Tag: exposure

Blackstone & Apollo Vie For BBVA’s Remaining RE

18 October 2017 – Expansión

BBVA’s real estate portfolio is sparking a lot of interest in the market. The bank is holding exclusive negotiations with Cerberus to sell its real estate manager Anida along with around €4,000 million in foreclosed assets and non-performing real estate loans. But, other investment funds do not want to miss out on the assets that they consider to be juicy and so are setting their sights on the rest of the portfolio.

Financial sources indicate that other funds, such as Apollo and Blackstone, have expressed their interest in the loans and assets linked to the property that do not end up being included in the perimeter of the portfolio sold to Cerberus. BBVA has a gross exposure to the real estate sector in Spain of €20,190 million, and so Cerberus will be acquiring around 20% of the total. The entity currently has a coverage ratio of 57% over its real estate exposure after recognising provisions amounting to €11,431 million in total, according to data as at June, the date of the most recent audited accounts. Moreover, according to sources familiar with the deal, during the negotiations, Cerberus has communicated to BBVA its intention to purchase more than the aforementioned €4,000 million in doubtful loans and foreclosed assets.

Advanced phase

The conversations with Cerberus began before the summer and are now in a very advanced phase. The operation is expected to close before the end of the year, explain sources in the sector.

BBVA’s real estate activity is grouped around Anida. The bank is one of the few entities that retained full control over its real estate business. During the crisis, several banks sold their managers to specialist funds to accelerate the divestment of their problem assets. BBVA’s plans now involve the deconsolidation of its real estate risk.

Some of the sources indicate that Cerberus decided to bid aggressively to acquire Anida after failing to get past the first round of the bidding for Popular’s toxic real estate. Its desire is so great that even the most senior figure at the firm, John Snow, met with the President of BBVA, Francisco González, to make their interest clear. In fact, Cerberus is hoping to acquire 100% of Anida, according to sources in the sector.

More than a dozen large international funds are currently buying real estate assets and loans in Spain. They include Blackstone, which reached an agreement with Santander to acquire 51% of the company created for shelving Popular’s problem assets. Meanwhile, Bain Capital is holding exclusive negotiations with Liberbank to purchase a portfolio of property worth €700 million.

Original story: Expansión (by R. Ruiz and R. Sampedro)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Bankia Considers Rapid Sale Of BMN’s Property Portfolio

13 October 2017 – Cinco Días

Bankia is currently considering how it will deal with the exposure to real estate through BMN that it will end up with following the planned integration of the two entities at the beginning of 2018. The bank chaired by José Ignacio Goirigolzarri is considering the rapid sale of BMN’s problem assets to one of the opportunistic funds that typically participate in these types of operations.

Goirigolzarri’s entity has already made contact with several of the intermediaries that typically advise on these types of transaction, according to sources familiar with Bankia’s intentions, to sound out the options available. These intermediaries include large consultancy firms and several investment banks. The bank has reportedly asked all of these companies to share their ideas about how to best handle a potential sale.

Bankia’s initial idea involves carrying out a rapid operation, similar to the deal undertaken by Santander in August, with the sale of the portfolio that it inherited from Popular that it transferred to the fund Blackstone in just six weeks. That agile move was very well received by the market.

Unlike in the case of Popular, BMN’s exposure to property is considerably less. The entity owns around €1,100 million in net foreclosed assets, according to data about the merger of both entities reported by Bankia in June. The entity has a coverage ratio of 28% over its foreclosed assets and 40% in the case of its doubtful debts (somewhat lower than the average for the sector, which stands at around 50%).

Moreover, of the total net foreclosed assets, 64.4% correspond to finished homes and 19.1% relate to land. In terms of the entity’s total loan book, which amounts to €21,900 million, only 2.7% relates to property developer loans.

The merger of Bankia and BMN was approved by the General Shareholders’ Meetings of both entities in September. The authorities are expected to declare their approval of the union in December and the definitive integration is forecast to take place at the beginning of 2018. The operation will be articulated through the handover of 205.6 million newly issued shares in Bankia to the shareholders of BMN, which effectively means assigning a value of €825 million to the latter (0.41 times its book value).

As such, BMN’s shareholders will hold 6.7% of Bankia’s share capital. Following the merger, Bankia will be the fourth largest entity in the country, behind Santander, BBVA and Caixabank (…).

