Solvia Acknowledges That it Will Have to Generate Value from Solvia “Sooner or Later”

27 July 2018 – La Vanguardia

The CEO of Banco Sabadell, Jaime Guardiola, has acknowledged that “sooner or later”, he will have to generate value from Solvia, highlighting the “great job” that the entity has done and how “proud” he feels of the servicer.

That was according to the bank’s most senior executive at the presentation of Sabadell’s half-year results, where he reported that the entity has recorded a net profit of €120.6 million, down by 67.2% compared to the same period a year earlier, due to the provisions recognised as a result of the reduction in problem assets and the migration costs of the platform of TSB, its British subsidiary.

“Solvia not only serves assets on the bank’s books but also those of other clients such as Sareb. Beyond its financial value, it has a great industrial value, with some great professionals with a very different profile from those in the banking sector”, he specified.

In Guardiola’s opinion, Solvia is one of the bank’s entities that has done “a great job”, and so if at any time this value were to be realised and recognised, then selling the asset could become an option, although currently, it contributes in a positive way to Sabadell’s accounts.

Recently, the entity chaired by Josep Oliu disposed of four portfolios comprising problem assets with a gross value of €12.2 billion, which were awarded to the funds Axactor, Cerberus and Deutsche Bank, together with Carval.

The day on which it announced the sale of the largest batch of assets, worth €9.1 billion, Sabadell reassured the market that Solvia would continue to form a critical part of the bank and would continue to provide integral management services of the real estate assets subject to the operation on an exclusive basis.

Original story: La Vanguardia 

Translation: Carmel Drake

Sabadell Sacrifices Profits to Clean Up its Balance Sheet & Resolve the TSB Crisis

27 July 2018 – Expansión

Banco Sabadell has decided to sacrifice all of the profit that it obtained in the last quarter to clean up its balance sheet and leave behind the impact of the sale of its real estate portfolios and the complex IT integration of TSB.

The entity chaired by Josep Oliu earned €120.6 million during the first half of the year, a figure that represents a decrease of 67.2% with respect to the same period last year (€317.7 million) as a result of having recognised impairments amounting to €806 million. Nevertheless, if we ignore those extraordinary effects, the bank’s recurring net profit grew by 24.4% to €456.8 million.

The entity decided to take a hit on the income statement for the second quarter with a provision amounting to €177 million resulting from the macro sale operation of a real estate portfolio worth €12.2 billion and which was formalised in July, in other words, in the third quarter. In parallel, it decided to recognise a provision amounting to €92.4 million to deal with future compensation payments to customers of its British subsidiary, TSB, who were affected by problems caused by the connection of a new IT platform developed by Sabadell.

With this measure, the bank wants to shelve the technological crisis that it suffered in the United Kingdom and also leave its balance sheet almost completely free of the toxic assets that it accumulated during the economic crisis. Specifically, during the first six months of 2018, Sabadell decreased its problem assets by €7.012 billion, and by €9.547 billion during the last twelve months. Now, the problem balance amounts to €7.911 billion, of which €6.669 billion are doubtful debts of all kind (not only real estate) and €1.242 billion are foreclosed properties. Thus, the ratio of net problem assets over total assets amounts to 1.7%. The default ratio following the portfolio sales amounts to 4.5%.

As at 30 June 2018, the bank’s fully loaded CET1 capital ratio amounted to 11%, although that will rise to 11.2% following the transfer of the majority of the toxic assets, closed in July.

The bank led by Jaime Guardiola has sold the bulk of its non-performing and foreclosed loans to Cerberus, with whom it is going to create a joint venture in which the fund will hold an 80% stake. The entity has also sold portfolios to Deutsche Bank and to Carval Investors. Solvia has not been included in any of those transactions and will continue to be fully owned by Sabadell.

Between January and June, Sabadell increased the volume of its live loan book by 3.7% thanks to a boost from SMEs and mortgages to individuals in Spain. Customer funds increased by 2.8% YoY driven by demand deposit accounts, which amounted to €105.4 billion. Off-balance sheet funds also grew, by 1.2%, during the quarter, primarily due to investment funds.

