Cerberus is the Favourite to Acquire Solvia for €300M

31 October 2018 – El Economista

The sale of Solvia, the servicer of Banco Sabadell, is heading into the final stretch. According to reports, the US fund Cerberus is lining itself up as the favourite to acquire that company, worth just over €300 million.

According to market sources, binding offers were submitted on Tuesday for Solvia Servicios Inmobiliarios – the firm responsible for marketing the assets – of which those presented by Cerberus, Intrum (the company resulting from the merger between Justitia and Lindorff) and that of another overseas fund stood out. In particular, the offer submitted by Cerberus is the favourite in the process, which is being coordinated by Alantra.

The entity has engaged Rothschild to find a buyer for its property developer.

In any case, according to the same sources, this transaction exclusively contemplates the sale of the management activity, and not the transfer of assets, which opens the door for Sabadell to obtain greater profits, unlike some of its competitors such as BBVA, which did sell its servicer (Anida) together with a portfolio of assets worth €13 billion to Cerberus, applying a discount to those assets. It is worth recalling, nevertheless, that the US fund closed the acquisition of a portfolio of assets (from the Catalan entity) for more than €3 billion in the summer.

This operation comes in a context in which the international investment funds are very interested in Spanish property, which is allowing the owners to sell at higher multiples. That, together with the requirements of the European Central Bank (ECB) to accelerate the sales of financial institutions to the real estate business, has created the ideal breeding ground for Sabadell to decide to sell this asset.

Moreover, this divestment is going to allow the financial institution to reduce the consumption of capital and, whereby, avoid penalties from the ECB. El Economista made contact with Sabadell, but the entity declined to comment on the operation.

It is worth recalling that the entity – in parallel to the sale of its servicer – has engaged Rothschild to find a buyer for its property developer (Solvia Desarrollos Inmobiliarios) and a portfolio of its best plots of land, worth €1 billion, according to Vozpópuli.

Original story: El Economista (by Araceli Muñoz)

Translation: Carmel Drake