop, owned by the fabric merchant Ramón García Ruiz, who over time, ended up taking ownership of the whole property. (…).

The former Caja General de Ahorros y Monte de Piedad de Granada acquired the building in 1984 for 250 million old pesetas to avoid it being taken over by a foreign entity. That entity then invested another 300 million pesetas on the renovation and on 28 November 1991, the iconic building was unveiled again, to coincide with the savings bank’s centenary celebrations. (…).

Following the merger, the building was transferred to BMN’s estate, and that entity is now selling the property for €29 million – almost 5,000 million old pesetas – and the historical Cortefiel building is passing into the hands of Tomás Olivo, who also owns the Nevada Shopping Centre.

In parallel, Olivo has ruled out the acquisition of Serrallo Plaza, an opportunity that sources had been speculating about for several months. (…).

Original story: Ideal 

Translation: Carmel Drake

S&P: Banks Will Sell Off €35,000M In Toxic Assets In 2017

25 January 2017 – Cinco Días

S&P Global Ratings is convinced that there is going to be a new wave of M&A activity in the Spanish financial sector, as a result of the low return environment, which is putting downwards pressure on banks’ margins, and the rising regulatory costs.

The high volume of non-productive assets on the balance sheets of most entities is also having a negative impact on their accounts, which is pushing them towards mergers, said the Director General of Financial Institutions at S&P, Jesús Martínez, yesterday. The Director considers that these consolidation processes will help smaller entities improve their returns.

The Bank of Spain and most of the major financial institutions in Spain share this idea and are convinced that there will be a second round of mergers over the medium term. These mergers will join the one that Bankia and BMN are likely to complete in July.

In its forecasts for the year ahead, the ratings agency considers that the Spanish financial sector will be supported by the “robust” economic recovery that is happening in Spain at the moment, as well as by the improvements that are being seen in employment and in the real estate sector. It believes that the latter is key for the improvement of banks’ yields. In fact, it thinks that the banks will manage to considerably reduce the property they hold on their balance sheets this year, decreasing the balance from €183,000 million at the end of 2016 to around €148,000 in 2017.

This is the first time that the foreclosed asset balance will fall below its 2010 level (€175,000 million), according to data provided by S&P.

Non-productive assets in the Spanish banking sector peaked at €320,000 million in 2012 if we take into account the foreclosed assets that were transferred to Sareb by the nationalised bank. In 2016, the volume of foreclosed assets decreased by around €37,000 million, according to S&P. Between 2016 and 2017, the total decrease is expected to amount to around €70,000 million.

Nevertheless, the ratings agency warns that the sector will be affected by certain risks resulting from the crisis, such as the high volume of non-productive assets that the entities hold on their balance sheets, or the difficulties involved in increasing returns given the very low interest rates that are putting pressure on margins in the income statement.

Despite that, the agency considers that the banks may continue to offset this decrease in returns and the pressure on margins through the lower provisions that they are having to make, as a result of the reduction in non-productive assets, which is expected to continue over the next few years. S&P forecasts that the risk outlook for the financial sector will decrease, which will cause it to review its ratings. (…).

Original story: Cinco Días (by Ángeles Gonzalo Alconada)

Translation: Carmel Drake