Tag: Intrum Justitia

Sabadell Could Receive up to €400M for Solvia

24 October 2018 – Expansión

Change of tack for Sabadell. The bank has put Solvia up for sale, its real estate subsidiary, which it owns in its entirety, to try to earn €400 million, according to sources familiar with the process. Sabadell has awarded the mandate to sound out offers to Alantra, although other investment banks may also be advising the entity. Sources at the bank preferred not to comment in this regard.

Sabadell has activated the sale of Solvia three months after cleaning up its balance sheet to remove €11.5 billion in toxic assets. At that time, it decided to go against the trend in the sector and not divest its real estate platform, taking advantage of the sale of the portfolios.

Sources at the entity defend that the real estate platform holds significant latent value.

Other sources in the sector estimate that a reasonable price that the bank could obtain for divesting this asset is €200 million. That figure is equivalent to four times its EBITDA, a reference that the market has used for the sale of the property management arms of Servihabitat (CaixaBank) and Aliseda (Popular).

Sabadell’s strategy of separating the sale of the two portfolios from that of Solvia is to maximise revenues.

As is typical in these types of transactions, the final price will depend on whether the management of future toxic loans, known in the financial jargon as NPLs, are included in the sale.

Appetite

Alantra has already received interest from three opportunistic funds. One of the best positioned is Cerberus, according to various financial sources. In fact, the US fund acquired two large portfolios of foreclosed properties (Challenger and Coliseum) from Sabadell in the summer, with a combined gross value of €9.1 billion.

The US fund’s Spanish platform, Haya Real Estate, could gain muscle with the operation to accelerate its plans to debut on the stock market. And it could also benefit from important synergies, given that it already manages almost €40 billion in assets.

Sources at the sector also point to Intrum, the new brand that the Norwegian fund Lindorff is operating under, following its merger with the Swedish firm Intrum Justitia, and a new international player that wants to enter the European market with this operation, whose name has not been revealed.

In theory, the deadline for firm bids for Solvia, through binding offers, will close this month. Nevertheless, Sabadell is already holding very advanced negotiations with a single fund to sign the sale of Solvia, according to sources in the know. Sabadell has been weighing up the sale of its real estate platform for months. Jaime Guardiola, CEO of the bank, admitted at the beginning of the year that it was considering putting it on the market in light of the appetite from the funds for real estate and these platforms.

Solvia manages 148,000 assets, with a value of more than €30 billion. Since 2015, the company has focused on the marketing of new build developments and has put more than 10,000 homes on the market. It has 36 franchises and 18 own centres, which together make 54 offices located all over Spain (…).

Original story: Expansión (by R. Sampedro & S. Saborit)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Cajamar Sells 2 Problem Loan Portfolios

23 December 2017 – La Voz de Almería

Grupo Cooperativo Cajamar is continuing with the gradual reduction of its non-performing asset balance thanks to its strong performance in terms of the commercial management of its foreclosed assets and a reduction in its default rate.

In recent weeks, the entity has completed the sale of two portfolios, one containing foreclosed assets and the other containing non-performing loans, bringing the volume of problem assets sold so far this year to €791 million.

In this way, with the ordinary management of recoveries, boosted by the sale of these portfolios, Grupo Cooperativo Cajamar expects to close 2017 with a non-performing loan balance of less than €3.4 billion and a default rate of less than 11%.

Asset sales

Based on data as at 15 December, the rural Almería savings bank has sold more than 4,100 real estate assets for more than €600 million in terms of their gross book value, which represents an increase in sales of 55%.

Meanwhile, its non-performing loan balance, which amounted to €4.211 billion at the end of last year, had decreased to €3.964 billion as at September.

Interest in the market

The operations that have accumulated the largest volumes have been the sale of the Escullos portfolio, containing 1,456 loans worth around €176 million, sold to CarVal Investors and the combined organisation of Lindorff and Intrum Justitia; and the Tango portfolio, comprising around 400 assets, worth more than €57 million, which was sold to the US fund Waterfall.

Both operations were carried out through competitive processes and sparked a great deal of interest in the market. They received financial advice from Alantra.

The first portfolio of non-performing loans to companies and SMEs, most of which were secured, was mainly concentrated in the Community of Valencia (48.9%) and Andalucía (25.8%), although it also contained assets in Murcia, the Canary Islands, Cataluña, Castilla (La Mancha) and Madrid. The second comprised residential properties, although it also contained commercial and industrial assets, most of which were located in Andalucía, Murcia and Valencia.

Cajamar will close a positive year in terms of divestment, with a YoY variation in terms of the number of assets sold of more than 62%. The final numbers will also reflect the results of the current promotional campaign “Now or never”, with a selection of 4,500 properties with discounts of up to 40% (…)

Original story: La Voz de Almería

Translation: Carmel Drake

Lindorff & Aktua Integrate Their Management & Services Teams

25 January 2017 – El Economista

Lindorff España and Aktua have announced that they are going to unify their management and services teams, although both companies will continue to operate as independent legal entities and will retain their respective Boards of Directors, with the aim of consolidating the leadership position of both companies in their sector in Spain.

The current CEO of Lindorff España, Alejandro Zurbano, will be responsible for leading the organisation, together with the management and services of Aktua and Lindorff España, and so will become the CEO of the Lindorff Group’s entire business in Spain.

Meanwhile, Enrique Dancausa will be the group’s new Head of Real Estate Services at the global level. In this way, he will be responsible for developing the Lindorff Group’s strategy at the international level in the area of real state asset management.

The CEO of the Lindorff Group, Klaus-Anders Nysteen, has identified Spain as “an important growth market” for the company and has assured that, thanks to the union between Lindorff España and Aktua, the group will add the management of real estate assets to its global strategy, “a complete and new business area”, which will become “a fundamental part” of its business.

Following the acquisition of Aktua by Lindorff in June 2016, Banco Santander now holds 15% of the company’s shares; no changes in the ownership structure are forecast for the near future.

With the integration of both teams, Lindorff is seeking to: strengthen and consolidate its leadership position in Spain; give coverage to the full credit cycle; and offer comprehensive solutions for the recovery of debt and management of assets.

In terms of the merger between Lindorff and Intrum Justitia announced in November, the company has confirmed that it is planning to close that operation during the second quarter of 2017.

Original story: El Economista

Translation: Carmel Drake