Tag: KPMG

Sabadell Engages Alantra to Sell 2 Portfolios Containing €8bn in Foreclosed Assets

11 April 2018 – El Confidencial

Banco Sabadell is in the running to try to complete its real estate clean-up this year, and to this end, has engaged Alantra to sound out the market to sell two portfolios known as Project Coliseum and Project Challenger, comprising €8 billion in foreclosed assets, which the entity has already started to show to potentially interested parties (…)

This move forms part of the plan designed by the financial institution at the end of last year to remove almost €12 billion in toxic assets from its balance sheet through the sale of a number of portfolios. The first two are already on the market and amount to €3.4 billion, but the main courses are about to be served.

In order to speed up the process, the entity chaired by Josep Oliu has opted to create a portfolio containing mainly Sabadell risk and another, subject to examination by the Deposit Guarantee Fund (FGD), containing properties proceeding from the former CAM, which are protected by the Asset Protection Scheme (EPA).

The first, according to financial sources, is going to comprise a gross volume of more than €5 billion, whilst the second will amount to around half that figure, at just over €2.5 billion, and it will need the approval of the FGD, given that it will have to cover 80% of the losses.

Sabadell closed last year with €8.0 billion in foreclosed assets and €5.7 billion in non-performing loans, according to the real estate exposure data submitted to the CNMV – Spain’s National Securities and Exchange Commission – and its average coverage ratio currently amounts to 55%.

The large buyers that Alantra is currently sounding out include the major funds that typically participate in these types of operations, such as Apollo, Lone Star, Blackstone and Cerberus, according to the same sources.

This potential divestment joins the two portfolios that Sabadell already has on the market: Project Galerna, which comprises €900 million in non-performing loans; and Project Makalu, comprising €2.5 billion in assets from the former CAM, according to Voz Pópuli. In both cases, KPMG is advising the sales process.

Moreover, as El Confidencial revealed, Solvia, the servicer arm of Sabadell, has decided to join the housing boom and create its own property developer, Solvia Desarrollos Inmobilarios, containing €600 million in land and unfinished developments.

The entity wants to grow this new property developer by signing agreements with different companies, funds and family offices interested in delegating the management and development of its land and developments.

If it manages to bring all of these plans to fruition, Sabadell will follow in the footsteps of Santander and BBVA, which last year completed their real estate clean-ups with the sale to Blackstone and Cerberus, respectively, of the bulk of their toxic properties. That would leave CaixaBank as the last major bank that still needs to make a significant move to comply with the guidelines set by Europe: to remove a decade of crisis from its balance sheet.

Original story: El Confidencial (by Ruth Ugalde)

Translation: Carmel Drake

BBVA, CaixaBank & Sabadell Recorded Revenues of €5bn from House Sales in 2017

2 April 2018 – Expansión

Last year, BBVA, CaixaBank and Sabadell recorded revenues of more than €5,065 million from the sale of homes that came onto their balance sheets due to non-payment during the years of the crisis. Santander obtained €1,295 million in this regard, and Bankia and Bankinter received €457 million and €138 million, respectively. In total, the banks in the Ibex 35 recorded sales of €6,955 million from the sale of homes, which represented a YoY increase of 6%.

In parallel to the signing of agreements to launch the transfer of the bulk of their portfolios of toxic assets to specialist funds, year after year, the banks are marketing properties through their own distribution platforms to clean up their balance sheets and return them to the figures that they registered before the outbreak of the crisis.

BBVA recorded the highest revenue figure, of €2,121 million, which represents an increase of 7.5% YoY, from the sale of 25,816 properties. Its subsidiary Anida is responsible for distributing its products in the market.

By the end of last year, BBVA’s exposure to the real estate sector had decreased by 37.2%, to €6,416 million, due, primarily, to the wholesale operations undertaken.

Last year, the bank chaired by Francisco González made a turn in its real estate strategy by agreeing to create a joint entity with Cerberus to which it will transfer some of its properties, worth around €13 billion. The bank will hold a 20% stake in that entity and the fund the remaining 80%. The operation is expected to be closed during the second half of 2018.

Last quarter

The largest increase in the sale of homes was achieved by CaixaBank, which saw its revenues rise by 20.4% YoY to €1,610 million. Most of those operations were concentrated in the final quarter of the year when proceeds of €561 million were received.

