Tag: loan portfolios

Blackstone Finalising Sale of Mortgage Portfolio to CarVal Investors

25 June 2019

Blackstone is finalising the sale of 10,000 mortgages loans to CarVal Investors for nearly €1 billion. Blackstone originally acquired the loans as part of a €5.5-billion portfolio it bought from Catalunya Banc in 2014.

After the sale, which Blackstone expects to finalise in the coming days, the U.S. firm will still own another 9,000 lower-quality loans from the Catalan bank.

CarVal Investors specialises in the investment, through various funds, of loan portfolios sold by financial institutions. The company, with offices in Minneapolis, London, New York, Luxembourg and Singapore, has invested more than 20,000 million dollars in nearly 2,000 loan portfolio transactions in 31 countries.

Original Story: Vox Populi – Alberto Ortín

Photo: Europa Press

Bain Capital Hires Andrea Brentan As Senior Advisor

5 November 2015 – Expansión

Yesterday, Bain Capital Private Equity and Sankaty Advisors announced the appointment of the former CEO of Endesa, Andrea Brentan (pictured above), as senior advisor for Spain.

According to the management team at Bain Capital, this appointment confirms the fund’s interest in “continuing to invest” in Spain. Brentan, who is currently the non-executive President of FTI Consulting Spain, was CEO of Endesa between 2009 and 2014.

Acquisition of Atento in Spain

Bain Capital Private Equity has around $75,000 million in assets under management around the world. In Spain, Bain Capital acquired Telefónica’s customer service subsidiary, Atento, in 2012. The operation was reportedly worth more than €1,000 million.

Sankaty Advisors, the global credit subsidiary of Bain Capital, manages investments in around 100 companies and has acquired loan portfolios amounting to €2,300 million from banks in Spain and other European countries in the last three years.

Brentan was the CEO at Endesa when Enel took control of the group.

Original story: Expansión

Translation: Carmel Drake

Deloitte Strengthens Its Financial-RE Team

22 April 2015 – Expansión

Deloitte hires nine new professionals / The consultancy firm has recruited a team from Quadratia, a company that specialises in the residential RE sector

Deloitte expects to see a boom in the sale of homes and land to overseas funds; and it wants to become a leader in that market. The consultancy firm has recently strengthened its financial-real estate team by hiring new professionals from the specialist company Quadratia. The new recruits include the Managing Partner of that consultancy firm, Gonzalo Gallego, who joins as a Real Estate partner in the Financial Advisory team.

This move comes as a result of the belief that following the purchase of real estate platforms, shopping centres, individual buildings and loan portfolios, the opportunistic funds are going to focus their attention on the residential market this year and next. “We are seeing an increasing focus by real estate investors on the residential market, where they are interested in buying land, homes and other properties on the coast”, said Enrique Gutierrez, partner in the Transaction and Restructuring Advisory team at Deloitte. Gutierrez is responsible for the department where increasing weight is being given to the real estate sector. The RE team at Deloitte is led by the partner Alberto Valls, who Gallego will report into. In total, Deloitte’s Transactions team comprises more than 300 professionals.

Valls explains that, in the same way as has happened with other types of assets, “history is repeating itself and there is a lot of conviction amongst opportunistic investors that now is the time to enter the residential sector”. These types of funds are specialists in acquiring assets that carry higher risk and therefore, represent opportunities for extracting higher returns. “In a year from now, higher returns will be obtained. Once the situation stabilises, other more conservative, institutional investors will enter (the market)”, he adds.

In this context, investors are focusing their attention on banking assets: “(Many of the banks’) balance sheets are still fully loaded with debt from property developers and other foreclosed assets, and there are 400 funds willing to invest in Spain. No other segment has as much potential as the residential market”, says Gallego.

The banks are adopting two approaches to unblock the real estate plughole: the sale of homes in their networks, which accelerated every month in 2014 thanks to the mortgage war; and the sale of portfolios to funds. Deloitte estimates that there have been 30 transactions involving the transfer of (property) developer loans over the last year and a half.

The consultancy firm explains that the banks take three parameters into account when they put these types of portfolios on the market: time, cost and price. If the result of this equation shows that it will be more expensive to foreclose assets in the future than sell them at a discount now, then they put them on the market.

