Apollo’s Sale of Altamira Enters the Home Stretch with DoBank & Intrum as Favourites

17 December 2018 – La Información

The market for servicers is still in a spin and, following the sale of the majority of Solvia last week, now it is Altamira’s turn. According to assurances provided to La Información by sources close to the process, the US fund Apollo is facing the home stretch of the operation, which is expected to close within the next few days. Of the offers received by the US entity, those submitted by the Italian entity DoBank and the Swedish firm Intrum, have managed to make it through to the final found.

In fact, according to the same sources, it is DoBank, the former UniCredit Management Bank, that has the upper hand, in a transaction that is being led by Goldman Sachs. Currently, the entity is the largest owner of doubtful loans in Italy, and so its experience with this type of company is more than clear. Moreover, the most recent major operation that it carried out was in Greece, with the acquisition of a portfolio of non-performing loans in the Hellenic country worth €2 billion.

In total, the Italian firm currently manages more than €77 billion in loans and has agreements with most entities in its home country. For that, it employs a workforce of almost 1,200 and works with 1,600 external collaborators.

Apollo engaged Goldman Sachs last summer to carry out the sale of its servicer but after months of offers – including from Haya and Cerberus – it has decided to select the aforementioned two entities for the final round. The US fund has decided to take advantage of the good times in the market to divest and obtain profits after four years at the helm of Altamira (…).

Apollo acquired the servicer in January 2014 after paying €664 million in exchange for the 85% stake that it currently owns. Its primary function is based on the recovery management of loans from banks and the management and sale of properties proceeding from that activity. In 2017, the last year for which data is available in the Mercantile Registry, Altamira had more than 500 employees and generated an annual turnover of more than €300 million.

This servicer has become one of the major managers of financial and real estate assets in the country, with more than €53.8 billion in assets and more than 82,000 properties. Its main clients include its shareholder Banco Santander, and Sareb (…).

Intrum has already purchased 80% of Solvia

In the event that the tables turn and it is Intrum that ends up acquiring Altamira, it would be the second operation by the Swedish firm in one week. On Friday, Sabadell announced the sale of 80% of Solvia Servicios Inmobiliarios to Intrum for €300 million, whereby converting the fund into one of the new property giants (…).

The sale of Altamira by Apollo would serve to further close the door to Spain for the Americans. Since the sale of Evo Banco in September – the fund’s other major project in the country – to Bankinter, speculation has been rife regarding Apollo’s withdrawal from the Spanish market (…).

Original story: La Información (by Lucía Gómez)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Cerberus, Intrum & DoBank Bid to Acquire Altamira

15 November 2018 – El Confidencial

There is still an appetite for the servicers’ business. The sale of the 85% stake that Apollo owns in Altamira is making its first cut of candidates, with some of the most high profile investors in the segment amongst the finalists. According to financial sources, the fund Cerberus (Haya Real Estate), the Swedish firm Intrum (Nordic Capital) and the Italian firm DoBank (Fortress) are the candidates that have progressed in the process, which is being coordinated by Goldman Sachs, and which was relaunched after the summer following months on the table.

Other players in the sector interested in Spain are also in the process, both at the domestic and European level. One of those new candidates is the US firm Davidson Kempner, which has a portfolio of USD 30 billion under management and with interests in the transformation of toxic assets in the United Kingdom and Ireland, according to sources involved in the operation.

Apollo is willing to take advantage of the hunger for this type of vehicle to make gains, although it does so after four years at the helm of the servicer and having not been awarded any of the large real estate portfolios that the banks have sold (Santander to Blackstone, BBVA to Cerberus, CaixaBank to Lone Star and the Sabadell-Solvia process, in whose final stretch it is not participating). In fact, this divestment comes after Apollo’s manager for the last few years – Andrés Rubio – left the fund.

The price of the management platform could reach €1.5 billion (debt included), a business for which Apollo paid €664 million in January 2014 in exchange for an 85% stake (the remaining 15% is still owned by Banco Santander). The agreement comprised the management of toxic assets (recovery of loans and sale of properties) until 2028, although the transformation of that perimeter has led to a change in the management conditions (commissions) and to the repayment of a €200 million dividend.

Altamira has assets under management amounting to more than €50 billion, compared with €26 billion in 2014, and a portfolio comprising more than 82,000 properties at the end of 2017, making it the largest servicer in operation in Spain. In addition to its contract with Santander, it also manages assets for Sareb (which account for 30% of its portfolio) and for third parties – international investors, financial institutions, family offices and institutional clients – as a result of the international expansion plan launched in 2017.

Original story: El Confidencial (by Carlos Hernanz)

Translation: Carmel Drake

CPPIB, doBank & Haya Compete for Altamira

14 November 2018 – Cinco Días

The sector of real estate servicers for assets proceeding from the banks is in flux. The latest process in the market to catch the attention of major funds and operators in the sector involves Altamira, the firm controlled by the manager Apollo, which owns 85% of the company, and Santander (15%). The first entity to make a major bid has been its competitor Haya Real Estate (owned by Cerberus), as published by Cinco Días on 8 November. That offer has now been joined by one from CPPIB, the Canadian Pensions Fund and one of the largest investors in the world.

Another player interested in Altamira Asset Management, according to financial sources, is the Italian firm doBank, formerly UniCredit Credit Management. That listed entity is controlled by Fortress. It is the largest doubtful loan manager in the transalpine country. Meanwhile, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) is a fund that manages the pensions of 20 million Canadian people, with assets worth €245.7 billion.

Altamira was created by Santander as a servicer for its toxic assets linked to property. In 2013, the bank sold 85% of the entity to the US fund for just under €700 million. Five years later, the manager from New York, which has not managed to star in any of the major bank portfolio purchases, has decided to exit the company. The amount of the operation, a sales process that has been entrusted to Goldman Sachs, is expected to exceed €600 million.

Altamira has become one of the large managers of financial and real estate assets in Spain, with a total volume of assets under management of €53.8 billion compared with €26 billion at the end of 2014, and with more than 82,000 properties, on behalf of around fifteen clients.

In recent months, there has been significant movement in the shareholders of these servicers, in large part linked to the sale of the bank portfolios. If Cerberus, through Haya, manages to acquire Altamira, it will be the third entity that the US fund controls, after Haya and Divarian (formerly Anida, linked to BBVA). The idea of the fund is to integrate it with Haya to relaunch that firm’s debut on the stock market, as reported by this newspaper. Blackstone, in turn, controls Aliseda (previously owned by Popular) and Anticipa. Lone Star acquired Servihabitat (formerly owned by La Caixa) this summer, and Sabadell has also put Solvia up for sale, another servicer that also interests Cerberus.

Original story: Cinco Días (by Alfonso Simón Ruiz & Pablo Martín Simón)

Translation: Carmel Drake