Through Servihabitat, CaixaBank markets the properties of the group’s subsidiary BuildingCenter online, as well as through the branch network and API. The bank has €5,878 million in foreclosed assets up for sale and €3,030 million allocated for rent.

The bank has engaged KPMG, Oliver Wyman and McKinsey to redefine its strategy and gain efficiencies in the divestment of the foreclosed real estate assets.

As part of that roadmap, last week, CaixaBank sold 1,458 homes to Testa for €228 million.

Meanwhile, Sabadell cut its property sales by 14% to €1,334 million due to fewer sales to institutional investors, which fell from €233 million in 2016 to €57 million a year later. Last year, Sabadell divested 14,924 properties, up by 2.6% compared to the previous year. Its subsidiary Solvia is its main distribution channel.

In parallel, Sabadell has placed two toxic real estate portfolios up for sale, proceeding in part from the former CAM, under advice from KPMG.

Last year, Santander recorded revenues of €1,295 million from the sale of foreclosed assets, which represented a YoY increase of 19.5%. The gross value of the assets sold by that bank last year was €2,168 million, up by 33% compared to the previous year. Santander obtained profits of €95 million from its sales, up by 64%.

Altamira is Santander’s distribution platform, which held €11,661 million in foreclosed assets at the end of 2017, of which €5,943 million proceeded from Popular. To that figure, we have to add €3,619 million in assets from Popular included in the operation agreed with Blackstone, which will allow the clean up of the group’s toxic assets (…).

Finally, Bankia sold 8,430 properties in 2017, which represents 20.2% of the stock it had held at the beginning of the year, for which it recorded revenues of €457 million, down by 2.9%. Bankinker, one of the banks with the lightest real estate load obtained €138 million, up by 2.2%.

Original story: Expansión (by Elisa del Pozo)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Project Makalu: Sabadell Puts €2.5bn Portfolio Up For Sale

21 March 2018 – Vozpópuli

Banco Sabadell is stepping on the accelerator to complete its balance sheet clean up as soon as possible. After months of negotiations with the Deposit Guarantee Fund (FGD), the Catalan entity has decided to place on the market its first large portfolio proceeding from CAM’s Asset Protection Scheme (EPA). In this way, it has distributed information to investors about Project Makalu, comprising €2.5 billion in assets from the former Alicante-based savings bank, according to financial sources consulted by Vozpópuli.

This operation comprises foreclosed assets and unpaid loans from companies and individuals covered by the EPA. It follows another portfolio that has been on the market for a few days, Project Galerna, comprising €900 million in non-performing loans.

KPMG is advising Sabadell on both operations, which together comprise assets and loans worth €3.4 billion.

The group chaired by Josep Oliu has been negotiating with the FGD for months to try to kick-start these operations. The aim is that they will be followed by two more portfolios taking the total value of the assets for sale to €12 billion and whereby reset the entity’s real estate calculator. The issue is not simple because the sale of these loans may generate a hole for the Fund that would impact the State deficit.

Strategic plan

The Catalan entity announced at the recent launch of its strategic plan in London that it maintains the objective of reducing its exposure to problem assets at a rate of €2 billion per year. With the sale of Project Makalu alone it would more than exceed that goal.

The bank held €15.2 billion in problem assets at the end of 2017, but the forecasts indicate that that figure will fall below €9 billion by 2020: €4 billion in doubtful loans and €5 billion in foreclosed assets. And that is without taking into account the divestments that are now being worked on with the FGD.

Project Makalu is the fourth largest portfolio of problem assets ever to be put up for sale by a Spanish bank, behind only Popular’s Project Quasar, amounting to €30 billion, purchased by Blackstone; BBVA’s Project Marina, amounting to €13 billion, acquired by Cerberus; and Project Hercules, amounting to €6.4 billion in mortgages from Catalunya Banc, which was bought by Blackstone.

Meanwhile, Project Galerna is similar to Project Gregal, which Sabadell sold less than a year ago to three funds: Grove, D. E. Shaw and Lindorff. That portfolio comprised loans linked to consumers, without real estate guarantees, which had already been fully written off, and so all of the proceeds from the sale were recorded directly as gains.

Precedents

Besides Gregal, Sabadell closed two other major operations last year: Normandy, comprising €950 million in property developer loans, which was acquired by Oaktree, and which also proceeded from CAM’s EPA; and Voyager, comprising €800 million, which was purchased by the largest pension fund in Canada.