Original story: Expansión (by J. Zuloaga)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Bankia’s Divestment Plan Comes To An End After 400+ Sales

20 April 2015 – Expansión

97% of the plan has been completed / In two years, the entity has transferred 200 investments, 130 real estate companies and 80 loan portfolios, amounting to more than €15,000 million.

Over the last two years, Bankia’s divestment team has had to go to the notary’s office every other day. The intense activity in terms of the sale of investments and loan portfolios has resulted in 400+ transactions since 2013 and the entity is now close to fulfilling the mandate imposed on it by Brussels.

In total, Bankia has transferred 200 financial and industrial investments; 130 real estate companies; and 80 problem loan portfolios, according to sources close to the entity.

Thus, Bankia has already exceeded the target it was set of divesting more than €50,000 million non-strategic assets – by the end of 2014, the figure was close to €59,000 million – but not all of the companies that were agreed as part of its rescue have been transferred. 3% of the plan agreed as part of the rescue still needs to be completed.

In this final sprint, which Bankia has until 2017 to complete, the entity will have to sell off dozens (tens) of real estate and industrial companies, many of which have filed for liquidation and have hardly any value.

Strong reputation

Over the last two years, the team at Bankia, led by the Director of Investments, Manuel Lagares, has earned the respect of foreign investors by closing the sale of portfolios worth €10,000 million and financial and industrial investments, worth €5,500 million.

Although Bankia was forced to make these divestments, the funds value the fact that it is one of the few entities that has not held back from sales processes and that it stands out as one of the best entities to have adapted to demand. Thus, overseas investors recognise that one of the first doors that they call at upon arriving in Spain is that of the bank chaired by José Ignacio Gorigolzarri (pictured above), as well as those of Sareb and the Frob.

Although Bankia has now almost completed its divestment plan, the entity continues to be very active in the market, as it seeks to improve its balance sheet and free up non-productive assets.

Some of the largest transactions conducted by the team at Bankia include the sales of its shares in: Iberdrola, which it sold for €1,500 million; Mapfre, for which it obtained €1,250 million; IAG, for which it earned €675 million; and Indra, which it transferred for €337 million.

Recently, the entity had decided one of the great real estate battles in recent years, which involved Realia, where it agreed to sell its 25% stake to Carlos Slim. It may also decide to transfer its stake in Globalvia soon, for which it is negotiating, together with FCC, with the Malaysian sovereign fund Khazanah Nasional Berhad.

Other transactions

Another transaction in the pipeline involves the sale of City National Bank of Florida, its North American subsidiary, which is pending authorisation by the Federal Reserve.

Together with its investments, Bankia has also transferred lines of business such as its asset manager, which was acquired by Cerberus; and Bankia Bolsa, which it transferred to GVC.

Original story: Expansión (by Jorge Zuloaga)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Charles Blackburn Quits Deutsche Bank For Oaktree

13 April 2015 – CoStar Finance

Charles Blackburn, head of Deutsche Bank’s EMEA commercial real estate special situations group, has quit the investment bank after nearly 10 years and is expected to join Oaktree Capital Management later in the summer, CoStar News has learned.

Blackburn is thought to be taking up a senior role continuing a remit for distressed real estate debt and equity investments at the US private equity firm, having already left Deutsche Bank.

Earlier this morning, CoStar News revealed that Oaktree has moved to exclusive negotiations to acquire FMS Wertmanagement’s Project Gaudi CRE loan portfolio for a price thought to be just north of €500m.

At the turn of the year, Blackburn’s Deutsche Bank team won NAMA’s €287m Project Boyne, loans secured by property developer Willie Smyth, paying around €95m, and just before Christmas the team also won a €234m tranche of the Project Kaplan NPL from Sareb.

The most significant NPL win of last year by Blackburn’s team was the acquisition of around €1.5bn in tranches from IBRC’s giant €9.3bn Project Stone NPL, acquiring the two largest tranches by nominal balance and the highest quality of assets in the loan portfolio.