Another of the differences compared to the operation involving Popular is that BMN does not have its own servicer. In the case of the bank acquired by Santander, it repurchased the 51% stake in Aliseda that was held by the funds Värde Partners and Kennedy Wilson, to subsequently include it in the operation that was then sealed with Blackstone.

In 2014, BMN sold its real estate asset management company Inmare to the servicer Aktua (controlled by the Norwegian fund Lindorff), to become strategic partners in the management of those assets.

The most likely scenario is that Bankia will execute the sale of the assets proceeding from BMN as the single transfer of a portfolio, given that it no longer owns a servicer. The entity chaired by Goirigolzarri declined to comment on any possible operation given that the merger has not yet been approved by the authorities (…).

The potential buyers will presumably include the usual suspects, such as Apollo, Oaktree, Bain, Cerberus, Blackstone, Lone Star, Castlelake, Värde Partners, Lindorff, TPG and Goldman Sachs.

Original story: Cinco Días (by Alfonso Simón Ruiz)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Threat Of Cataluña Independence Hurts Spain’s Largest RE Companies

10 October 2017 – Expansión

One of the sectors that is being hardest hit by the insecurity generated in Cataluña following the referendum on 1 October is real estate. In just one week, the large companies in the sector have seen their stock market valuations decrease by €717 million and how the credit ratings agency Moody’s has issued warnings about the negative effect of the political tension on the growth of rental income, occupancy rates and asset valuations.

The Socimi that is most exposed to Cataluña is Merlin. The real estate giant led by Ismael Clemente owns assets worth almost €1,500 million in Cataluña. The real estate company in which Santander and BBVA own stakes is also one of the companies that has most backed this market over the last year, positioning the Catalan capital, together with Lisbon, as one of its markets for highest growth.

In the context of that strategy, at the beginning of the year, Merlin purchased the iconic skyscraper Torres Glóries – also known as Torre Agbar – for €142 million. The building, which has a gross leasable area of 37,614 m2, is one of the candidates to house the European Medicines Agency (EMA), which will abandon its current location in London due to Brexit. Sources in the sector consider that the events of recent days completely eliminate Barcelona from the running, in favour of its rivals in the bid: Amsterdam, Dublin, Bratislava, Copenhagen and Milan.

Another Socimi with a significant portion of its assets in Cataluña is Colonial. The real estate company, which is headquartered in Barcelona, has almost 10% of its assets in the region. In the office segment alone, it owns assets worth €827 million in Cataluña, making it its third market after Paris, with €6,144 million, and Madrid, with €1,339 million. Yesterday (Monday), Colonial convened an extraordinary meeting of the Board of Directors to consider moving its headquarters (and in the end, approved their move to Madrid).

One of the projects that Colonial has underway was announced at the beginning of the year, in the form of an alliance with the company Inmo, the real estate subsidiary of the Puig family, for the development of Plaza Europa (Barcelona), with an investment of €32 million. The plan to construct a 21-storey building with a surface area of 14,000 m2 will be undertaken on a plot of land owned by the Puigs. Moreover, at the beginning of the year, Colonial started work to build a turnkey office building in the 22@ district, which will involve a total investment of €77 million and which will be ready by the middle of 2018.

In terms of the other Socimis that are listed on the main stock market, Hispana holds assets in Cataluña worth €255 million at the end of June (…). Meanwhile, Axiare owns four assets in the region (…) worth just over €126 million; and two of the assets in Lar’s portfolio are located in Cataluña (…), with a combined value of €116 million.

Amancio Ortega

(…) HNWIs have also been backing the Catalan market and, in particular, Pontegadea’s exposure to the region is significant. Amancio Ortega’s company does not disclose figures by country or autonomous region (…) however, in 2011 alone, it acquired three assets worth €233 million, including BBVA’s headquarters in Plaza Cataluña, for €100 million. It also owns important buildings on Paseo de Gràcia and Plaza Catalunya, and is the owner of the Inditex group’s largest stores.

Original story: Expansión (by R. Arroyo and M. Anglés)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Cerberus In Exclusive Negotiations With BBVA To Acquire €2,000M Portfolio

22 September 2017 – El Confidencial

The operation in question is called Project Sena and it is the most important portfolio that BBVA has put on the market to date. With a volume of toxic real estate assets worth €2,000 million, primarily comprising NPLs backed by residential collateral, the entity chaired by Francisco González is holding exclusive conversations with Cerberus, according to several sources in the know. Both the bank and the fund have declined to comment.