The latest operation launched by Sabadell joins others recently placed on the market by Sareb, BBVA, Cajamar and Kutxabank.

Original story: Vozpópuli (by Jorge Zuloaga)

Translation: Carmel Drake

A&M: Spain’s Top 5 Banks Cut Their Toxic Assets to Below €100bn

18 February 2018 – Voz Pópuli

Good news for the banks. The heavy burden of recent years, their exposure to real estate, is causing less concern, little by little. The work undertaken over the last year has allowed the large institutions to reduce their volume of problem assets (doubtful and foreclosed loans) to less than €100 billion.

That is according to the findings of a report from the consultancy firm Alvarez & Marsal based on figures at the end of 2017: the five largest banks (Santander, BBVA, CaixaBank, Sabadell and Bankia) decreased their toxic assets from €145 billion to €106 billion. That calculation does include the transfer of €30 billion from Popular to Blackstone – which will be completed within the next few weeks, – but not the sale of €13 billion from BBVA to Cerberus.

Taking into account the latter operation, the level of toxic assets held by the five largest banks amounts to €93 billion, having decreased by 36% since 2016. Those figures do not include exposure to other entities that also made significant efforts in this regard during 2017, such as Liberbank.

According to the report, after all of the events of last year, CaixaBank is the entity that now has the largest volume of problem assets on its balance sheet, with €27 billion. The group chaired by Jordi Gual has engaged KPMG to undertake a large divestment of its foreclosed assets, but that it is taking longer than expected.

The second-placed entity in the ranking is Santander, with an exposure of €25 billion, which in net terms (after provisions) amounts to €13 billion. Its CEO, José Antonio Álvarez, announced a few months ago that he expects to divest around €6 billion this year.

The third bank in the ranking is BBVA, with €21 billion, before the sale of €13 billion to Cerberus. Once that operation has been closed (scheduled for the end of the first half of this year), it will be the most healthy entity, with the highest levels of coverage.

Plans underway

Sabadell is another of the entities that has made the greatest efforts to liquidate its property in recent months. It decreased its balance from €19 billion to €15 billion in 2017 and is planning big sales this year, provided it receives approval from the Deposit Guarantee Fund.

Meanwhile, Bankia has actually increased its exposure, by integrating BMN, although it will not reveal its plans in this regard until it unveils its next strategic plan (at the end of this month).

The bulk of the work in the sector has now been completed. Nevertheless, the home straight still remains, which is what will be tackled this year, to a large extent. With this, the banks will be able to turn the page and dedicate their resources to granting credit rather than to covering past losses.

Original story: Voz Pópuli (by Jorge Zuloaga)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Sabadell Considers Selling €1.8 bn Portfolio Whilst it Negotiates with FGD

1 February 2018 – Voz Pópuli

Banco Sabadell is preparing an artillery of divestments over the coming months. The entity chaired by Josep Oliu (pictured above) has been sounding out the market for several weeks now regarding the launch of what would be its largest sale of problem assets to date, worth €1.8 billion, according to financial sources consulted by Vozpópuli.

This operation, which still needs to be approved by the bank’s Board of Directors, would be the precursor to a mega-operation amounting to €12 billion that the entity is considering launching over the next few months, according to Expansión. Sabadell has three mandates granted to launch these divestments in 2018 with Deloitte, KPMG and Alantra.

Nevertheless, these sales have been held up by the Management Committee of the Deposit Guarantee Fund (FGD). The €12 billion that Sabadell wants to sell are precisely those covered by the Asset Protection Scheme (EPA) granted by the semi-public fund during the sale of CAM.

The Management Committee, whose members include bankers from some of Sabadell’s competitor firms, is questioning the sale of the €12 billion because of the hole it would cause in its own accounts. The FGD held equity funds of €1.6 billion at the end of 2016. The same thing is happening with BBVA. In that case, the FGD is considering whether to approve the accelerated sale of assets proceeding from Unnim’s EPA.

Two positions

This story is about two very different positions. On the one hand, Sabadell and BBVA want to bulk sell all of the problem assets that they inherited from the purchases of CAM and Unnim, respectively, in one go. In terms of the danger posed by the end of the EPA, they know that, like happened to Liberbank, when the guarantees end, the unsold assets will affect their capital ratios, by raising the denominator (APRs).

Meanwhile, the FGD is studying the impact that these operations may have and whether the contracts signed at the time allow such accelerated divestments.

