Apollo Returns to Spain with the Purchase of Properties from Santander for €200M

13 February 2019 – Expansión

The US fund, which barely has any financial assets left in Spain, is acquiring offices in secondary areas of Madrid and Barcelona.

In recent years, Apollo has dedicated itself almost exclusively to the sale of assets in Spain, which caused experts to speculate that it might be leaving the country. But the fund led in Spain by Carlos Colomer and Pablo Crespo is still present and is very much backing Spanish assets once again.

According to reports from financial sources speaking to Expansión, Apollo reached an agreement with Santander in December (…) to purchase a portfolio of so-called tertiary assets (commercial properties) worth €200 million. The transaction, according to the same sources, will be definitively closed at the end of February.

A large part of these assets are offices located in secondary areas of Madrid and Barcelona. “Half of the value of the portfolio acquired corresponds to large office buildings located in secondary locations. All of the assets are in Madrid, except for one building that is in Barcelona”, they said.

Apollo is acquiring this portfolio because it considers that rental prices in secondary markets have not recovered yet. The sources consulted believe that “the rental prices of core (higher quality) buildings are recovering, but, as prices in the city centres rise, so tenants will consider moving to more secondary locations”.

The fund’s plan goes beyond this purchase. In fact, it wants to acquire new assets to incorporate into a new vehicle to generate value from them, through capex investment, with the aim of selling them a posteriori.

The rest of the portfolio

The rest of the portfolio that Apollo has purchased from Santander comprises a mix of more heterogeneous properties, some with an industrial component, other smaller offices and other premises that they intend to sell to retail investors.

This purchase is the first that Apollo has undertaken with its latest fund called European Principal Finance III, which it raised in December 2017 with USD 4.6 billion (almost €4.1 billion). It is also the first investment that it has made since the departure of its main executive in Spain, Andrés Rubio (…).

Apollo, led by Andrés Rubio, the executive who left the firm in September last year, arrived in Spain in 2011 to take advantage of the opportunities that were emerging as a result of the financial crisis. Since then, the fund has made purchases in Spain amounting to more than €1 billion (plus debt), such as the acquisition of 85% of Altamira, Evo Banco, the credit cards of Bank of America, the mortgage business of Citi and General Electric, and the hotels that had been awarded to CaixaBank and Popular (…).

Original story: Expansión (by Daniel Badía)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Apollo Sells Altamira to DoBank (Fortress) for c. €500M

31 December 2018 – Expansión

Apollo has sold its 85% stake in Altamira Asset Management to doBank, a firm constituted by the US fund Fortress. Market sources state that the operation amounted to around €500 million.

Expansión revealed in October that Apollo had engaged Goldman Sachs to sell the servicer that manages the real estate assets of Santander and Sareb for around €600 million.

Altamira has assets under management amounting to approximately €55 billion and operates in Spain, Portugal, Cyprus and Greece. The company’s estimates indicate that it will obtain revenues of around €255 million in 2018 and an operating profit before amortisation (EBITDA) of €95 million.

Altamira’s main value stems from the long-term contract that it holds with Santander, as well as the management of Sareb’s assets (the latter account for almost 30% of the total value of its assets under management).

At the moment, Sareb is analysing whether or not to renew its contracts with all of the servicers with which it works, but Altamira has been diversifying its client base for months, incorporating domestic and international players alike.

Apollo in Spain

During the last quarter of 2018, Apollo Global Management has exited two of the major investments that it has made in Spain over the last four and a half years: Evo Banco and Altamira.

Despite that, Fred Khedouri, a senior partner at Apollo, President of the Investment Committee of the European Principal Finance Fund and President of the Board of Altamira, has already told Expansión that the European Principal Finance Fund III is “going to invest in Spain”, with almost USD 5 billion at its disposal.

Original story: Expansión (by D. B.)

Translation: Carmel Drake

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

Apollo Negotiates Purchase of 14 Offices in Madrid from Merlin

23 October 2018 – Expansión

Apollo is maintaining its interest in the Spanish real estate sector and is considering increasing its footprint in the capital with the purchase of an office portfolio from Merlin. Specifically, the US investment fund is analysing the acquisition of a portfolio comprising 14 office buildings and business complexes located, for the most part, in secondary business areas of Madrid, according to market sources speaking to Expansión.

When consulted on the matter, both Merlin and Apollo declined to comment about the operation.