Nevertheless, the US fund’s appetite goes much further and extends to include the real estate company Anida, which could end up forming part of the transaction as well. That would result in the second largest real estate divestment to be undertaken by a Spanish entity this year, following the sale of €30,000 million in toxic assets agreed between the new Santander-Popular and Blackstone.

The negotiations between Cerberus and BBVA date back to last summer and are currently at a critical point, in terms of tilting the balance one way or the other. Options on the table include Cerberus acquiring Sena on its own, adding Anida into the mix, or acquiring the former and entering the process to compete for the latter, a decision that could be taken at the next meeting between the entity’s Board of Directors.

As El Confidencial revealed, the idea has been floated at La Vela (BBVA’s headquarters in Madrid) of selling Anida to accelerate the real estate unblocking that the Bank of Spain itself is encouraging all the entities to undertake. In fact, BBVA has engaged PwC to advise it on the operation, and it is open to receiving different offers.

In its favour, Cerberus has the advantage of being in pole position to acquire Sena, a card that it wants to play in its favour to also bid for Anida. Nevertheless, other investment giants, such as Lone Star and Apollo, may also be interested in acquiring the real estate firm, a giant with gross assets of more than €5,000 million and the heir, along with others, of the former fund BBVA Propiedad, which the bank practically rescued at the end of 2008, when the first signs of the crisis emerged.

The net real estate exposure on BBVA’s balance sheet amounts to €8,750 million, according to the bank’s most recent half-yearly accounts, thanks to high coverage levels, which amount to 57% on average, one of the most conservative figures in the sector.

With a strategy clearly aimed at divesting real estate, in the last year, BBVA has undertaken several major operations, such as the sale of its Boston and Buffalo portfolios, the transfer of 1,500 homes to Testa, whose gross value amounts to €485 million and the transfer of land worth €431 million to Metrovacesa. Moreover, alongside Santander, BBVA is a shareholder of Merlin Properties, the largest Socimi in Spain.

After all these movements, the largest pawn currently in play is Anida, which also includes a property developer division, Anida Desarrollos Inmobiliarios, and several subsidiaries that the bank has been gathering up under the same umbrella, such as Anida Operaciones Singulares and subsidiaries in Mexico and Portugal.

In theory, the overseas units would be left outside of the real estate company sales process that is currently on the table, an operation whose final outcome is regarded in the market with as much expectation as concern, given that in the past, the entity has received several expressions of interest for Anida that have never ended up materialising.

But now the panorama has changed, given that the operation between Santander and Blackstone has put pressure on the rest of the sector to make similar moves, and the entities are increasingly more inclined to accelerate the divestment of their real estate.

Original story: El Confidencial (by Ruth Ugalde)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Liberbank To Increase Capital By €500M To Reduce RE Portfolio

7 September 2017 – RTVE

The financial institution Liberbank is going to increase its share capital by €500 million to “accelerate” the reduction in its real estate portfolio and improve its profitability. The bank, which resulted from the merger between Cajastur-Banco CCM, Caja Cantabria and Caja Extremadura, has set itself the objective of divesting its real estate and doubtful assets, amounting to €800 million, before the end of the year, according to a note submitted to Spain’s National Securities and Exchange Commission (CNMV) on Wednesday.

Liberbank has announced this operation as the prohibition period for the short selling of its shares is due to come to an end. The ban was imposed by the CNMV after naysayers set their sights on the entity following the intervention of Banco Popular and its subsequent purchase by Santander.

On 12 June, the National Securities and Exchange Commission initially established a trading restriction lasting one month, after Liberbank’s share price fell by 40% in just one week, due to the effect of Popular. It then extended the ban for two more months, until 12 September.

The General Shareholders’ Meeting will analyse the capital increase on 9 October

Liberbank’s Board of Directors will propose the €500 million capital increase for approval at the next Extraordinary General Shareholders’ Meeting due to be held on 9 October.

The intention is “to accelerate” its strategic objectives and plan to improve profitability by strengthening its balance sheet and improving its risk profile. Currently, retail mortgage risk accounts for 60% of the entity’s total credit investment, according to Europa Press.