During the first half of the year, Sabadell’s interest margin remained stable, given that the entity earned practically the same amount as it did in the six months to June 2017 (€1.81 billion). The bank has been affected by exchange differences and a reduction in results from financial operations (-51%); by contrast, fee income grew by 6%. Thus, the gross margin fell by 8.8% to €2.631 billion.

The reaction of investors to these results has been negative. Sabadell’s share price fell by 2.99%, the third largest drop on the Ibex, to €1.37. So far this year, the bank’s share price has depreciated by more than 14%.

Original story: Expansión (by Sergi Saborit)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Sabadell Sells €9.1bn to Cerberus & €2.5bn to Deutsche Bank

19 July 2018 – Voz Pópuli

Banco Sabadell is selling its property to Cerberus and Deutsche Bank. The Catalan entity has agreed with the US fund to transfer 80% of its foreclosed assets, worth €9.1 billion for €3.9 billion. And is finalising the sale of €2.5 billion in real estate loans proceeding from CAM to Deutsche Bank, according to financial sources consulted by Vozpópuli. The entities involved all declined to comment.

The agreement with Cerberus, which this newspaper revealed, includes two of the four large portfolios for sale: “Challenger”, containing assets from the bank – around €5 billion – and “Coliseum”, containing foreclosed assets proceeding from CAM and with public aid from the Deposit Guarantee Fund (FGD).

According to a statement filed with the CNMV, Sabadell values those two portfolios at €9.1 billion and is selling them to a new company for €3.9 billion, equivalent to 42% of the initial appraisal value. Cerberus will own 80% of the new company and Sabadell the remaining 20%, in such a way that the bank will receive around €3.1 billion. The sale requires provisions of €92 million. The Solvia platform was left out of the agreement.

Agreement with Deutsche Bank

Meanwhile, the agreement with Deutsche Bank is for Project Makalu, another of the four portfolios that Sabadell put up for sale. It already sold the first, unsecured, portfolio – Project Galerna – to the fund Axactor.

Of the four portfolios, this is the largest containing loans backed by real estate collateral. And it is protected by the public aid that Sabadell received for the purchase of CAM, at the end of 2011. For that reason, this operation, which may be signed in the next few days, requires the approval of the FGD.

Deutsche Bank has fought off tough competition from Oaktree and Lone Star to acquire this portfolio. The price of the operation could reach between €800 million to €900 million, according to market valuations. The advisor on the sale has been KPMG.

The German bank is one of the typical buyers of these types of portfolio, although until now, it had not purchased anything of this magnitude in Spain. Last year, it closed two operations, one with Sareb amounting to €400 million and the other with CaixaBank amounting to €700 million.

Balance sheet

Following the imminent agreement with Deutsche Bank, the divestment team at Sabadell led by Jaume Oliu and Simon Castellá will have transferred €12.5 billion in problem assets to Cerberus, Deutsche Bank and Axactor.

This latest acquisition by Cerberus is the fourth largest in history in Spain, behind the sale of Popular’s property to Blackstone – €30 billion; the sale of BBVA’s property to Cerberus – €14 billion; and the most recent sale of CaixaBank’s property to Lone Star – €12.8 billion.

Original story: Voz Pópuli (by Jorge Zuloaga)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Alantra Creates Leading European Advisor for Sale of Toxic Asset Portfolios

12 July 2018 – Expansión

Alantra has just signed a document that is going to make it the leading advisor to banks in Europe for the sale of toxic asset portfolios. The deal was signed yesterday in London and involves the purchase of KPMG’s international business specialising in those kinds of bank cleanups. The team comprises more than 35 professionals, mainly seniors, who will move across to form part of Alantra and who will take with them the sales mandates, worth €16 billion, that they are working on at the moment, according to sources at the firm.

After almost a year of negotiations with KPMG, the division is finally going to join forces with the investment banking team led by Santiago Eguidazu (pictured above) to create a new company with more than 75 professionals. The new company will be a subsidiary of Alantra and will be dedicated to advising banks regarding the best exits options for their portfolios of non-performing assets.