Sabadell was one of the most active entities in the sale of problem portfolios last year, with the sale of Project Normandy to Oaktree and Project Voyager to the largest pension fund in Canada.

Original story: Voz Pópuli (by Jorge Zuloaga)

Translation: Carmel Drake

ActivumSG Launches New €500M Fund with Projects in Marbella & Salamanca

22 January 2018 – Eje Prime

The international group ActivumSG is continuing to back its business in the Spanish market. The company, which operates under the brand ASG in Spain, is launching a new €500 million fund to make real estate investments across Europe, according to explanations provided by the company to Eje Prime. Some of the first projects that have already been financed thanks to this fund, the fifth to be promoted by ActivumSG, include three projects in Berlin and three in Spain, located in Marbella, Salamanca and Estepona.

This new fund promoted by ActivumSG is one of the group’s most important in terms of investment, with funds raised mostly from investors that have already participated in the group. Of the €500 million, the fund has already committed more than €200 million in Spain and Germany.

In the Spanish market, ActivumSG has already launched Project España, located in Salamanca. Initially baptised as Project Victoria, the fund has now started construction on this luxury residential development in the centre of the city. “The project involves the demolition of an office building located at number 5 Plaza España to convert it into a high-end residential property, comprising 27 apartments”, say sources at the German company.

The second project that ActivumSG is going to promote with this new fund is Parque Central, in the centre of Estepona. The German fund is already finalising the details to start work on the construction of this residential development, which will span 12,600 m2 and which is already being marketed.

Finally, the fund is working on Project Sierra Blanca, in Marbella. That project, which is in its preliminary phase, will be located in the neighbourhood of Sierra Blanca, in Marbella, and will involve the development of 40 luxury homes, with gardens and parking.

The latter two projects are located in the province of Málaga, one of the main tourist destinations in the south of Spain. ActivumSG has been advised in the acquisition by the group’s Spanish subsidiary, ActivumSG Iberia, which is currently being led by Brian Betel, former Director of Cerberus Iberia Advisor and Citibank.

ActivumSG’s team in Spain is completed by Víctor Pérez Arias, former Director of CBRE; Juan Alonso Bartolomé, a director who has worked for companies such as GE Capital Real Estate and ING Real Estate; Alejandro Adan Manes, who joined the firm from Axa Real Estate; Carlos Molero Sánchez, formerly of PwC and KPMG, and Ignacio Gaytan, who previously held the position of maximum responsibility at Grupo Lar, amongst others.

ActivumSG in Spain

Currently, ActivumSG’s portfolio in Spain comprises a dozen assets, with the exception of two that have been divested in recent months, located in Manuel de Falla and Santa Leonor, both in Madrid (…).

Original story: Eje Prime (by Custodio Pareja)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Change of Heart: Slim Suspends Sale of Torre Realia in Barcelona

15 January 2018 – Eje Prime

Carlos Slim has changed his mind about Torre Realia in Barcelona. The real estate company owned by the Mexican magnate has decided to suspend the sales process of its most iconic asset in the Catalan capital, according to explanations provided by sources close to the process. Realia has received offers for more than the asking price (€140 million), however, the company has decided not to sell, citing changes in the company’s strategy.

Last June, Realia entrusted JLL and BNP Paribas with the mandate to sell this asset, equivalent to Torre Kio in Madrid. The tower is located in one of the fastest growing areas of the Catalan capital in terms of the office sector, in Plaza Europa, which is set to become the city’s new business district.

Although sources at the group claim that the decision is linked to a change in strategy, given that the offers that Realia had on the table were “higher than the price set by the real estate group”, it seems that the political situation and the climate of instability may have also been triggers for Slim’s group to decide to postpone the sale to a later date.

Realia’s trophy asset in Barcelona has 24 floors and a surface area of 31,960 m2, as well as 399 parking spaces. The property, which comprises two buildings, was designed by the architect Toyo Ito, in collaboration with Fermín Vázquez, from the B720 Arquitectos studio. Torre Realia is 110 m tall and its ground floor houses a shopping arcade that joins the two towers.

In terms of its real estate activity, at the end of the first half of 2017, Realia primarily owned offices and shopping centres for rent, which spanned a combined surface area of 405,842 m2 and had an occupancy rate of 93.5%. Moreover, at that time, it also owned an asset measuring 18,324 m2, in the form of the Los Cubos building in Madrid, which it ended up selling to the French group Therus for €52 million.