Deutsche Bank also won tranches of IBRC’s Project Quartz and NAMA’s Project Spring.

Blackburn joined Deutsche Bank in September 2005, prior to which he spent three years at O’Connor Capital Partners.

All parties declined to comment.

Original story: CoStar Finance (by James Wallace)

Edited by: Carmel Drake

Bankia Puts 40 Large Property Loans Up For Sale

7 April 2015 – Expansión

Project Commander / The bank is holding negotiations with opportunistic funds regarding the transfer of real estate loans worth €500 million.

Bankia is causing a storm amongst large overseas funds in 2015. The entity chaired by José Ignacio Goirigolzarri recently announced two large divestments aimed (precisely) at those investors; they are pioneering due to the types of assets that they include: one contains overdue mortgages and the other contains large loans to real estate companies.

In total, Bankia has put unpaid property-related loans up for sale amounting to €1,800 million. Through this strategy, the bank is seeking to reduce its balance of doubtful loans and to continue awarding real estate assets.

The most advanced transaction (in terms of progress) is the one involving the large loans (to real estate companies). Project Commander, the name of the deal being advised by Deloitte, includes 170 loans granted to 39 companies, worth more than €500 million. Of those companies, 31 are property developers and almost all of them have filed for bankruptcy or liquidation, according to sources at the overseas funds. Some of the loans were granted to companies such as the Catalan group Promociones Habitat, the same sources reported.

Exposure to land

Most of the loans are syndicated and bilateral and provide access to a wide range of assets. These include land – €200 million – most of which is rural; and industrial warehouses – €90 million -. The fund(s) that win(s) the bid will also be in a position to take ownership of office buildings, homes, a fully operational aparthotel and even a winery.

Along with the real estate assets, a small portion of the portfolio is backed by pledged shares and other types of economic rights in creditor bankruptcy.

Almost two thirds of the real estate portfolio is located in Castilla-La Mancha – mainly Toledo -, Andalucía and Cataluña.

According to the agreed timetable, the funds must present their final offers within the next two weeks and the transaction should close before the end of the month. Sources close to the process indicate that Bankia may obtain between €150 million and €200 million for Project Commander.

To secure the deal, many of the large funds have purchased real estate platforms during the last two years: Apollo (Altamira), Cerberus (Haya Real Estate), Blackstone (Anticipa), TPG (Servihabitat), Lone Star (Neinor), Centerbridge (Aktua) and Värde Partners-Kennedy Wilson (Aliseda).

These investors have already participated in some of the large real estate loan purchases. Blackstone purchased the largest portfolio ever transferred in Spain to date, Project Hercules, which comprised problematic mortgage loans from Catalunya Banc amounting to almost €6,500 million; and, more recently, Blackstone acquired a non-performing property developer loan portfolio from CaixaBank. Meanwhile, Lone Star purchased a loan portfolio from Eurohypo for €3,500 million.

Nor does the market rule out the emergence of new players such as Pimco, Chenavari and Deutsche Bank.

Meanwhile, yesterday Fitch increased the rating of Bankia’s mortgage bonds by one notch to A-.

Original story: Expansión (by Jorge Zuloaga)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Solvia Plans To Purchase Other RE Platforms

27 March 2015 – Expansión

The real estate platform expects to hire 200 people this year / Banco Sabadell is giving greater autonomy to its subsidiary, Solvia, which has taken a big step forward after being awarded the management of 42,900 assets by Sareb, worth €11,500 million.

Banco Sabadell wants to covert Solvia into a leading player in the Spanish real estate sector. The entity has proposed that it lead the consolidation process that the servicers in the market are expected to undergo (in the coming months and years). Servicers are the asset management platforms that were created in Spain following the burst of the real estate bubble and the restructuring of the financial sector. These companies were created as “bad banks”, in which entities placed the (distressed) assets that were accumulating on their balances sheets. In recent years, almost all of the financial institutions have opted to sell all or part of their platforms to specialist funds. Nevertheless, Sabadell has chosen to retain full ownership of Solvia and to promote its growth to the maximum.

“Solvia is the only servicer whose capital is held 100% locally; it is supported by a committed shareholder, a strong brand and an excellent system and team of professionals”, says Miguel Montes, CEO of Sabadell and the head of the real estate company.

