Tag: foreclosed asset

SVP Global Buys Defaulted Mortgage Associated With In Tempo Skyscraper

7 November 2017 – Expansión

The investment fund SVP Global has reached an agreement with Sareb to buy the defaulted debt associated with the In Tempo skyscraper, the largest residential building in Benidorm. According to financial sources consulted, SVP Global has purchased a package of debt worth around €110 million, secured by the second tallest residential property in the EU, whose property developer, Olga Urbana, has filed for creditors’ bankruptcy.

It is one of the largest debt operations associated with a single real estate asset in Spain. SVP Global is a fund specialising in this type of operation and has around $6,900 million under management through its various vehicles. The In Tempo building is an unfinished project (although more than 90% of the construction work has been completed) measuring 192m tall and containing 47 floors for residential use.

The construction of In Tempo has given rise to a long-standing legal dispute. After launching the development of the tallest residential property in Europe in 2006, its property developer Olga Urbana had planned to finish the work in the middle of 2009. But, with the outbreak of the real estate crisis, the building work ended up being subjected to continuous delays and obstacles due to problems with the construction companies and suppliers. Although the construction work continued, in a fashion, under the control of Caixa Galicia, which financed the development with a €100 million loan, the financial crisis put an end to the construction work, which was never finished.

In 2012, the loan from the former savings back was transferred to Sareb, which at the end of 2014 and in the absence of an agreement between Olga Urbana’s shareholders, decided to enforce the creditors’ bankruptcy, with a total debt of €137 million. As part of that process, the judge approved the auction of the almost-finished building with a value of just over €90 million. Nevertheless, the offers were very low and so Sareb decided to exercise its preferential right to take ownership of the property.

Original story: Expansión (by C. Morán and A. C. Álvarez)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Abanca Sells €1,400M NPL Portfolio To EOS Spain

14 June 2016 – Expansión

Two years after taking ownership of Abanca, the Venezuelan company Banesco has started to sell off the bank’s toxic assets. Yesterday, the financial entity headquartered in Galicia reported its first sale of non-performing loans, amounting to €1,385 million, which represents approximately 20% of its total NPL portfolio.

All of the loans were overdue and unsecured, which makes it one of the largest operations of its kind in recent years and also, concentrated in a single buyer.

EOS Spain, a company that specialises in collections management was the winner of the competitive process. It is headquartered in A Coruña and is a subsidiary of the international group EOS. The transaction generated profits of €57.4 million for the bank, according to a statement filed with the CNMV.

The auction generated significant interest, with participation from around twenty investment funds and entities specialising in the recovery of overdue debt. For this competitive process, Abanca was advised by KPMG, the same firm that audits its accounts.

The operation (…) will open a series of future transactions as part of Abanca’s strategy to divest of its non-performing assets. In fact, it says that it is already evaluating similar operations for its non-strategic assets, with the aim of focusing the business on providing credit to families and companies and to boosting the economy.

One of the upcoming operations will involve a portfolio of non-performing loans, secured by mortgaged assets, although that will be smaller than the portfolio just sold. By contrast, the bank will hold onto the other overdue unsecured loans so that they can be managed by Abanca itself.

For EOS, the purchase “represents the strengthening of its relationship with Abanca”, according to a statement from the bank, as well as an intensification of competition and an improvement in its position in the domestic market.

Improved capitalisation

The main effect of the sale has been on the solvency of the entity, given that it had fully provisioned all of the non-performing loans that it has now sold. Abanca calculates that with this transaction, it has improved its capital coefficient by five basis points since the first quarter of the year, when it stood at 14.8%, one of the highest in the sector. Meanwhile, the doubtful asset coverage ratio amounted to 60.8% during that same period. According to the annual accounts, Abanca had decreased its doubtful debt balances by 30% last year to €2,695 million as at December 2015; furthermore, it reduced the weight of foreclosed assets on its balance sheet to just 1%.

Of the total impaired asset balance, more than half (€1,900 million) are secured and only €114 million were overdue by three months or less (as at December 2015), according to details disclosed in the consolidated annual accounts for 2015.

Beyond its consolidated balance sheet, the entity accounted for €5,376 million of financial assets that it had written off. The bank explained that it was not including them on its balance sheet because it regarded (the likelihood of) “their recovery to be remote”, although it clarified that it has not stopped trying to collect the amounts due.

Original story: Expansión (by A. Chas and J. Zuloaga)

Translation: Carmel Drake