Realia’s stock of offices for rent spans a surface area of 226,729 m2, with an occupancy rate of 94.7%. Moreover, the company owns 41 residential plots for family homes, destined for self-promotion, which it has put up for sale. Realia’s current land portfolio spans a buildable surface area of 1,851,392 m2, of which 49% is located in Madrid and the central region of Spain, according to data from the group.

Plaza Europa, on the rise

The sale of Torre Realia comes at a time when the area in which it is located is enjoying a real boom. As the headquarters of KPMG in Barcelona, Realia’s asset has seen its value rise in recent months thanks to the large number of operations that have been closed in this enclave and to the growing number of large corporations that are moving their head offices to this new financial district, in L’Hospitalet de Llobregat.

One of the main players in the area is the Puig family, which has joined forces with the Catalan Socimi Colonial to build a 14,000 m2 tower at Plaza Europa 46, right opposite Grupo Puig’s corporate headquarters, which it just purchased from BBVA for around €60 million.

Original story: Eje Prime (by Custodio Pareja)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Generali Real Estate Sells 3,400 m2 Office Building in Girona

11 January 2018 – Eje Prime

The real estate arm of the insurance company Generali is divesting assets in Spain. Generali Real Estate recently closed the sale of an office building in the centre of Girona to a private investor, as the group explained in a statement.

The property in question has a surface area of more than 3,400 m2, spread over a dozen floors and currently has an occupancy rate of 90%. The operation has been brokered by KPMG and CBRE.

Generali Real Estate is one of the largest real estate managers in the world, with more than €27 billion of assets under management and a presence in countries such as Italy, France, Germany, Austria, Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands and Switzerland.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake

Experts: Foreign Investors will Continue to Back the Spanish RE Sector in 2018

11 January 2018 – Expansión

The experts believe that the residential sector is going to be the main protagonist of 2018, in terms of both development and investment. The banks are expected to continue their balance sheet clean-ups with more portfolio sales.

The real estate sector is expected to continue to constitute a mainstay of the Spanish economy in 2018 thanks to the growth of residential property development and the commitment from international investors to Spanish property as a safe haven for their investments, according to the experts consulted by Expansión.

For Adolfo Ramírez-Escudero, President of CBRE España, property developers will be some of the most dynamic investors in 2018. “Last year, they underwent an expansionary cycle and, through specialisation and the sophistication of their product, they will continue to increase their prominence in the sector”, he explains.

The CEO of JLL España, Enrique Losantos, forecasts that 2018 will maintain the positive rhythm of recent years and that figures will remain in line with 2017, with a total investment volume of around €13 billion. Losantos also expects that portfolio operations, which were the major stars of 2017, thanks to the sale of assets by Banco Popular and BBVA, will continue to strengthen their position in 2018 (…).

Rents

For Santiago Aguirre, President of the Board of Directors of Savills Aguirre Newman, “we are entering a year of consolidation in terms of the upward cycle that we have been immersed in since 2014. Several segments, such as offices and logistics, have reached maximum leasing levels, nevertheless, we still see potential for rents to reach the maximum levels seen in the previous cycle”.

In terms of investment in tertiary assets, Oriol Barrachina, CEO at Cushman & Wakefield, explains that there is a perception that there will be more liquidity than product, despite caution being erred in light of the local and international uncertainty. “The main difference with respect to the last two years is that one group of buyers, the Socimis, are now also going to be selling assets. For years, they have purchased lots of assets and after generating value from them, they are going to put them up for sale, a fact that will also help to bridge the gap between supply and demand”, adds Barrachina.

Sandra Daza, Director General at Gesvalt, thinks that this year those investors who entered the cycle during the opportunistic period, between 2013 and 2015, will be replaced by long-term investors, such as insurance companies and pension funds.

In terms of trends, Mikel Echavarren, CEO at Irea, considers that residential development will continue to generate news this year, both in terms of land transactions, as well as price rises and the recovery of secondary markets (…).

Humphrey White, Director General at Knight Frank, highlights that Spain is currently at the beginning of an expansion period, with forecast demand of between 120,000 and 150,000 new homes per year, even though it closed 2017 with just 47,500 new home transactions (…).

No sign of a bubble

White considers that the growth in the sector in Spain rests on “some very firm foundations in terms of the law of supply and demand, whereby moving firmly away from a possible real estate bubble”.