The offices, which together span a gross leasable area of 126,900 m2, were worth more than €300 million at the end of June 2018. The buildings are located in well-known business districts of Madrid, such as Sanchinarro, Manoteras, Arturo Soria and Avenida de la Ilustración, amongst others. Merlin inherited most of the assets following the integration of Metrovacesa’s real estate business, after the merger of the two groups in 2016.

The assets that Apollo is considering buying include the office building located at number 94 Calle Santiago de Compostela, next to Avenida de la Ilustración, which has a surface area of 13,130 m2; the Euronova business park in Tres Cantos, which has a surface area of 32,663 m2; a property located on Travesía de Costa Brava, in Mirasierra, measuring more than 16,000 m2 and leased to El Corte Inglés; and an office complex comprising two buildings on Calle Francisca Delgado, in Alcobendas, with a combined surface area of 10,896 m2.

Interest

If this operation goes ahead, Apollo, which has put Altamira up for sale, would be committed to Spain again. The investment fund, which made its debut in the country through the European Principal Finance Fund II – the vehicle that acquired 85% of Altamira at the beginning of 2014 and Evo Banco soon after – recently launched the third version of that European fund.

Specifically, as Expansión revealed on 8 October, Apollo has launched the European Principal Finance Fund III, containing almost $5 billion (€4.35 billion based on the current exchange rate). Some of that amount will be allocated to Spain (…).

Original story: Expansión (by R. Arroyo & D. Badía)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Santander Invites NBOs For Popular’s Assets & Aliseda By End Of July

6 July 2017 – Voz Pópuli

It could be the largest real estate operation of the last few decades in Spain. Santander has revolutionised the world of the major investments funds with the express sale of all of Banco Popular‘s property, after engaging Morgan Stanley to coordinate the sale.

The bank chaired by Ana Botín may sell all of Popular’s real estate assets and loans, worth €30,000 million, in one go. The process is going faster than investors expected. Santander and its advisor have given the funds it has invited to participate until the end of the month to submit their non-binding offers (NBOs). And the prices being floated amount to around €5,000 million, according to financial sources consulted.

Blackstone, Apollo and Lone Star are already working on the process and Cerberus may join them shortly. They are the largest opportunistic funds present in Spain, with the most financial muscle to be able to handle an operation of this kind. That is why they have been chosen. However, the doors to new investors have not been closed.

The idea is that the buyer will acquire a 51% (or higher) stake in a joint company together with Santander and that that company will hold Popular’s €30,000 million assets. These assets are provisioned at 69%, and so they have a net value of almost €9,250 million. We calculate therefore that to acquire 51% of these assets and loans, plus take over Aliseda (which Santander repurchased last week), the buyer will have to pay around €5,000 million.

The key, after the summer

In addition to the bids for the 51% stake, experts are not ruling out the possibility that one of the funds will go off piste and put a proposal on the table for a smaller package of assets. Santander is open to all ideas at this stage. The group plans to first listen to the proposals, analyse them over the summer and then negotiate the small print between September and December.

This is the operation that the large opportunistic funds have been waiting for since 2011. Those investors arrived in Spain during the worst period of the crisis with the purchase of small loan portfolios and real estate platforms, with their sights set on the hope that large opportunities would arise some day, such as in this case with Popular.

In fact, they have been complaining for a couple of years that the portfolios coming onto the market are too small (ranging between €500 million and €1,000 million) for their appetite, given that other types of competitors have emerged that have caused prices to soar and have left them without any assets.

It is also worth considering that the funds that are participating in this process raised capital at the end of last year to invest in Southern Europe. Specifically, €15,000 million. As such, they have liquidity to handle operations such as Popular’s.

The three funds and Cerberus starred in major acquisitions in Spain during the crisis. Blackstone acquired Catalunya Banc’s macro-portfolio of doubtful mortgages amounting to €6,400 million. Apollo purchased Altamira, several portfolios and Evo Banco. And Lone Star secured Project Octopus (€4,500 million in large real estate loans), purchased Neinor and listed it on the stock market, and has recently agreed to acquire Novo Banco in Portugal.

Original story: Voz Pópuli (by Jorge Zuloaga)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Santander & Apollo Call Off Altamira Negotiations

30 December 2016 – Vozpópuli

Santander’s repurchase of Altamira has run into trouble.