To date, Alantra has advised 80 operations in this business across five countries since 2014, for a total nominal value of more than €65 billion. Meanwhile, KPMG’s team has advised on more than 100 transactions worth €180 billion during the same period. The resulting company has averaged 45 transactions per year for the last four years and has advised an operation volume of more than €61 billion. The transaction will involve a cash disbursement for the Spanish firm of €2.83 million.

Banks and funds

The new division will be particularly active in the medium-sized transaction market generated by both banks and funds. The focus will be primarily on Europe, but also other countries around the world where the firm has a presence. In its activity, Alantra will compete above all with PwC, the other major player in the European portfolio business alongside KPMG, and with the US giants Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs for the largest contracts.

KPMG’s international team is headquartered in London, with local offices in Milan, Athens, Dublin and Lisbon. Alantra adds Madrid to that list, from where it has organised its global coverage of the portfolio business to date, which has seen it advise operations not only in Spain but also in Portugal, Italy, Greece and Eastern Europe.

The team at Alantra has been responsible for the sale of portfolios by almost all of the Spanish banks, ranging from Sabadell (with which it is working at the moment) to Santander, and including BBVA, CaixaBank, Bankia, Liberbank, Ibercaja and the domestic subsidiary of Deutsche Bank.

The current Head of Alantra’s Portfolio Business, Joel Grau, will lead the new subsidiary, together with Andrew Jenke and Nick Colman, from KPMG.

Global advice

Between the three of them, they will pursue the objective of replicating on a European scale the model that Alantra has been adopting in Spain, and which is based on providing global advise to banks from three perspectives: corporate operations, real estate (large properties and loans from financial entities, as well as those relating to shopping centres and hotels) and portfolios of toxic assets, according to sources at Alantra.

They will operate from two main centres: Madrid and London, where many of the funds that buy the banks’ portfolios are located and thanks to which the business is expected to soar, by reselling financial assets acquired or securitising them to put them on the market.

Original story: Expansión (by Inés Abril)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Sabadell Receives 7 Offers to Liquidate its Doubtful Debt

28 June 2018 – Expansión

In the end, seven international funds have presented offers to Banco Sabadell to be awarded one or more of the four portfolios that the entity has put on the market this year to liquidate almost all of its problem asset balance. The funds in question are Cerberus, Lone Star, Blackstone, Oaktree, Deutsche Bank, Bain Capital and CPPIB, although not all of them have bid for all of the assets, given that three of the funds are only interested in the foreclosed properties and the four others only want to purchase the non-performing loans (NPLs).

On the advice of KPMG and Alantra, Sabadell has set itself the objective of divesting toxic assets worth €10.8 billion this month, before the summer. That figure is equivalent to 72% of the bank’s total problem assets, which amounted to €14.9 billion at the end of the first quarter. Of that total figure, €7.5 billion are doubtful balances and €7.4 billion are foreclosed.

This volume of non-performing assets, which is weighing down on the entity’s balance sheet, has been packaged into four portfolios called Challenger (€5 billion), Coliseum (€2.5 billion), Makalu (€2.4 billion) and Galerna (€900 million). Just over half, €5.8 billion, are assets inherited from the purchase of CAM, and, as such, they form part of the Asset Protection Scheme (EPA). As a result, the divestment of three of the portfolios (Coliseum, Galerna and Makalu) must first be approved by the Deposit Guarantee Fund (FGD), which is the entity that will cover 80% of the losses generated by those protected portfolios.

Original story: Expansión (by Sergi Saborit)

Translation: Carmel Drake

The Funds Bidding for Sabadell’s RE Have Until 27 June to Submit Their Offers

24 June 2018 – La Vanguardia

The deadline for the finalist funds to submit their bids to be awarded Banco Sabadell’s four portfolios comprising problem assets, whose combined value amounts to almost €11 billion, will close definitively on Wednesday, 27 June, the date on which the entity will have to choose the winners, according to sources close to funds consulted by Europa Press.