Specifically, the entity expects the default rate to amount to 3.5% by 2019 and for the ratio of foreclosures to fall below 9%; it also expects the coverage ratio to increase to around 50% by the same date.

The forecast return on equity (ROE) is 7% for 2019 and 8% for 2020. The entity plans to pay remuneration to shareholders, which it will charge to the P&L in 2018 with a payout of 20%, which will increase to 40% in 2020.

The major shareholders support the operation

The entity’s major shareholders, which together account for around 68.8% of the total share capital, such as Oceanwood (with a 12.6% stake), Aivilo – Ernesto Tinajero (7.4 %) and Corporación Masaveu (5%), together with the Banking Foundations (43.8%) support this operation and have already expressed their intention to participate in the capital increase, confirmed the bank.

At the end of trading on Wednesday, Liberbank’s shares were trading at €0.97, after increasing by 0.21% during the day. The company’s total share capital amounts to €900.54 million, according to Efe.

Original story: RTVE

Translation: Carmel Drake

Santander Owns 40% Of Spain’s Toxic Assets After Popular Purchase

12 June 2017 – El Confidencial

Banco Santander’s purchase of Banco Popular has created a new real estate headache for the entity chaired by Ana Patricia Botín (pictured above). As a result of the operation, which was closed for the symbolic price of €1, the Cantabrian entity has taken on a significant “inheritance” in the form of toxic assets linked to property. Specifically, we are talking about assets worth almost €17,000 million – €10,300 million net – according to data submitted by Banco Popular to Spain’s National Securities and Exchange Commission (CNMV) at the end of 2016.

If we add that figure to the €10,700 million that Santander already held on its balance sheet, according to figures at the end of last year, then the entity’s total real estate exposure following this corporate operation amounts to €27,700 million. That volume represents almost 40% of the entire toxic asset exposure that the large listed banks recognise on their balance sheets, which, at the end of 2016, amounted to €70,000 million in total (…).

Despite the clean up of foreclosed assets undertaken in recent years – carried out through the direct sale of properties and portfolios and the signing of operations such as the transfer of homes to Testa – the financial institutions still have a significant volume of property on their balance sheets. And Popular had the largest exposure of any of the listed entities. In net terms, it held €10,305 million; a figure well above those recorded by CaixaBank (€6,876 million); Sabadell (€6,244.7 million); BBVA (€6,012 million); Santander (€4,787.2 million); Bankia (€2,251.2 million) and Bankinter (€260.2 million).

Moreover, in land alone, the gross value of its assets amounts to almost €8,000 million, half of its total exposure to real estate and, once again, the highest figure of any of the listed banks.

Nevertheless, the precise gross value of those real estate assets has been one of the aspects that has generated most uncertainty in the market and one of the main obstacles it faced when it came to closing a corporate operation, which Santander agreed to in the end. An increase in the provisions against Popular’s real estate portfolio after the reappraisal process would increase the coverage ratio of these assets, which currently stands at 38.5%, however, it would also reduce their net book value, which amounted to €10,900 million as at 31 March.

Property continues to be a major problem for the financial institutions despite the clean-up undertaken in recent years. In fact, despite all of the real estate clean-up efforts, the G-7 banks reduced their global volume of foreclosed assets by just 2.3% in 2016; and by 0.73% in the case of land. (…).

The purchase of Banco Popular leaves the (recently announced) sale of a real estate portfolio amounting to €2,000 million up in the air – at least for the time bing – Emilio Saracho was preparing the portfolio together with KPMG, with the aim of reducing the high volume of non-performing assets (…) on its balance sheet in an accelerated way. (…).

Original story: El Confidencial (by E. Sanz)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Orion Launches €1,500M Fund & Plans Its Return To Spain

3 May 2017 – El Economista

Orion Capital has raised €1,500 million for its fifth real estate fund, which is dedicated to purchasing assets across Europe. According to sources in the sector, the Dutch fund has placed its focus on Spain, where it plans to spend some of that money. “It has not set itself a fixed objective, but Spain is a country that is very attractive”, confirm the sources.

The fund used to own a significant portfolio of assets in Spain, nevertheless, between 2014 and 2015, it completed the divestment of the last properties that it owned and maintained only its stake in Sotogrande, which it owns jointly with Cerberus.

