Tag: financing lines

9 May 2016 – El Economista

Sareb has reduced the number of assets it owns by just 6.1% since its creation at the beginning of 2013. In the last three years, the company chaired by Jaime Echegoyen has decreased its volume of properties and loans by 12,091 units, representing 6.1% of the total, and so still held 186,120 assets at the end of last year, according to its annual report approved by the General Shareholders’ Meeting.

The firm, which was created using the toxic assets of the entities that received state aid, has twelve years left to sell off its remaining assets, which are valued at €43,000 million, after the sales it has already completed and the impairment in its appraisal values as a result of price decreases.

The small reduction in the number of loans and properties is due, in part, to the transformation of the portfolio into more liquid assets. Since it was created, Sareb has been converting loans in homes and land, so as to bring them onto the market more quickly in the face of their non-payment. In this way, the volume of financing lines to property developers has decreased by around 10,000, to just over 80,000, whilst the number of properties has been reduced by around 2,000, despite the fact that its divestments since the creation of its semi-public capital exceed 30,000.

Sareb’s General Shareholders’ Meeting approved the accounts from last year, which are weighed down by the new provisioning circular. Moreover, it authorised the exchange of subordinated debt for capital to strengthen its solvency, after recording significant losses in prior years. The company will convert €2,170 million in total. Following this operation, the State – through the Frob – will slightly strengthen its stake, since it holds more debt that the other shareholders. It will go from owning 45% of the shares to 45.9%.

In addition, several insurance companies will acquire small stakes in the company’s share capital, given that, until now, they only held subordinated bonds. The remaining shareholders – the banks – will see their shareholdings diluted slightly. Santander will continue as the main private shareholder.

Original story: El Economista (by F. Tadeo)

Translation: Carmel Drake