The entity chaired by Josep Oliu is looking to divest its Challenger and Coliseum portfolios, which amount to around €7.5 billion and comprise foreclosed assets (REO) and Makalu and Galerna, worth €2.5 billion and €900 million, respectively, comprising non-performing loans (NPLs).

Nevertheless, according to explanations provided by market sources, Sabadell is only going to be able to deconsolidate the largest portfolio from its balance sheet this year, the so-called Challenger portfolio (worth around €5 billion). The others will have to wait as they need to receive the green light from the Deposit Guarantee Fund (FGD) since the properties that constitute them proceed from the former CAM – Caja de Ahorros del Mediterráneo – a process that could take months (…).

The main international funds specialising in distressed debt and assets in risk of default are bidding for these portfolios. They are proposing significant discounts to their nominal values and their recoveries depends on the guarantee or collateral.

The strong investor appetite for Sabadell’s toxic property comes in a context in which political uncertainty is continuing to rage on the Old Continent. Cerberus, Blackstone, Lone Star and Oaktree are some of the finalist funds to be awarded the first two portfolios, whilst Deutsche Bank, Bain Capital, Oaktree and CPPIB are going to compete for the assets in the other two, according to sources at the funds and banks, speaking to ‘El Confidencial’ and ‘Vozpópuli’.

Significant reduction in real estate exposure

With the deconsolidation of its largest portfolio alone, Sabadell’s real estate exposure would fall below the €10 billion threshold, whilst the sale of all four portfolios would reduce its balance to around €4 billion, according to the accounts published by the bank for the first quarter of 2018. Thus, once the transactions have been completed, Sabadell’s accounts will have a much healthier balance sheet.

As at 31 March 2018, the entity had €14.9 billion in problem assets, which represented a decrease of 17.6% compared to the end of the same period a year earlier, when the figure amounted to €18.1 billion. The coverage ratio of the problem assets amounted to 55.2%, after applying IFRS 9, with a doubtful coverage ratio of 56.6% and a foreclosed asset coverage ratio of 53.7%. Similarly, the ratio of net problem assets over total assets stood at 3.1% (…).

A source of liquidity for the banks

In this way, Banco Sabadell is following in the footsteps of other entities such as Santander, BBVA and CaixaBank in the reduction of its heavy backpack of toxic assets, which the financial crisis left on their balance sheets (…).

Original story: La Vanguardia 

Translation: Carmel Drake

Sabadell Set to Sell €10bn of Toxic RE in June After Receiving Deluge of Binding Offers

25 May 2018 – El Confidencial

Banco Sabadell has entered the home stretch of its mission to sell all of its toxic property, a rapid process that is expected to be completed in June. The entity has received a deluge of binding offers for the four portfolios that it currently has up for sale – Coliseum, Challenger, Makalu and Galerna – which have a combined gross value of more than €10 billion.

The first two portfolios contain foreclosed assets (REOs) and include Cerberus, Blackstone, Lone Star and Oaktree as potential buyers (in the final round); meanwhile, the other two portfolios comprise secured loans with real estate collateral (NPLs) and their potential buyers include Deutsche Bank, Lone Star, Bain Capital and Oaktree, according to confirmation from several market sources.

These proposals are now with the Steering Committee, which means that, once that body has given its verdict, the process will be passed to the Board of Directors, chaired by Josep Oliu (pictured above, right), which is the body that has to ratify the name of the winner.

In theory, this ruling is going to be issued within a matter of weeks, in June and, in any case, before August. Sources at the entity have declined to comment on either the finalists or the calendar.

Portfolios and the FGD

Having chosen the names of the winners, Sabadell will be able to close the sale of Challenger, the largest of all of these portfolios, with a gross volume of almost €5 billion; it is the only one that does not need approval from the Deposit Guarantee Fund (FGD), given that all of the assets contained therein come from the Catalan entity itself.

By contrast, the €2.5 billion in properties that comprise Coliseum come from the former entity CAM – Caja de Ahorros del Mediterráneo – and, therefore, need to be approved by the FGD, since it would have to cover 80% of the losses. The same applies to Makalu (€2.5 billion in loans) and Galerna (€900 million).