As one of the winners of the contract to manage some of Sareb’s portfolio, Solvia now manages assets amounting to €34,000 million, with a portfolio of 135,000 units. Of this, €25,000 million relate exclusively to property and the remaining €9,000 million relate to loan portfolios.

Potential IPO

According to Montes, Solvia will grow through the purchase of new product portfolios and the acquisition of other platforms, since some of them have been left with small portfolios. “In Spain, there will be a consolidation (of the number of players) in the servicer market. Solvia will opt to purchase (some of its smaller competitors) to increase its size. We think that this is a business that is worth investing in”, he assures.

According to the director, if it grows in size, Solvia may consider an IPO. “Now is still not the right time to list the company on the stock exchange; before considering that, Solvia must establish itself as an independent multi-client servicer, but the stock exchange is not the only alternative, there are other options”, he says.

To accelerate growth and facilitate its ability to work with all kinds of external clients, Sabadell has decided to grant Solvia maximum independence, by providing the entity with the resources and structure necessary to operate autonomously. Thus, the company will depend increasingly less on the bank’s central services and will have its own management team. As such, it has launched a serious offensive to attract talent and recruit experienced professionals.

Solvia closed 2014 with a workforce of 240 people and this year expects to hire 200 more, to take its total number of employees to 440.

The real estate company recently hired Francisco Pérez – former director of the real estate developer Vertix – as the regional director in Cataluña. To strengthen its office in Madrid, it has hired Javier Román Palero from the fund Apollo.

The majority of the properties that Solvia manages following the award of Sareb’s portfolio, which in turn came from Ceiss, are located in the central region of Spain. Under project Ibero, Solvía also won the management of properties from Sareb that had previously belonged to Banco Gallego and Bankia. In total, 42,900 units with an original value of €11,500 million, although Sareb purchased them for €7,000 million. “We have completed the migration of the portfolio of assets that came from Ceiss and Banco Gallego; the migration of the properties from Bankia will be completed in May”, explains Montes.

To strengthen its autonomy, Solvia is expected to adopt a brand that differentiates it from Sabadell. In fact, at its regional headquarters in Barcelona, it already has a sign that does not include the letters “B” or “S” in the logo, which identify the bank.

Alicante

In parallel, Solvia has relocated some of its team to Alicante, where it has opened the registered headquarters of the property marketing platform. “In 2014, Solvia sold 16,200 units for €2,750 million. None of the banks sold as much as us”, highlights Montes.

In parallel to the sale of properties from the portfolio, Solvia’s other main business line is the direct development of newly built homes on land that it owns. “We have 1,400 homes under construction” – he says – “and we expect an annual production of one thousand newly-built homes”. According to the director, Solvia has already sold several entire developments. “The number of “off-plan” sales that we are recording is spectacular”, he notes.

Montes says that Solvia’s business is “strategic” for Sabadell, since it will allow the entity to harness the potential being offered by the change in the cycle of the Spanish real estate sector. “Instead of leaving it for someone else to do, we are willing to invest and work hard in this business to leverage the potential value of the real estate market”. He argues.

Solvia has also started to sell land, a market that was completely paralysed until now.

Original story: Expansión (by S. Saborit/S. Arancibia)

Translation: Carmel Drake

RE Investment Returns To Pre-Crisis Levels: €10,200m In 2014

20 February 2015 – El Economista

Spain became the second largest real estate market in terms of investment in 2014, behind Sweden. Specifically, investment in real estate in Spain amounted to €10,200 million during the year, a record surpassed only in 2007, just before the start of the crsis.

CBRE explains that the transactions closed during the last quarter of the year boosted this strong result. Between September and December 2014 alone, real estate investment in Spain amounted to €3,396 million, i.e. 50% more than in the same period in 2013.

These figures are in line with the trend across Europe, where investment in real estate assets increased by 32% in 2014, to €218,000 million. In the last quarter alone, investment reached €78,000 million, the highest quarterly investment recorded since 2006.

Spain was ranked as the sixth country in terms of inwards investment during the last quarter, above countries such as Norway, Denmark and Italy.