For Gonzalo Gallego, Partner in Financial Advisory at Deloitte, buildable land will be one of the major challenges in the property development sector.

In terms of the rental market, Ramírez-Escudero explains that in 2018, we will see “quite a lot” of activity in the market from institutional investors backing rental homes. Over the last decade, the number of rental homes has increased significantly to reach 22.5%. Nevertheless, Spain still has major potential given that the average in the EU is 33% (…).

Javier López-Torres, Partner in Real Estate at KPMG, agrees. He considers that the rental segment will continue to gain weight due to the difficulties involved in accessing credit, mobility and cultural change (…).

Asset types

By sector, Thierry Bougeard, Director General at BNP Paribas Real Estate, says that demand for office space will continue its strong performance (seen in 2017), above all in Madrid, where leasing volumes are expected to increase to around 600,000 m2.

Meanwhile, in the logistics market, e-commerce will continue to be the main motor of demand, whilst in retail, many owners are betting on improving the quality of their centres, boosting leisure areas and the quality of them, with the aim of encouraging customers to stay longer, he explains.

The experts also agree in highlighting the high level of interest expected in alternative real estate assets, such as student halls and nursing homes.

Original story: Expansión (by Rebeca Arroyo)

Translation: Carmel Drake

The Funds Acquired €60bn of Banking ‘Assets’ in 2017

3 January 2018 – El Economista

International funds’ appetite for Spanish real estate is proving insatiable. And that was reflected in the final days of 2017, which saw a frantic year-end in the market for the sale by banks of debt portfolios secured by real estate collateral. On the basis of the operations that were underway during the final months of the year and the transactions that were actually closed, it is estimated that debt with a gross book value around €60 billion was sold in 2017, compared to €22 billion in 2016. Of that total volume, Blackstone was, undoubtedly, the great star, with its acquisition of the largest real estate portfolio ever sold in Spain and one of the largest ever sold in Europe.

The US fund agreed with Santander to purchase 51% of all the toxic assets – doubtful loans and foreclosed properties – from Popular, which had a gross value of €30 billion. A record operation in Spain, which the bank chaired by Ana Botín closed to clean up the balance sheet of the recently acquired entity.

Cerberus was the other major purchaser of 2017, after it acquired Anida and BBVA’s real estate assets with a gross value of €13 billion, through the creation of a joint company in which the fund will hold a majority 80% stake and BBVA will retain a 20% share.

Those two operations are a clear reflection of the dynamic role that funds are playing in the Spanish real estate market, given that in addition to having provided the impetus for the new generation of property developers, they are also serving as the main clean-up tool for financial institutions. “The funds have played a fundamental role, given that they have put a price on the portfolios and have provided capital to execute purchases”, explains Manuel Ángel González Mesones, Partner in Corporate Finance for the Financial sector at KPMG in Spain, who states that in the primary market – the sale of portfolios directly by the banks – property developers, the other great consumers of debt with real estate collateral “have not been particularly active, given that their criteria are very selective”. Nevertheless, “the large property developers have been buying foreclosed assets in a selective way for years from both financial institutions and different market players, such as Sareb and funds that have acquired those assets through the purchase of portfolios”.

In this sense, Emilio Portes, Director of Financial Advisory at the real estate consultancy firm JLL, highlights that, although the role of the funds has been key, the property developers have also played their part, by converting themselves into “instrumental vehicles for the funds in terms of the development of the land acquired in portfolios such as NPLs – doubtful loans – and REOs – foreclosed assets”. Thanks to that intense activity in which, in addition to Blackstone and Cerberus, other players have also featured, including Bain, Goldman Sachs, Oaktree, De Shaw, Deutsche Bank, Lone Star and Apollo, the banks have managed to decrease the volume of toxic assets relating to the real estate sector by almost half in one year, from more than €132 billion to around €75 billion. To that figure, we have to add the €40 billion sold by Sareb, which means that the total clean up figure amounted to €115 billion by the end of 2017.

That figure is still well below the almost €400 billion that was reached at the height of the crisis, but it also well above the less than €10 billion that was registered before the burst of the bubble (…).

More moderate operations in 2018

According to González, “Activity will continue to be significant, but due to the size of the entities that still have assets let to sell, I don’t think that we will see such large operations this year. The focus will certainly be more on transactions with nominal values of between €500 million and €2,000 million, although that could lead to an equally successful year…”.

Original story: El Economista (by Alba Brualla)

Translation: Carmel Drake