The need to receive this approval means that it is likely that the entity will have to wait until next year to deconsolidate all of these toxic assets, although it will be able to sign a sales agreement conditional upon that authorisation, like BBVA did in the case of the sale agreed with Cerberus last year to transfer all of its property, some of which is also subject to the FGD’s approval.

By contrast, this year, Sabadell could remove almost €5 billion in the form of Challenger from its perimeter, a step forward in terms of fulfilling the requirements of the European Central Bank (ECB), which is putting pressure on Spanish entities to remove the impact of a decade of real estate crisis from their balances sheets.

Solvia is being left out of the sale

At the end of the first quarter, the entity held €14.9 billion in problem assets, down by 17.6% compared to a year earlier, with an average coverage ratio of 55.2% (56.6% for doubtful debt and 53.7% for foreclosed assets), a percentage that serves as a reference for the funds when calculating their offer prices.

With the sale of all of these portfolios, the entity would reduce its real estate exposure to less than €5 billion.  Since the beginning of the crisis, that exposure has been managed by Sabadell’s own servicer: Solvia.

Some of the finalist funds had asked the entity to include Solvia in the transaction, according to Voz Pópuli, but in the end, that possibility has been ruled out by the bank, as it considers that the valuation of its asset manager is higher than the price that would be offered by funds.

In addition, as El Confidencial revealed, the servicer has created its own property developer, Solvia Desarrollos Inmobiliarios, which has €1,252 million in managed assets and which is also finalising an agreement with Oaktree to create a joint venture promoter.

Original story: El Confidencial (by Ruth Ugalde)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Sonae Considers Listing its Retail & RE Service Divisiones

22 May 2018 – Eje Prime

Sonae is considering launching its retail business on the stock market. The Portuguese company has engaged the banks Barclays, BNP Paribas and Deutsche Bank to explore the leap onto the stock market of its divisions Sonae MC, which is dedicated to food retail, and Sonae RP, the arm dedicated to the group’s real estate services. The fashion and sports division, owners of brands such as Zippy, Losan and Salsa, amongst others, would be left out of the operation.

The group explains in a statement that it is evaluating the potential entry onto the stock market of some of its retail business portfolio, in which it would retain a majority stake. The purpose of this move is to create value for shareholders and ensure stability in the growth of its business.

Sonae carved out its fashion and sports business from the rest of the group in 2016, after purchasing Salsa and Losan. That division, which is called Sports&Fashion, includes the fashion and sports equipment chain Sport Zone; the children’s clothing chain Zippy; the ladies’ fashion label Mo; the outdoor chain Berg; the Spanish chain Losan (…) and the Portuguese firm Salsa, which specialises in denim.

As a whole, the Sonae group closed 2017 with turnover of €5.6 billion, up by 6.9% compared to the previous year. The Sports&Fashion division of the Portuguese retailer saw its revenues rise by 11.7% in 2017 to €589 million, nevertheless, Sonae MC continues to generate the bulk of the business, with sales of €3.9 billion in 2017.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake

Santander Values its Stake in the JV with Blackstone at €1.566bn

16 May 2018 – Expansión

Santander has recorded on its balance sheet its 49% stake in the company that it has created with Blackstone for a value of €1,566 million. The stake has been recognised in the portfolio of investments in joint ventures and associated companies. The bank and the US fund, which controls the remaining 51% of the JV’s share capital, constituted the company on 22 March. The alliance, a conglomerate of companies grouped together under the parent company, Project Quasar Investments 2017, brings together the former real estate portfolio of Popular. It contains gross assets worth €30 billion, which have been appraised at €10 billion net under the framework of the transaction.

Meanwhile, the two partners have now agreed on the configuration of the Board of Directors for the joint venture. The governance body will comprise seven members. In line with the distribution of the share capital and its control of the management of the assets, Blackstone will have a majority of four positions on the Board, including that of Chairman.