What about in terms of debt?

In terms of real estate debt, the total stock across the European continent increased by almost €23,000 million in 2014, to €978,000 million, primary due to the entry of new credit. According to CBRE, the amount of new debt issued rose by 47% in 2014 with respect to 2013, although in absolute terms this figure was less than half of the volume of debt issued in 2007.

The consultancy explains that this increase in new debt was due to the growth in the size of the real estate investment market. And the total value of investment transactions in Europe increased by 32% last year, to reach €218,000 million.

Moreover, the number of investors with an appetite for risk increased, especially in Spain; these investors tend to make more use of leverage, both to increase their purchasing power and improve their returns.

Real estate loan portfolios

In terms of the sale of non-performing real estate loan portfolios, CBRE says that the transaction volume amounted to €49,200 million in Europe in 2014, more than twice the figure recorded in the previous year.

This growth was particularly significant in Spain, where a rise of 103% was recorded, up from €3,200 million in 2013 to €6,500 million in 2014.

Looking ahead to 2015, CBRE expects the sale of real estate loan portfolios to continue and to expand into new markets, although it does also expect the pace of sale of these portfolios to decline.

“This is because of the time that the market needs to overcome a number of structural obstacles that currently stand in the way of a liquid market for loan sales in Europe”, it adds.

Original story: El Economista

Translation: Carmel Drake

Lone Star Aspires To Become The Largest Property Developer In Spain

12 February 2015 – Cinco Días

The American fund plans to make the most of the land and assets it acquired last year from Kutxabank and Eurohypo

“We are working to become the leading residential developer in Spain, the largest home builder in the country”, said the European Director of the American fund Lone Star, the Argentinian Juan Pepa, on Wednesday. “We are buying land directly”, he said, explaining that although “in 2012, everyone said that land was worthless”, we are now beginning to see opportunities for obtaining profits from its development.

“We do not regard ourselves as a foreign investor, but as an industrial agent that invests its dividends in the construction of homes”, said Pepa, claiming that 50% of the group’s efforts in Spain over the next decade will focus on the creation of thousands of jobs in the sector, which suffered significant job cuts during the crisis. Pepa was speaking at the presentation of a study conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) about trends in the real estate sector in Europe, which show that the appetite for residential assets is growing.

To achieve its objectives, Lone Star will rely on the two large transactions that it has signed since entering the Spanish market in 2012: the mega-purchase of Eurohypo’s assets and the acquisition of Kutxabank’s real estate arm, Neinor; these were the two largest transactions in their respective fields during the crisis.

The first transaction, signed with JP Morgan last spring, enabled Lone Star to purchase Eurohypo’s mortgage portfolio from Commerzbank for €3,500 million, when the bank valued the portfolio on its own books at €4,500 million. The acquisition will allow the fund to access significant portfolios of land and property that serve as collateral for the loans.

The second transaction, which was signed last December, for €930 million, gave the fund control of Kutxabank’s property management platform, including 90 dedicated employees, as well as 50% of the entity’s real estate assets. The assets mainly comprise land, as well as some completed developments primarily located in the Pais Vasco, Madrid, Barcelona, Murcia and Andalucía.

“The cycle in Spain is just beginning” said Juan Pepa, who spoke about a promising period lasting 10 years…; it is “becoming increasingly difficult to enter the market” and exit as a winner. “We almost missed out completely in Spain” he admits, explaining that the fund arrived in the country in 2012 but did not invest until last year, even though 2013 was “a very good year to make investments”.

For PwC partner Enrique Used, Lone Star’s project is a clear example that investments made two years ago are now beginning to bear fruit,  “cranes are the best sign that activity is returning”. In this context….we are beginning to detect interest from new investors – although interest from opportunistic funds is still evident – and the appetite for residential assets is growing, in the face of the thriving office market.

Meanwhile, the vice-president and CEO of the Alternative Investment Market (Mercado Alternativo Bursátil or MAB), Jesús González, said that he expects to see six new real estate investment companies (Socimis) float their shares before the summer.

Original story: Cinco Días (by Juande Portillo)

Translation: Carmel Drake