After months of to-ing and fro-ing, Banco Santander and Apollo have decided to call off their negotiations regarding the possible sale of the 85% stake that the US fund owns in the real estate company. And the reason is price, given that Ana Botín is not willing to meet the expectations of the asset manager chaired by Leon Black. Apollo will not drop its asking price below €1,000 million, whilst Santander’s informal offer amounts to around €800 million, according to several financial sources.

Unless there is a last minute change of heart, all indications are that Altamira’s share capital structure will continue as it is now: with 85% in the hands of Apollo and 15% controlled by Santander. The Spanish bank sold the controlling stake in the real estate company in 2013 for €664 million.

Santander’s intention was to repurchase its stake to create a world-leading property management firm, to administrate its assets in other countries where the default rate is rising, such as in Brazil. Santander engaged Citi to complete this operation. The possible repurchase has been on the table since Ana Botín (pictured above) took over as President of the bank, given that this sale was one of the things that she liked the least from her father’s inheritance.

Botín sees it as a much more expensive way of raising capital than would have been possible to obtain by other means. But unless she can afford a price that will allow Apollo to close this deal at a profit, it is unlikely to go ahead. This change in strategy comes at a time when Apollo is raising a new fund, amounting to more than €4,000 million, to invest in the south of Europe. Given that it has new ammunition to spend from now on, it will value a platform such as Altamira very highly

New strategy

Following this turnaround in negotiations, Apollo has decided to strengthen the future of Altamira be making acquisitions. Santander’s property management firm is well placed in two current acquisition processes: firstly for Unicaja’s real estate arm, GIA, where it is competing with Haya Real Estate; and secondly, for the first bad bank created by the Portuguese State, Oitante, which manages Banif’s problem assets – other players such as Servihabitat (owned by TPG and CaixaBank), Hipoges and Värde Partners (Banco Popular’s real estate shareholder) are also bidding in that tender.

If the latter operation bears fruit, it would be Altamira’s first international venture, and the ideal way for Apollo to generate value from this investment, and obtain more from its sale when it eventually decides to exit.

The fund chaired by Black (one of the 150 wealthiest people in the USA and owner of the painting The Scream) is putting all of its meat back on the grill in Spain after a couple of less active years. In 2013, it closed its largest two acquisitions in the country: Altamira and Evo Banco. Since then, its activity has been limited to the purchase of a small portfolio of homes from BMN and GE Capital’s mortgage portfolio in Spain. Moreover, Altamira was awarded one of the four management contracts by Sareb.

In recent months, Apollo has purchased one of the largest banking portfolios on the market, Project Sun from CaixaBank, containing hotel debt, and it is expected to soon close the acquisition of one of the aforementioned real estate platforms (Oitante or Unicaja).

Original story: Vozpópuli (by Jorge Zuloaga)

Translation: Carmel Drake

CaixaBank Sells €700M In Debt & Foreclosed Hotels To Apollo

29 December 2016 – El Confidencial

CaixaBank is going to close 2016 with a healthier balance sheet, thanks to the latest divestment operation that it is about to sign. According to financial sources, the banking institution led by Gonzalo Gortázar (pictured above), has reached an agreement with Apollo Global Management to sell €700 million in foreclosed assets linked to the hotel sector. The US fund is hereby going to acquire 20 four- and five-star holiday establishments that the bank has been holding in its portfolio following non-payments by customers.

The transaction, which has been dubbed Project Sun, is just awaiting the finishing touches from CaixaBank and Apollo, the opportunistic fund that purchased 84% of Banco Santander’s real estate company – Altamira – for €664 million and all of Evo Banco, which previously belonged to the former Novacaixagalicia for €80 million, amongst other things. Nevertheless, the agreement between the bank headquartered in Barcelona and the NYC-based firm is limited to two thirds of the portfolio that was initially put up for sale.

The Spanish financial institution, which has been advised by Alantra, had valued Project Sun at around €1,000 million, on the basis that it contained, on the one hand, unpaid loads secured by 112 hotels; and, on the other hand, 32 establishments that the bank had foreclosed due to non-payment. According to the internal documentation from the sales notebook, in total, 11,000 rooms were put up for sale, the largest hotel portfolio of the year. But at the last minute, the entity has decided to get rid of debt amounting to only around €350 million and 20 hotels worth a similar figure, which means that 12 properties have been left out of the agreement with Apollo Global Management.