Santander will be represented by three directors. One of them is Javier García Carranza, the executive to whom the entity chaired by Ana Botín has entrusted the process to clean up Popular’s balance sheet. García Carranza is the Deputy CEO of Grupo Santander and a member of Popular’s Administration Board, a transition body that will disappear once the legal merger of the two banks has been completed. García Carranza also represents Santander on the boards of Sareb, Metrovacesa and the real estate manager Altamira, amongst other companies.

The other directors linked to Santander that will sit on the Board of the joint venture are Carlos Manzano and Jaime Rodríguez-Andrade, specialists in real estate investments and asset recoveries, respectively.

Meanwhile, Diego San José, Head of Blackstone’s Real Estate division in Spain is going to be the Chairman of the company. Eduard Mendiluce, Jean Francois Bossy and Jean Christophe Dubois are the other directors who have been appointed by the fund.

In order to launch the company, Santander and Blackstone have subscribed a syndicated loan amounting to €7,332 million. Several banks have participated in the loan, which is led by Morgan Stanley and Deutsche Bank, including Bank of America Merrill Lynch, JP Morgan and RBS, as well as Blackstone itself, which has contributed €1 billion. The financing has been signed over a 5-year term and matures in 2023.

The sale of Popular’s real estate portfolio and the deconsolidation of the assets have resulted in a 10 point improvement in Santander’s core capital ratio. Its solvency now stands at 11%, the target for 2018.

Original story: Expansión (by M. Martínez)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Intu’s New Strategy in Spain: to Change the Names of its Shopping Centres

16 May 2018 – Eje Prime

Intu is betting on branding to raise the profile of its name in Spain. The company, which has a vast presence in the United Kingdom, where it owns almost twenty shopping centres, is going to replicate its British strategy in Spain, by adding the word Intu to the name of its retail complexes. This week, the company announced that its shopping centre in Zaragoza, which has been called Puerto Venecia to date, is now going to be named Intu Puerto Venecia.

It was in 2014 when Intu reached an agreement with the fund Orion European Real Estate to acquire the Puerto Venecia complex, the largest shopping centre in Spain, for €451 million. The complex contains a retail park spanning 82,600 m2, which was inaugurated in 2008 and a leisure and fashion area measuring 130,000 m2, which opened in October 2012 (…).

Since the purchase by Intu, the British group has carried out a series of changes to the appearance and management of the shopping centre. But it has not been until now that the group has decided to complete the process by adding the word Intu to the name of the complex, whereby following in the footsteps of Intu Asturias.

Now, the next step will be for Intu to apply the same strategy to the Xanadú shopping centre. The British group completed the purchase of that shopping centre, located in Arroyomolinos (Madrid), from Ivanhoé Cambridge for more than €520 million in March last year. That acquisition was the largest operation since Deutsche Bank paid €495 million for Diagonal Mar.

In May of the same year, Intu created a joint venture with TH Real Estate to share the ownership of the Madrilenian shopping centre, transferring 50% of the complex to TH Real Estate for €264.4 million, half of the amount that it had paid for Xanadú.

That shopping centre, constructed in 2003, has a total surface area of 153,695 m2 spread over two storeys and with a total of 220 stores, making it one of the largest retail complexes in Madrid. Its tenants include Inditex, El Corte Inglés, Hipercor, Bricor, Decathlon, Primark and Apple. Xanadú Madrid receives almost 13 million visitors per year and generates sales of around €230 million.

Shopping centres on the rise in Spain

Intu’s commitment to Spain comes at a good time for this retail format in the country. Sales registered at these complexes rose by 3.5% in 2017, to exceed €43.5 billion.

Specifically, revenues in the sector amounted to €43.59 billion in 2017. The market share of shopping centres and retail parks rose to reach 17.9%. Last year, around 1,900 million visits were registered at these complexes.

Meanwhile, investment in the sector soared by 35% in 2017, to €2.7 billion. During the course of last year, 29 transactions were closed involving 36 assets, according to data from the Spanish Association of Shopping Centres and Retail Parks (AECC).

Original story: Eje Prime (by C. Pareja)

Translation: Carmel Drake