Now, Orion wants to restore its presence in the country and to that end, it is looking for high value-added operations, including renovations and new developments. According to the sources, the fund, founded by Aref H. Lahham, Van J. Stults and Bruce C. Bossom, also wants to increase its exposure to Spanish real estate in an indirect way by acquiring stakes in companies in the sector and by purchasing debt.

Orion’s interests span almost every segment of the market. In the case of offices, the fund will concentrate its efforts in Madrid and Barcelona, looking at both refurbishments and new developments. To acquire shopping centres, it will expand its geographical range and will analyse operations in smaller cities as well. In that case, the fund will only participate in a project under development if it is in an advanced stage, where no planning is required. “Everything should be ready to build”, explain the sources, given that the manager has a team of just three people in Spain. The hotel segment is also on its radar, as well as logistics, in which “it will probably operate by constructing new spaces”.

During its previous phase of intense activity in Spain, Orion starred in several major transactions, such as the purchase of the Plenilunio shopping centre (Madrid) in 2009 for €235 million, which it then sold in 2015 for €375 million. Similarly, it completed a high-profile divestment when it exited Puerto Venecia, in Zaragoza, by selling the largest shopping centre in Spain to Intu for €451 million. Orion hopes to start buying assets in Spain once again before the end of the year.

Original story: El Economista (by Alba Brualla)

Translation: Carmel Drake

BBVA Hopes To Have Digested All Of Its RE Assets By 2020

3 May 2017 – El Mundo

The CEO of BBVA, Carlos Torres, has confirmed that the bank expects to have digested all of the property on its balance sheet by 2020 and has stated that the entity is already working on accelerating the “unblocking” of those assets.

“We have been digesting them for years, but we still have two or three years of losses left before we resolve the problem completely. We are working on it”, he said at a press conference for the presentation of the entity’s results for Q1 2017.

The director clarified that the bank managed to reduce its real estate exposure by 9% during the first three months of 2017, thanks to the implementation of its strategy to accelerate the “unblocking” of its assets in a better market environment than seen in previous years.

In this sense, he pointed out that, at the moment, demand for housing is growing, construction has resumed and prices are rising, which means that the entity has a positive outlook that is encouraging it to accelerate the reduction of these assets.

Torres said that the bank has been reducing its exposure to real estate for years, to the point that it now has just half the volume left that it reached at the “peak” in terms of net exposure.

Original story: El Mundo

Translation: Carmel Drake

Bantierra Finalises Sale Of RE Assets Worth €320M

27 March 2017 – Cinco Días

Bantierra, comprising the former entities Cajalón and Multicaja, is finalising the sale of a batch of non-strategic real estate assets to the Spanish Association of Rural Savings Banks, in an operation that has an approximate volume of €320 million.

Sources at the credit cooperative, which is headquartered in Aragón, reported on Friday that the aforementioned sale will allow the entity to fully cover the needs resulting from the implementation of the Bank of Spain’s new regulations.

In this way, according to the sources, Bantierra will definitively reduce its exposure to the real estate sector, which has been weighing down heavily in recent years, in order to ensure the firm’s future viability.

Original story: Cinco Días

Translation: Carmel Drake

Realia Finalises €700M Syndicated Loan To Repay Debt

23 February 2017 – Expansión

Realia is finalising a syndicated loan amounting to around €700 million. And with just the finishing touches left to complete, all indications are that the company controlled by Carlos Slim will reach an agreement with its new creditors within the next few weeks, just in time to cancel the debt held by its subsidiary Patrimonio before it matures, on 27 April.

In addition to CaixaBank, which will lead the new loan syndicate, Santander and Bankia have approved the operation and are negotiating with other banks to include them in the agreement as well.

“Realia Patrimonio is currently negotiating its refinancing with several entities”, explained the company in a document submitted to the CNMV, in which it warned that if, by the aforementioned maturity date, the entity has not reached an agreement with its creditors or it has not been possible to secure new financing sources, then “it will have a liquidity problem”.

In April 2007, Realia Patrimonio undertook a debt restructuring through the subscription of a syndicated loan with Caja Madrid and Banesto, which subsequently transferred part of its exposure to another 14 entities for an initial maximum amount of €1,087 million, which it has been repaying ever since. Currently, its debt balance amounts to around €680 million.

Original story: Expansión (by R. Arroyo)

Translation: Carmel Drake