The reason is that the offers that it received for these other holiday establishments were well below their respective book values, and so they have chosen to not sell them now so as to sell them for a bad price. Most of the hotels and loans are located in Andalucía (37), Cataluña (22) and the Canary Islands (19). Besides Apollo, which has been advised by Arcano and by Gustavo Gabardo, former Director General of NH Hoteles, CaixaBank had also received interest for this portfolio from other so-called vulture funds, such as Starwood, Cerberus, Oaktree and Bank of America, which had already acquired assets from Bankia, Santander, Sareb and Sabadell.

With this transaction, CaixaBank is going to close the year with €2,400 million less in terms of overdue debt, having already completed the sale of other non-performing loan portfolios. On 30 November, it got rid of the portfolio known as “Far”, which it sold for €700 million to Lindorff and D. E. Shaw. In July, it did the same with another package of unpaid credits for €900 million (Project Carlit), which it sold to Goldman Sachs and D. E. Shaw. (…).

This is the eleventh operation of its kind that CaixaBank has completed since it started to try to remove toxic loans from its balance sheet. (…). Over the last two years, it has managed to get rid of non-performing loans amounting to almost €6,000 million, a strategy that has allowed it to reduce its default rate from almost 12% at the height of the financial crisis to just 8.7%.

Original story: El Confidencial (by Agustín Marco)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Bankia & Apollo Go To Court Re Sale Of Finanmadrid

3 October 2016 – Expansión

Both entities are waiting for the discrepancies that arose from the sale of Finanmadrid to be resolved. The sale was completed in 2013 for €1.6 million

Fracciona Financiera Holding, the subsidiary of Apollo, filed the first lawsuit, in which it claimed €8.5 million from Bankia due to discrepancies in the sale and purchase contract based on the determination of the sales price for Finanmadrid.

The contract included clauses that have an impact on the basis of the evolution of various parameters. These conditions have been common in multiple sales operations closed in the financial sector since the outbreak of the crisis. The asset protection schemes (EPA), which cover the buyers of former savings banks, are the most visible example of these types of operations.

Bankia has responded to the lawsuit filed by Apollo, with its own claim for €6.4 million.

Finanmadrid, which used to specialise in offering consumer credit through retailers and car dealerships, has now been integrated into Avant Tarjetas, a subsidiary of Evo Banco, controlled by Apollo. Previously, it was integrated into Fracciona Financiera Holding. In the company’s accounts from last year, the audit report explains that “in the opinion of the company’s legal advisors, an unfavourable outcome from the lawsuit (with Bankia) is remote, nevertheless, the shareholder (Apollo) would financially support any contingency that may arise in the event that no provision has been recognised”.

Before the integration, Finanmadrid reduced its share capital by €2.24 million to absorb losses and so it was left at €2.79 million.

Apollo’s claim against Bankia forms part of a broad range of claims against the entity chaired by José Ignacio Goirigolzarri. In total, the bank faces claims amounting to €390 million, not including the claims relating to its debut on the stock market and the sale of its preference shares.

Claims

The largest claim, amounting to €165 million, is one presented by ING Belgium, BBVA, Santander and Catalunya Banc against Bankia, ACS and Sacyr. (…).

The construction group Rayet also claims €78.2 million from Bankia for what it considers are accounting irregularities and for differences in the valuation of plots of land linked to the debut of Astroc on the stock market in 2006, an operation piloted by the former Caja Madrid.

The bank has 305 legal proceedings open relating to derivatives with claims amounting to €38.8 million.

Original story: Expansión (by E. del Pozo)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Banks & Funds Bid For Citi’s Real Estate Legacy

31 May 2016 – Expansión

Citi’s real estate legacy in Spain is up for auction. Two US funds, Ares Management and York Capital, have put real estate loans and foreclosed assets amounting to €180 million up for sale, and banks and opportunistic investors are bidding to acquire the portfolio.

Around half of the portfolio comprises mortgages, of which the majority are up to date (in terms of their repayments), whilst the rest are homes and other assets that the funds have acquired as a result of non-payment (by borrowers).

Ares Management and York Capital purchased these assets from Citi in Spain at the beginning of the crisis, as they took advantage of the fact that the US entity was withdrawing from certain activities. That was further reflected last year with the sale of its credit card and retail banking business to Banco Popular.

