BBVA & Cerberus Name Their Real Estate Macro-Alliance ‘Divarian’

14 June 2018 – La Información

Cerberus and BBVA have put a name to their macro-alliance. The partners have chosen ‘Divarian’ as the name of the corporate entity into which they will deposit and through which they will manage the sale of the €13 billion gross in property proceeding from the bank. The logo mimics the images of the two partners given that it is blue in all its tones and shades.

The brand was registered by Promontoria Marina, the subsidiary of the US fund that will be used to close the transaction, in April in the Official Gazette of Industrial Property (Bopi), and BBVA has just extended it to two of its subsidiaries, renaming the asset holding company BBVA Propiedad as Divarian Propiedad, and the property developer Anida as Divarian Desarrollos Inmobiliarios. In the case of the latter, the change of name comes into force immediately given that instructions have already been given internally for it to be used in all operations signed from now on.

The recent name dance is fueling expectations that these two subsidiaries of BBVA will end up under the umbrella of a macro-holding company or, even, carrying out promotion activity, although that activity was covered by the US fund with the acquisition of the Burgos-based Inmoglacier. Owner of the property developer and servicer – Haya Real Estate – Cerberus will complete the real estate puzzle when it formalises the transaction with the bank because it will also become the owner of the assets.

BBVA, which had always moved against the tide of the financial sector when it came to the sale of businesses and subsidiaries, surprised everyone last year by putting the bulk of its property on the market. Cerberus was the successful buyer of the portfolio, and so it signed a deal to transfer €13 billion of the total €17.8 billion in gross exposure to a company in which the fund will control 80% and the bank will retain the remaining 20%. BBVA is following in the footsteps of Santander, which removed €30 billion gross (€10 billion net) from its balance sheet inherited from Popular, and transferred it to a subsidiary in which Blackstone purchased a 51% stake and Santander retained the remaining 49% (…).

Cerberus has focused on documenting and selecting assets with the intention of generating some plots of land for Inmoglacier, dedicating some assets to rent and, even, packaging up certain other properties likely to offer maximum returns into Socimis, and divesting the rest through portfolios or as independent units. The teams are working against the clock, with the support of staff from Anida who are working from Cerberus’s offices in Madrid, according to sources close to the process (…).

Original story: La Información (by Eva Contreras)

Translation: Carmel Drake