Resale of assets

The strategy to resell assets is common amongst the opportunistic funds, either because they have already obtained the expected returns or because they believe that they can obtain a higher price by selling the portfolio at a particular time.

For example, that is exactly what Fortress did recently, with the sale of Geslico, the former recoveries platform of the savings banks, to the Norwegian group Axactor. The same fund has been selling off other assets in Spain, just like other funds that arrived in Spain and purchased assets between 2011 and 2012.

The operation is being advised by N+1, under the name Project Firefox, and the first offers are expected to be received within the next few days, according to sources at the funds.

In addition to this portfolio, last year, Citi sold another portfolio to Evo Banco from the fund Apollo, containing €370 million of mortgages and 200 properties.

In parallel, the US bank sold its retail banking and credit card business to Popular for €240 million. The Spanish entity acquired a portfolio of 1.2 million clients, around €2,300 million assets under management, €2,000 million in deposits, a network of 45 bank branches and a workforce comprising 950 employees. Moreover, it acquired 1.1 million credit cards, which have a total outstanding loan balance of €1,400 million.

Project Firefox will have to compete with the avalanche of real estate asset portfolios that the Spanish banks have put on the market in the last month, with Bankia, CaixaBank, Sabadell, BBVA, Santander, Cajamar and Abanca, amongst others, all offering up assets for sale.

Original story: Expansión (by J. Zuloaga)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Evo Buys GE’s Spanish Mortgage Business For c. €300M

14 April 2016 – Expansión

As a result of this operation, involving Evo’s acquisition of almost €400 million in mortgages from GE Capital, Apollo’s subsidiary expects to increase its balance sheet by 10% and its loans to customers by 25%.

(…). The Spanish subsidiary of the US fund Apollo is acquiring General Electric’s mortgage business in Spain: almost €400 million in loans to individual borrowers, according to financial sources consulted by Expansión. According to the same sources, Evo will pay almost €300 million for the portfolio.

This operation brings the bank led by Enrique Tellado closer to its objective of achieving critical mass to emerge from the red in 2016.

Since Apollo acquired Evo, the former subsidiary of NCG Banco, the entity has registered three consecutive years of losses: €3.6 million in 2013, €78 million in 2014; and €13 million last year, according to the latest figures published, as at September, according to the Spanish Banking Association (AEB).

GE Capital Bank, the financial arm of GE, launched this divestment last year, as part of Project Zágato, advised by PwC. The portfolio, worth €400 million, contains 5,000 mortgage contracts and mainly contains loans that the US entity granted through APIs (real estate agents).

With this sale, GE Capital Bank is virtually shutting down its business in Spain, following the transfer of its leasing portfolio to Incus Capital, at the end of last year; and the repayment of the majority of its consumer loans.

This departure is the response to a change of strategy for the multinational company at the global level. At the beginning of 2015, GE decided to divest the majority of its financial business to focus on its industrial turbine, aircraft engine and medical equipment businesses, amongst others. It did so because of the risk posed by this financial exposure following the outbreak of the subprime mortgage crisis in 2008. At the time, the group had financial assets worth $500,000 million (€438,400 million).

Since then, GE Capital has been selling off parts of this business through different agreements in different countries, such as those signed with Evo and Incus in Spain.

This subsidiary reached its peak in Spain with partnerships that it signed with CAM and BBK before the crisis.

In 2008, it recorded losses and has remained loss-making ever since.

Quantitative leap

Project Zágato allows Evo Banco to make a significant quantitative leap. The portfolio acquired represents around 10% of its current balance sheet, which according to data from AEB as at November amounted to €4,000 million. The growth in terms of loans to customers is greater, almost 25%, given that it held €1,771 million last November.

Apollo’s standard strategy since it arrived in Spain has been to make purchases of entities, such as Evo Banco, which it acquired in 2013. Evo’s loan portfolio comprises purchases such as Finanmadrid, from Bankia; Bank of America’s credit card business; and portfolios of consumer credit and mortgages from Citi.

In the last few months, Evo Banco and Apollo have looked into other acquisitions in Spain, such as the BarclayCard sale, where it was pipped to the post by Bancopopular-e, the subsidiary of Värde Partners and Banco Popular, which is now in exclusive negotiations.

Original story: Expansión (by J. Zuloaga)

Translation: Carmel Drake